How the Farmer's Dog was able to win the game thanks to its Emmy-nominated commercial
The team from The Farmer's Dog, the purpose of their very first Super Bowl ad was simple to make viewers cry.
"There was a line in the brief which basically said, "if we fail to make our audience cry, then we've failed," says filmmaker Goh Iromoto, who brought The Farmer's Dog now-iconic (and Emmy-nominated!) ad "Forever" to the world of. "I'll never forget that quote. It was an enormous driving force, creatively, to me."
We were interested in learning more about the spot Staff-Picked -- which was the most rated commercial from the 2023 Super Bowl and has received the Emmy nod (!) -- so we sat down with Goh and the creative team of The Farmer's Dog to find the details of their amazing collaboration process, their meticulous brief, and the dogs who were the inspiration for the campaign. Find out more about the episode's key takeaways, or catch the whole conversation on YouTube.
| Project name | "Forever" The Farmer's Dog |
| Stakeholders |
Teressa Iezzi, Director of Creative and Content
Sophie Forman, Director of Brand Design |
| Goals of the campaign |
Teressa and Sophie were looking to develop an ad that embodied their corporate slogan, "Long Live Dogs."
In the past, the company concentrated its marketing on the nitty-gritty specifics of its products. However, Teressa and Sophie knew the Q1 campaign should be more clear in its approach to convey its goal -- of helping dogs live longer, happier healthy lives to life in a new way. |
| Goals |
* Bring to life The Farmer's Dog purpose and rallying cry through a creative, powerful way
* Tell an emotional story which goes beyond the specifications of the product. |
| Timeline |
The whole campaign took 4 months from beginning to end to complete The structure of the campaign looking like this:
October | Short stage November | Goh pitches with the team December | Shoot January | Post-production February Live! |
| Resources | The Farmer's Dog team worked incredibly together with Goh to create the end result. Goh played the role of creative director and project director and Teressa and Sophie played a key role in the design of the project. The trio worked closely on the project from start to end. |
| Key takeaways |
* Make sure you invest in your brief
The story is the most important thing to focus on rather than the product * Great work deserves great promotion |