After 70 years of fighting animal cruelty, the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International were facing a decline in cultural relevance. Despite leading in global advocacy and impact, they were widely misunderstood. 70% percent of people confused them with local animal shelters, making it difficult to build recognition or grow support. Their donor base was aging, awareness was declining, and nearly 75 million potential U.S. donors—and 228 million globally—remained untapped.
The organizations needed more than a name change. They needed to clarify who they were, what they stood for, and how they showed up in the world. Animal welfare campaigns have long relied on graphic images and guilt to drive action. But that approach no longer connected, especially with younger audiences. It drove disengagement, not support.
Rebranded as Humane World for Animals, the organization set out to shift both perception and tone. At a time when cruelty and division dominated the headlines, the brand chose to lead with joy, freedom, and love. The campaign launched on Valentine’s Day, a cultural moment rooted in compassion, and reintroduced the organization to the world with a message grounded in possibility.
This work was created to meet that specific moment. It redefined what animal advocacy could look like, reaching new audiences and changing the emotional language of the category.
To bring our plans to life, we created an animated film that highlighted the results of Humane World for Animals’ important work. We brought the new logo to life by transforming its five animals into handcrafted stop-motion puppets, each shown in a moment of rescue and renewal. The film offered only a glimpse of suffering, just enough to give emotional context, before focusing on joy, safety, and transformation.
One of our biggest creative challenges was designing animals that felt emotionally authentic. They could not be overly realistic or too stylized. We focused on the eyes, knowing that is where real empathy lives.
Music was also key, we decided on “Solsbury Hill” for its emotional arc and message of hope. And when it came to choosing an artist who shares our love for animals and deeply connects with our mission, there was only one voice that felt just right: Sia.
We supplemented our film with a dynamic animal print, made up of carefully arranged animal silhouettes that had been part of the brand’s visual identity for over 70 years.
This wasn’t a basic repeating pattern. Each silhouette was thoughtfully selected and placed to create a fluid, dynamic composition. The design invited viewers to discover new details with every glance. Every animal was positioned to feel natural, active, and alive. Our biggest creative challenge was ensuring the pattern remained engaging and energetic, avoiding the static feel of traditional grids or repetitive motifs.
We partnered with Christian Siriano, who crafted a couture gown using custom fabric with our animal print for Grammy-nominated artist Sia. She wore the gown during her national television performance of our anthem song.
The film and animal print were featured around the world with billboards, a TV commercial, a robust social media campaign, an album cover, and more.
We received 2.2B impressions in the first 2 weeks of our campaign, introducing the brand to new potential donors around the world. The brand saw a 3x increase in impressions and direct traffic to their website during launch, and search volume of “Humane World for Animals” increased by 55x.
We earned 329M organic social impressions and 220M digital impressions (549% more than planned).
The Out-Of-Home campaign delivered 203M global impressions.
The brand wanted to be more well known and recognizable, and the numbers proved that we were getting their new name, logo, and messaging to the world.
And that was just in the first quarter of the year. The campaign is continuing to grow with an additional 169M media impressions in Q2.
