2015 Summit Award Winner - Communicator

The Summit for Communicator of the Year recognizes an organization that develops a concept and successfully delivers compelling content to promotes a better environment for urban animals. Our winner this year, by acclamation, is…

Alison Cross, Ontario SPCA

The Ontario SPCA partnered with the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) on a new campaign called Got a Pet? Get a Vet!™ Promoting the importance for pet owners to develop a relationship with their veterinarian, the campaign quickly became national.

Got a Pet? Get a Vet! shared how it’s important to establish a relationship with a veterinarian when you have a pet. Including pointing out that just one veterinary check-up a year would help protect against a variety of potentially life-threatening diseases, detect health problems sooner, and avoid unexpected costs. It encouraged pet owners to not wait until something went wrong to take their pet in for a check-up and that scheduling a visit with a local veterinarian would help ensure a longer, healthier life for pet(s). The campaign shared images of real life vets with their patients.

The campaign was shared with SPCAs and Humane Society all across Ontario and Canada allowing the local Society to add their own logo and work with their local vets to encourage this message. In addition, pet owners were encouraged to nominate their favourite veterinarian clinic for the Got a Pet? Get a Vet! Award.

The campaign ran for one month and was promoted on the Ontario SPCA and OVMA’s Facebook pages, on their twitter accounts, as well as through paid advertising on Facebook and through Google. Posters were given to SPCAs and Humane Societies all across the province and Canada to be posted at the local shelter. E-blasts from the Ontario SPCA as well as through the OVMA network were sent out to promote the campaign and the contest.

Over 780 clinics were nominated for the Got a Pet? Get a Vet! Award and almost 14,000 votes were cast for those nominated. The campaign received over half a million online impressions and was embraced by over 15 SPCAs, Humane Societies and Associations across Canada.

Urban Animal is grateful to Pets Plus Us for sponsoring the Summit Awards.