Wavemaker New Zealand credited for five awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

It was dog treats all around after the Mars SelfieSTIX campaign led by creative agency Colenso BBDO in partnership with Wavemaker NZ won five Cannes Lions (on the back of nine shortlists) at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Lions were for the SelfieSTIX campaign, which sought to drive repeat purchase of DentaSTIX – a delicious dog treat that helps protect dogs against gum disease – and shift perception of DentaSTIX to a ‘positive’ treating product.

The team brought home a Gold in Mobile Lions – Excellence in Mobile Campaign & Messaging; a Silver in Mobile Lions – Social Trends; and three Bronze Lions (Mobile Lions – Content for User Engagement, Brand Activation & Engagement Lions – Retail Promotions & Competitions and Design Lions – Social Engagement).

The campaign gave dog lovers a whole new reason to buy DentaSTIX so they could get their hands on a SelfieSTIX, a specially designed phone accessory that attaches DentaSTIX to your phone, so you can capture the perfect dog selfie. (If you’ve every tried to take a selfie with your four-legged companion, you know how difficult this task can be without a small incentive for the dog.)
The clip was supported by an integrated campaign that drove people to get their free SelfieSTIX with every purchase of Pedigree DentaSTIX. A unique app also complemented the clip, by letting people add fun filters to their dog selfies.

Wavemaker NZ tapped into existing dog owner behaviours to build an implementation strategy around the platforms that they use to express their love for their pets; using data to identify dog owners and target them at scale.

The campaign results speak for themselves. One quarter of New Zealand’s dog owners redeemed SelfieSTIX and went on to capture the perfect human-dog selfies. Across social platforms, the campaign had over 2.1 million interactions, achieving 3.5 million engagements and a 24% increase in sales.

Here are our Cannes Lions shortlists and wins in detail:

Moblie Lions

Social Trends – Silver Lions
Brand-led Mobile Apps – Shortlist
Excellence in Mobile Campaign & Messaging – Gold Lions
Content for User Engagement – Bronze Lions
Co-creation & User Generated Content – Shortlist

Brand Activation and Engagement

Other FMCG – Shortlist
Retail Promotions & Competitions – Bronze Lions

Design Lions

Social Engagement – Bronze Lions

Direct Lions

Use of Ambient Media Small Scale – Shortlist