When the creative development team at Capital FM want to sell
airtime, they use pets to win prizes.
Sam Crowther (right) recalls the time they were trying to convince
Pedigree to support its Whiskas TV campaign with a series of radio ads.
’Pedigree rarely used radio and we were prepared for a fight. The sales
trick in this instance took the form of a big postbag with a tape
recorder hidden inside, playing a cassette full of meowing noises. My
boss, Diarmid Moncrieff, breezed into the boardroom, dumped the bag on
the table, and announced that he was on his way to the Thames to drown a
cat.’
The polite but bemused marketing executives coughed uncomfortably,
unsure how to respond to the wailing - and uncertain where the
presentation was going. Moncrieff finally let the cat out of the bag
and, as a result of the pet sounds, Pedigree bought airtime across
Capital FM.
