How SHEBA Invented Gravy Racing, a Sport for an Internet Ruled by Cats
We’re readying ourselves for months of high-profile sporting events right now, but we weren’t expecting cats to be involved in that. SHEBA surprised us all a few weeks ago by enlisting some of the internet’s most famous cats and pitching them against each other in a single-elimination tournament: 'The Gravy Race'.
To demonstrate the irresistible SHEBA GRAVY INDULGENCE Entrées, the Mars Pet Nutrition brand, working with AMV BBDO, challenged eight of the internet’s most popular cats to race against one another by licking a line of gravy. Teaming up with American sports announcer and cat lover, Ian Eagle, the tournament played out on social media, with the final deciding the grand champion on April 2nd.
LBB’s Alex Reeves speaks to AMV BBDO’s creative partner Andre Sallowicz and innovation lead Matt Henry about this historic internet event.
LBB> Can you explain where the gravy race concept sits within the broader efforts that SHEBA is making in its marketing strategy?
Andre> SHEBA is a premium cat food brand that holds only 6% of the US market share. The briefing was to boost brand recognition by showcasing its irresistible appeal to cats, and to launch the new SHEBA GRAVY INDULGENCE Entrées in a memorable and unexpected way, getting the SHEBA brand an unfair share of attention from next-gen cat parents.
Cats rule the internet, with some pet influencers boasting millions of followers. With SHEBA's tagline being ‘What Cats Want,’ the challenge was to brainstorm social media ideas using pet influencers and their huge audiences to demonstrate that SHEBA is exactly what cats want.
LBB> And in the social strategy more specifically, what are the aims? It definitely feels like a brand that's well placed to give the cat-loving areas of social media exactly what it wants.
Matt> It does, doesn’t it? SHEBA is such an enchanting brand and we’ve been growing our organic presence on social over the past few months. This felt like just the right time to give the people what they want; the challenge, however, was doing that in a way that felt authentic both to the brand and to the space that we were showing up in. We really wanted to create a splash and reach as many cat parents as possible with entertainment that they would genuinely enjoy. Strategically, engagement was key; this had to be just bonkers enough to cut through.
LBB> Where did the idea for the race begin?
Andre> To launch SHEBA GRAVY INDULGENCE, a product with 70% extra gravy, the strategy tapped into a genuine insight: Cats are avid lickers. After watching numerous videos of cats enthusiastically licking our product with delight and speed, we thought: what if we showcased a product demonstration where cats lick a bit of gravy as fast as they can?
LBB> How did you make that into the structure for the competition and content around it?
Matt> The structure came from a desire to harness the power of communities on social media. We knew that if we could find a way to put these cats’ audiences head-to-head, we would spark something special. We therefore used collaborations on Instagram to achieve just that: putting three audiences together across the heats, semis and the final. Each of the influencers we worked with were fully invested in the competition and stoked their audiences further creating content throughout the tournament to generate anticipation. We were lucky enough to pique the interest of social publisher Pubity too, who broadcasted the final to their brilliant community.
LBB> What were the most important decisions creatively?
Andre> It was on how to elevate this insight to maximum potential and finding the perfect partners to make it happen. After tons of research, we found the perfect internet-famous cats for this idea. Then, after weeks of negotiation, we finally teamed up with top US sports announcer, Ian Eagle, who was the right voice for it.
LBB> How did you set the team up to make sure you could respond to every twist and turn of the tournament?
Matt> The nature of the campaign meant that we needed to act and react like we were broadcasting a live tournament. Luckily, we have a brilliant social team at AMV and a fabulous social manager in Carmelo Orofino, who fully ‘understood the assignment’. We set up a war room with the SHEBA brand team, PR, media and, importantly corporate affairs, allowing us to react in near real-time to developments and even pivot the campaign towards narratives that emerged. It was a really fun and collaborative process that absolutely wouldn’t have been possible without a trusting, brilliant client.
LBB> What have been your favourite parts of the competition and people's reactions to it?
Andre> It's hilarious to see cat communities rallying behind their favourite felines, especially when they're pitted against an opponent.
