Dive Brief:
- Dog food brand Pedigree and cable channel Animal Planet are bringing the latest in viewing technology to this year’s Puppy Bowl, per a joint press release. The "Puppy Bowl Virtual Reality Experience" gives viewers a look at the game through the perspective of Buttons, one of the puppy participants.
- The campaign also features two promotional videos, "Heart of a Champion" and "Road to Gridiron Glory," which will run on Animal Planet and will also have a rollout on Pedigree and Animal Planet's respective social media platforms.
- This year’s Puppy Bowl, an annual TV event in which puppies mimic an football game, airs on Feb. 5 from 3-5 p.m. ET.
Dive Insight:
The "Puppy Bowl Virtual Reality Experience" doesn't appear to be true immersive VR, but rather a fun alternative camera perspective to view the game. Still, the announcement's touting of virtual reality shows that the term has developed a certain amount of cultural currency in terms of piquing viewer interests for marquee events. The NFL — an obvious inspiration for the Puppy Bowl — has similarly begun to dabble in producing VR experiences for fans, partnering with Google's Daydream platform last year.
The Puppy Bowl, which once seemed like a quirky, one-off idea, is now in its eighth year. Pedigree and Animal Planet's video promos for the lead-up show how seriously they take the event, at least in terms of building up hype, and the two brands are savvy enough to share these previews on social to generate buzz ahead of the "game."
Right now, virtual reality remains something of a novelty, as the Puppy Bowl experience shows, but it has distinct value as a medium for marketing messages, particularly when driving emotion and engagement. In order for VR to become a staple tactic or even a new channel, it will need to reach critical mass in hardware penetration as well as cultural acceptance. Pedigree and Animal Planet choosing to promote the Puppy Bowl with a VR-light experience is one more step toward that goal.