Gamifying Pet Cause Marketing

Back in October 2012, Purina ran a FSI ad highlighting an intriguing trivia game promotion benefiting www.adoptapet.com. Think Jeopardy for dog and cat lovers. Because of my focus on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month I didn’t have the opportunity to post on the promotion in October, which was scheduled to run as long as from October 23, 2012 through November 29, 2012.

I say 'scheduled to' because the promotion ended on Tuesday, November 1 when the donations reached the $50,000 mark, the cap amount. As of yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 4, you could still play the trivia game, it just no longer generates a donation for www.adoptapet.com.

Here’s how Purina’s gamified cause marketing promotion worked. You logged onto www.pureloveforpets.com and choose either cat or dog trivia. Then there was a registration process that required your name, email and address. For each correct answer, Purina donated $0.25 to adoptapet.com. Each email address was limited to a $10 donation per day. That is, 40 correct answers, although you could play as long as you liked.

Pureloveforpets.com listed a leader board and three people, Liz H., Christy L., and Sheila L. each had donated $100 with their correct answers. That is, they logged in every day for the 10 days the promotion lasted and had a minimum of 40 correct answers per day. Liz H., the overall leader, answered 521 questions correctly. Plainly, the game identified some very passionate players.

I picked the dog category and found the questions difficult. I didn’t Google any on the questions, although no doubt some people did. Here’s a few samples with the correct answer highlighted:

Another name for Zwergpinscher is what German breed?
>Min Pin
Llasa Apso
Dachshund
Shih Tzu

What breed is the model for the collectible mantelpiece dogs produced in Britain since the 1860s?
English Foxhound
English Bulldog
Cairn Terrier
>Staffordshire Spaniels

What breed will point and retrieve while hunting in packs, which is very unusual for sight hounds?
>Podenceo Canario
Polish Greyhound
Polish Hunting Dog
Polish Lowland Sheepdog

What is the regal name of the family dog on television's Life of Riley?
Prince
Princess
>Rex
King

Which of the following breeds is a South African guard dog?
Billy
Beauceron
Barbet
>Boerboel

All signs point to the conclusion that Purina has a tiger by tail with this promotion; it ended within 11 days and it attracted a substantial number of people who played every day.

So what’s next? What’s the next level? Game players of all stripes tend to play their favorite games several days a week. But this game seems to have ended too soon.

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