Move over rover, let Sixty40 take over. M&CSaatchi/Mark has begun a campaign titled ‘Throw Us a Bone’ for the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home, which includes two-way interactivity with a live outdoor advertisement.

Launching in October on a massive 7×7 metre outdoor cinema screen in the Customs House forecourt at Circular Quay, the quirky campaign has been designed and animated by agency Sixty40.

This campaign is based on the traditional charity calling card, but rewards generous donors with a gift of branded content.

Sixty40 have created Frankie the Wonder Dog, which will no doubt be an ‘Oh-my-god-he’s-so-cute’ drawcard to Customs House.

Passers-by can text their name to throw a virtual bone onto the screen for Frankie. As he grabs the bone, the donor’s name will appear and Frankie will do a stunt – juggling chainsaws, break dancing or air guitar riffing, to name a couple.

The donor will then receive an animated wallpaper of Frankie’s trick on their mobile phone, and $5 will be deducted from their phone account, proceeds from which go to the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.

“For this idea to work we needed to create a lovable mutt that would stop people in their tracks because they wanted to interact with it. Working with Sixty40 we not only got the content we wanted, they far surpassed anything we were expecting,” says Gavin McLeod, creative director of M&CSaatchi/Mark.

All the creative, advertising, technical and venue partners in the project, which include M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sixty40, Moxi Music, Inspire Screens, Tigerspike, Access PR, JCDecaux, Optus, Hire Intelligence and Customs House/City of Sydney, have contributed their time and resources free of charge to support the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.

It’s good to see agencies getting involved in charity initiatives – three cheers from Newspup!