Pedigree is making it easier for those of you who enjoy snapping a selfie with man and woman’s best friend.
Following the success of Pedigree SelfieSTIX – A specially designed clip that lets you attach a Pedigree DentaStix to the top of your smartphone – Pedigree and Colenso BBDO launched the Pedigree SelfieSTIX app that lets people add fun filters to their dog’s perfect photo.
Like Snapchat Lenses, but for dogs, the Pedigree SelfieSTIX app converts peoples’ canine companions into a cast of characters, including police officers, aviators, university graduates, safari explorers and cowboys.
Future releases of filters will highlight special occasions like Valentine’s Day and Easter.
“People have access to filters, so why not dogs? We looked everywhere for the tech, but it doesn’t exist so – we built it,” said David Arcus, Creative Technologist for Colenso BBDO. “We trained a network to recognise dog faces by feeding it thousands of images of dogs. Over time, the trained algorithm learned to recognise similar patterns across all the images – the edges of the ears, or the contrasting colours of the nose, for instance. Then whenever the dog looks at the camera, the app places a fun filter on its face.”
“We love our dogs, so why not give dogs access to all the fun things us humans have too?,” said Cormac van den Hoofdakker, Brand Manager of Pedigree at Mars NZ. “The Pedigree SelfieSTIX phone clip meant that people could have meaningful moments of closeness with their dogs in the form of a perfect selfie. But with the Pedigree SelfieSTIX app, it truly takes those selfies to the next level.”
The Pedigree SelfieSTIX app transforms the campaign and activation into a platform that can be refreshed time and time again, driving repeat purchase of the DentaStix product.
The app uses a unique combination of canine facial recognition technology and machine learning to track the dog’s face, which allows for accurate placing of the filters. It then lets people share their filtered selfie through social media.
The app is compatible with Android and iOS devices and free to download from the App Store and Google Play.
