Pets of Champions — A Start-up Like Digital Project Approach
Discover how the network tested online a new show format!
A pet’s love can change one’s life. So, we aimed of bringing together some truly emotional stories about champions and their pets: cats, dogs, lizards, turtle, parrots, snakes or other exotic animals. We also did our best to promote topics of interests related to Planet Earth, wildlife protection projects, climate change, international celebrations that bring people together etc.
"Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened."
It was Walt Disney who once said that “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible!”. For a few years I had this quote on one of my Grapefruit business cards. I still believe it and love it! In a way, I think it always had something to do with the kind of projects I got involved over the years, namely challenging ones although for different reasons. Pets of Champions project is no exception! The way I see it, my personal challenge was to help Discovery launch a digital project in less than two months, yet without counting on too many resources. That meant choosing the tech platform, deciding on User Experience (UX) and information architecture (IA), defining content strategy, content development, social media and so on. And, of course, also manage the unexpected, but that comes with the territory!
It all started with one of Discovery Networks’ internal competitions, which was a really exciting opportunity. The wonderful Delia Dobritoiu, the amazing creator, director and producer of “Pets of Champions”, explains:
The Client wanted to try something new. Something they never tried before, namely to test the idea of a new show format. What better way to test it, if not by taking advantage of the digital channels? But, the Client did not want to settle with testing a new TV show concept. Discovery also team wanted to inspire people and engage them into the conversation. Get the share their own stories!
It is worth mentioning that the client’s internal resources were pretty much non-existent. The only people who could be counted on were two internal trainees, which was great! Their familiarity with the digital environment was that of a simple internet user, which made the challenge all the more exciting for them! Despite these challenges, both Delia and I were thrilled to take on this exciting challenge, and we are delighted with the results. Plus, we absolutely love the Pets of Champions project!
Therefore, “Build your own Olympic moment!” became a driving principle. Yet, sport champions had to be brought on board and that’s exactly what happened. Olympic winter game champions such as Julia Dujmovits (snowboarder), Anke Woehrer (snowboarder), Šárka Strachová (alpine ski) and Konrad Niedźwiedzki (long track speed skater) agreed to share their pet stories.
The plan was for these admired champions to start the conversation. Next step was to bring ordinary people to share their touchy pet’s stories.
Therefore, “Build your own Olympic moment!” became a driving principle. Yet, sport champions had to be brought on board and that’s exactly what happened. Olympic winter game champions such as Julia Dujmovits (snowboarder), Anke Woehrer (snowboarder), Šárka Strachová (alpine ski) and Konrad Niedźwiedzki (long track speed skater) agreed to share their pet stories.
The plan was for these admired champions to start the conversation. Next step was to bring ordinary people to share their touchy pet’s stories.
PETS OF CHAMPIONS
This is a brief summary of the services and deliverables we provided for this project. As with any project, there are many other things that happen behind the scenes, and they are crucial to the success of the project.
- BRANDING — Design elements for website and Social Media;
- WEBSITE — Platform selection and implementation; sitemap; taxonomy; Information Architecture; design & layout;
- CONTENT — Content strategy for website and Social Media Channels; content writing and production; implementation;
- SOCIAL MEDIA — templates; production; monitoring & content performance analysis;
Let’s be real!
As is the case with real business life, even really great projects that are totally worth face different types of challenges. This is also the case with Pets of Champions. Basically, we promised to help Discovery team launch a digital project in less than two months. That meant choosing the tech platform, deciding on User Experience (UX) and information architecture (IA), defining content strategy and development, social media and so on. And, of course, also manage the unexpected, but that comes with the territory!
For many of you, I am sure the bullet list below may sound familiar. Briefly, these are the ones we had to overcome:
- LAUNCH DATE — We only had 90 days till launch when we started talking about the project. By the time papers were signed and project requirements and deliverables agreed on, we were left with less than 60 days till launch date.
- BRANDING — We had the naming, yet we needed to create the brand identity of the project and all visual elements library.
- USER PERSONA — It was vital to define relevant user personas so that the whole team have a clear understanding and empathy to understand the users’ needs and goals;
- CONTENT AVAILABLE — Content available — we had hundreds of hours of raw footage, yet much of the material was not finalized: video intros, logo, brand design elements, links had to be added and last edits to be done;
- LIMITED RESOURCES— overall, across the development of the project there was an average of 4 part-timers involved, including Producer & Creator Delia Dobritoiu.
- BUDGET — Given the fact that this was a “last-minute” approved project, never included in the annual budget, we could not count on huge amounts to spend. Therefore, we had to carefully plan every penny we had.
PETS OF CHAMPIONS
We decided to approach Pets of Champions as a startup project. We assessed our resources and defined an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). For Discovery team involved this was something quite new. It showed them a new way of managing a production project. A new way of doing things in the digital world.
With such a digital-by-birth project and limited resources, we knew we had to settle for less than we actually dreamed of. We always had to remind ourselves that “there are perfect projects and launched projects.” Not the easiest thing to do when you have two perfectionists running the show!
As far as technology is concerned, there is not so much to tell. We decided to use Squarespace.com as a platform. Having around-the-clock IT support, hosting and a great variety of web of fully responsive templates were some of the reasons why. Plus, having an easy Content Admin User Interface was a critical factor having neither dedicated nor digitally-experienced people. We had no time for training people, and none of the interns worked with Content Management System before.
SEE FOR YOURSELF!
I invite you to take a look at some of the deliverables I brought to the Pets of Champions project. These will pique your professional curiosity and remind you of what authentic joy really looks like. Everyone on the team went above and beyond to make this possible! If you’re wondering what “extra mile” meant in this case, here are some examples: working long hours after the official program ended and making a lot of effort to accommodate different time zones. Last, but not least important. Clear communication, passion and self-motivation were key to launching Pets of Champions on time.
Meet the Olympic Champions
and Their Amazing Pets
Fighters, believers and hardworking individuals, who have overcome some extraordinary situations in their lives. But most of all, people who have never given up on their dreams, who put all their energy, commitment, training and mental strength into their fabulous journeys. And on top of all that, proud owners of amazing pets! We are so grateful to these four wonderful champions who welcomed us into their lives and shared their fascinating pet stories with us.
There's all sorts of champions out there!
Let me be clear: the project team's approach to the concept of "champions" was not confined to "athletes". "Champions" were also the ordinary people, the animal lovers, the saviors and caretakers of these wonderful souls. Finally, it is crucial to emphasise that "champions" also encompassed the pets – the stars, the heroes, and the central characters of the stories we have published. There many such stories sent from Pets of Champions' readers. All you need to do is visit petsofchampions.com to see for yourself.
FUNNY & SERIOUS. AUTHENTIC & HONEST. INSPIRING.
Those of you who are familiar with the topics I write about know well I am a huge fan of creating original content, good quality and inspiring content. Let’s give to Caesar what is Caesar’s! A picture speaks a thousand words! And, we had plenty of funny, amazing, real life pictures. Be sure AI tool was used to generate them! Pets of Champions is the living proof that inspiring content drives traffic. Sure, it needs SEO and effort, yet it all pays off!
The All Knowing Murphy
Murphy is the most fascinating pet of all! Not only is he incredibly knowledgeable and what's going on in the world-good or bad, but has a fantastic sense of humour. I guess you got the idea! 🙂 He is both Pets of Champions' Educator and Entertainer! Of course, the memes inspired by our furry friends were of great help to Murphy.
Truth to be told, we put some muscles into promoting Pets of Champions project. As media buying budget was not that much, we shared the stories with our friends on all Social Media; we made sure everyone at Discovery knows about this projects and, of course, we placed few banners across the website’s pages.
No, this is not the whole story of how Pets Of Champions saw the light of day. There are more things to say about how we made this project happen and the content adventure we had.
What a story, what a challenge and what an amazing journey of making a dream come true!
PORTFOLIO
I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of digital and marketing projects, some of which have not been subject to public disclosure. However, in certain instances, with the assistance of my clients, I have been able to document my work through case studies.
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