It's Bruno! is a short-form comedy series on Netflix about the misadventures of Malcolm, a man living in New York, and his most treasured companion, a puggle named Bruno. Malcolm refuses to let anyone on their Bushwick block treat Bruno any less than the good boy that he is. So when competition arises, from adoring ladies, to angry neighbors, and even stuck up local business owners, Malcolm and Bruno face them together, demonstrating the unbreakable connection between a human and his pet.
While slated to launch on Netflix, our objective was to effectively promote the show to get as many viewers as possible to watch the series while growing and developing a fan base for the show and its star, Bruno the dog.
With an adorable dog and a can-do attitude, the strategy was to lean heavily on partnership opportunities and social media to connect with audiences and dog lovers. On social we created an Instagram page for Bruno, the "actor," to document his rise from rescue pup to bone-a-fide Netflix star, as well as to engage with fans, joining the ranks of other Instagram dog influencers, quickly building a following shortly after the show launched. Capitalizing on the newfound fandom, especially within the dog and pet community, we leveraged the fan following for partnership opportunities to have Bruno be available for meet-and-greets and cross-promotion.
One partnership opportunity that arose was with Healthy Spot, a local pet store chain in Southern California that hosts a "pup-up gallery" every month at their bigger stores (Los Feliz and Topanga Canyon). What better partnership than a pup-up gallery featuring a dog that just starred in his own Netflix series. While Healthy Spot has featured many dogs and artists before, they've never had a Netflix star, so the approach was to give the gallery the Hollywood treatment blending movie magic and a peek behind the curtain with arthouse experience.
The gallery was held in one large room, which was divided into four sections. One section called "From Rescue to Bone-a-Fide Star" housed exclusive curated behind-the-scenes photography showcasing Bruno the star and his diverse human and dog co-stars; another section called "Petflix & Chill" focused on the multiple Netflix cover art available only on the Netflix platform for the series--Netflix display different cover art to different users; a third section highlighted the painted artwork of Bruno that were used in the actual series; and the final section featured a Brooklyn brownstone backdrop with a built out stoop for fans to sit on and take photos with a Bruno stand-in. As an extra layer of Hollywood, outside of the gallery was a step-and-repeat.
For the launch of the two galleries, Bruno and two human co-stars came for a meet-and-greet and photos. Additionally, attendees would receive an It's Bruno! "Doggy Bag," which consisted of a collapsable pet food bowl, poop bag dispencer with a flashlight, Frisbee, and a signed It's Bruno! card from the stars. The event was promoted on the popular Bruno Instagram and cross-promoted by Healthy Spot's social along with their digital and physical mailing list.
Additional meet-and-greet partnerships included being the guest of honor at two PetSpace LA events, the DOGust Event celebrating all rescues/adopted pets with unknown birthdays and the Yappy Hour Event which was a party inviting influencers and guests to mingle and adopt; a panelist interviewed by the influencer Crusoe the Dachshund at Pet Con; and a guest speaker at the Best Friends Super Adoption Event. Many dog influencers who engaged with Bruno on Instagram made sure to attend a meet-and-greet to get photos with Bruno to further drive awareness for Bruno and the show, prompting their followers to watch, especially if they own or love dogs.
The It's Bruno! Pup-Up Gallery was a big success. Fans with their dogs lined up early for both meet-and-greets with the line extending out the door. The Bruno gallery was one of the most successful galleries in Healthy Spot history driving 34% more foot traffic to the stores than the previous top gallery to the point Healthy Spot kept the gallery up for an additional month. The gallery also raised the profile of Bruno's Instagram through more influencer exposure growing the following by 14% and engagement by 19% over a month period. We believe the influencer/celebrity engagement/relationship building from the gallery also helped garner It's Bruno! an Emmy-nomination.
