AdMiration feature: Nulo's “Every Dream They Hold”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Nulo’s “Every Dream They Hold.” They created the ad as part of their “Fuel Incredible” campaign for the Paris Olympic & Paralympic Games. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a short montage of lowly lit close-up shots of Team USA Olympic athletes practicing their sports. Soothing music plays in the background and the ad transitions to shots of pets and their athlete owners including Chase Kalisz, Regan Smith and Ryan Crouser waking up in the morning as a voiceover narrates, “In the stillness of dawn, every champion’s journey begins with a dream.” 

The ad then shows how the pets remain by the athletes’ side during training and during their downtime, always providing support and companionship. The voiceover says, “They say greatness is forged alone, but look closer: at Nulo we celebrate the unspoken bond, the companions that don’t count laps, only moments with you.” 

As the viewer sees how each Team USA athlete interacts with their pet, the voiceover describes them as “more than just pets: they’re teammates” who have their own inner athlete that dreams too. The athletes are seen feeding their pets Nulo as the voiceover says, “Nulo helps nourish the dreamers.” 

After a final shot of each athlete with their pet, the ad concludes with the message, “Nulo, fuel incredible” and a QR code that takes the viewer to their website where they can read about each athlete and their pet’s story.

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top percentile of all US ads in potential to drive short-term sales and in the top 25% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales. 

• People find it incredibly emotive, significantly outperforming the average US ad in overall ‘love’ reaction with its focus on the unwavering companionship pets offer their athlete owners.

• Not only is the ad successful in making people aware of the Nulo brand, it’s also extremely effective in getting people to want to buy it the next time they are shopping for pet food with its clear message of high quality, premium nutrition. 

2 learnings

• Having to work harder to drive consideration among the target audience, it’s imperative for smaller brands to communicate their benefits in a clear and distinctive way that sets them apart from the competition. 

• Using a human truth or consumer insight that is unique to your target audience and tying it back to your product in a credible and distinctive way can help drive emotional engagement with your brand. 

1 reflection

It is often assumed that the use of animals or pets in advertising can help generate greater emotional engagement among the audience. However, this only works when it makes sense for the category or brand and when done purposefully to convey a message. In a category like pet food, the use of animals is a standard, putting all brands in an even playing field. Finding your unique selling proposition (USP) and a unique way to connect with the audience through it is the key to setting your brand up for success. 

The ad is one of the very best we’ve tested in potential to drive short-term sales, scoring in the top percentile of all US ads (sales impact: 100). When it comes to driving brand equity and long-term sales, it scores within the top 25% of ads (brand impact: 78).

Olympic campaigns often focus on the grit and determination of the athletes competing, and the hardships they had to face to get to where they are today. It is less often we see the support system behind those athletes being highlighted. So when a brand chooses to pay homage to the cohort that works behind the scenes to offer athletes companionship, empathy and love throughout their journey, there is potential to deliver something truly remarkable. 

We’ve seen this mastered by P&G with their “Thank You, Mom” campaign, airing for the first time at the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics and seeing another four iterations released for every summer and winter Olympics up until 2018. Some of the most memorable ads of the campaign were “Best Job” and “Strong,” which are still seen as some of the most effective and powerful ads ever released.

Friends and family are typically those we envision as being the key support system to athletes. However, there are other extremely important members of that group that we rarely get to see: athletes’ pets. Showcasing the bond between athletes and their pets, Nulo delivers a significantly unique ad (ad distinctiveness: 4.1 vs 3.8 norm) that sets the brand apart from others in the category (brand distinctiveness: 3.9 vs 3.7 norm). 

It captures viewers attention from start to finish (claimed attention: 4.2 vs 3.9 norm) focusing on how athletes’ pets remain by their side during training and provide emotional support in their down time. The ad also has great viral potential with the audience thinking people would be significantly more likely to share it online with others compared to the average US ad (viral potential: 66 vs 56 norm).

Nulo does an amazing job conveying the unconditional love pets have for their athlete owners and this comes through in the audience’s emotional engagement with the ad (overall emotion: 74% vs 55% norm). When asked to pick an emoji to represent how they felt about the ad overall, half responded with a ‘love’ emoji which is significantly higher than the norm for a US ad (love reaction: 50% vs 28% norm). Another 42% responded with a ‘like’ emoji, leaving the vast majority of the audience with an overwhelmingly positive feeling. 

Furthermore, showcasing the pets’ interaction with their owners in their downtime as well as during their training showcases the true bond between them. Every time a new pet appears in the ad, there is a big spike in the second-by-second ‘love’ reaction, helping drive the overall feeling the ad evokes.

People absolutely loved Nulo’s approach to the Olympics. It felt authentic, real and pulled at heartstrings with a beautiful story about unwavering companionship. 

Here’s what they had to say about it:

• "I loved the message, the scenes cut together. The companionship shown and the narrative. Literally made me tear up with its message because it is so true."

• "The athletes and all the sports they are competing in and their pets are right there with them the whole time, cheering them on. Very sweet."

• "I like the dog trying to keep up with his owner and always staying by his side, being a brave and loyal companion. I liked the description of the nutritious pet foods that my pets would love to eat."

• "I liked how they used athletes to help convey that Nulo’s dog food helps fuel your dog, I like how they used different dogs and not just one to help convey that they fuel multiple dogs."

• "It is a very authentic and real advertisement that tells a story and tells me that Nulo is the ideal food that my pets need to grow healthy and strong."

With quite a small share in the category, the unaided brand recall for the ad was significantly below norm (62% vs 68% norm). Nevertheless, multiple respondents talked about the ad helping them understand what the Nulo brand is about and putting it on their radar. 

Almost 80% of respondents reported learning something new about the Nulo brand while watching the ad (new information: 4.1 vs 3.7 norm). One respondent said "Loved seeing all of the athletes with their own pets. It was so cute. I had never heard of Nulo until this ad,” while another added "I don't know who I liked more, the Olympic athletes or their adorable pets! I enjoyed learning about Nulo and its premium pet chow offerings." 

Having historically attracted attention of athletes across America, including Nulo investor Michael Phelps, the brand does a really clever job of utilizing Olympics stars to convey their brand message. The athletes themselves serve as a vessel to convey quality of nutrition. It is widely known that world class athletes are very conscious about what they eat, ensuring they are fueling appropriately for optimal performance. It is only natural they would want the same for their pets so they can be at their best too.

With such a great display of what Nulo can deliver for pets in terms of its premium nutrition, not only does the brand manage to raise awareness but also consideration among the audience. 

Before watching the ad only 1% would have chosen Nulo the next time they were buying cat or dog food and treats; after watching the ad this goes up to almost half of the audience with 45% saying they would choose Nulo (purchase uplift: 45% vs 19% norm).

Nulo is a small brand, so it’s natural we might see strong uplifts coming from such an emotive ad, but a 45% uplift is truly outstanding!

If this ad wasn’t enough to steal your heart, Nulo also released individual stories as part of their wider “Fuel Incredible” campaign featuring Anna Hall and her labrador Emma, Caleb Dressel and his English labrador Jane and cat Rems, Chase Kalisz and his bulldog Floyd, Gabby Thomas and her pug Rico, Jessica Long and her goldendoodle Goose, Regan Smith and her cat Roo, Ryan Crouser and his black lab Koda, and finally Simone Biles and her French bulldogs Lilo and Rambo.

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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