Crufts Club
Turning a beloved household brand into a symbol of irreverence
Background
For over a century, Crufts has grown its reputation as one of the most prestigious dog shows in the world. But while the brand has global recognition as a show, it faced a new challenge when launching its first ever membership product – the Crufts Club. A subscription-based model, the Club needed a compelling value proposition to justify a monthly fee, combined with a launch campaign that cut through the mental clutter of subscription fatigue.
Our approach
Launching at the Crufts show, we targeted primary Crufts audiences first, and radiated outwards from there. Among this dog-loving core, we cut to the heart of concerns: with rising vet bills, changing regulation around breeding standards, and ever increasing numbers of ‘impulse’ owners – dog ownership is broken. So we positioned Crufts Club as a revolution, and appealed to the masses to step up.
The strategy
This was a launch campaign designed to capture and hold attention in an extremely busy environment. For this reason, we chose to exit the arms race of functional benefits, and package the long-term mission of Crufts Club as a hard-hitting manifesto.
While ad space at the Crufts show is crowded with pet brands claiming cheapest, nicest, or healthiest, we positioned Crufts Club to sit above the noise, inspiring audiences to take a simple action: to join the revolution. Implicit in this call to action is that something is broken – a fact that many owners intuitively feel (in healthcare, for example, 70% of dog owners choose not to insure their dogs) – and this is their opportunity to do something about it.
Art direction
Setting revolution as our lofty ambition, our activations needed to feel punchy and irreverent – and central to this was photography. While the wider category serves us cute puppy eyes and unbounded joy, we chose a direction with more attitude. From giving the side-eye to leading the charge, we made our Crufts Club dogs the leaders of this revolution.
From there, we played in the visual language of grassroots activism. A poster-paint effect on our text gave a guerrilla feel. Our provocative ‘what if’ headlines inspired audiences to imagine a better world of dog care.
Brand and campaign launch
Upon launch, we made our strategy sweat across multiple channels and touchpoints. Using the foundations set up in our brand campaign, we launched a social-first reappraisal campaign for the Royal Kennel Club, designed to grow awareness and understanding of what the organisation does to serve dogs.
But our work didn’t end here. Our campaign has spanned earned-first activations, organic social, paid advertising, and press outreach. The rebrand represents a significant shift in the positioning and direction of the Royal Kennel Club, and the launch of its new royal title is but the first step in our work to support the organisation.
