Digital TV News

ITV to broadcast UK’s first ever TV advert for dogs

Monday 13 February, 2012

By Duncan Heaney

Monday night ad break goes to the dogs.

ITV will make history tonight by showing the UK’s first ever TV advert to be targeted at dogs. The 60-second skit - spoofing classic movie The Italian Job - will include high-pitched sounds that are audible to dogs, but not humans. It will also feature woofs and whistles designed to make people’s pooches sit up and take notice.

It sounds barking - especially when you consider that dogs don’t have much in the way of disposable income - but there is method in the apparent madness. Bakers, the dog food maker that commissioned the ad, believes that the sounds will cause dogs to react to the advert, and look at the screen. The owners will assume that their dogs are interested in the products, and become more likely to pick up the meaty treats next time they’re in the supermarket.

Bakers believes the ad will get dogs’ attention. It tested it on 12 dogs, and found that even when the animals were distracted or playing with a toy, they’d stop what they were doing to look at the screen.

The advert may be the first canine-centric advert to hit UK screens, but it’s not the first ever. Nestlé ran a similar commercial on Austrian TV to promote its Purina pet food brand.

Bakers’ advert is to be initially shown at 7.15pm this evening (13 February), during a break in rural soap opera Emmerdale. Time will tell if the campaign is a winner, or turns out to be a real dog's dinner.

If it is successful, expect to see it on Freeview and other digital TV services, such as Sky and Virgin Media, in the future.

Photo by Matt Cornwell