The “Protect Playtime” campaign, developed by PetArmor in collaboration with Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab, addresses a critical challenge: according to Best Friends’ data, every 90 seconds a dog or cat is killed in a U.S. shelter simply because they don’t have a safe place to call home. However, data from Best Friends also shows that there are more than enough homes for America’s pets. Approximately seven million households will add a pet to their family over the next year, and if just six percent more of them choose to adopt from a shelter the country could reach no-kill, which means saving every healthy and treatable pet. The campaign aims to close this gap through five integrated elements: AI-powered discovery, generative video for adoptable dogs and cats, building animal shelter infrastructure, passive charitable giving through streaming content, and shoppable pet products.
“The best part of working on this was aligning everything around one question: ‘how do we help more of our country’s adoptable pets in shelters find the healthy, happy homes they deserve?’” says Lauren Anderson, U.S. Head of Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab. “That North Star drove every decision – the AI matching tool, the generative videos, the shelter spaces. It’s true full-funnel campaign on a worthy mission.”
The adoption hub uses natural language processing to interpret text-based queries before searching Best Friends’ database of adoptable pets at its centers in Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Northwest Arkansas, Salt Lake City, and the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, using predefined filters. When users submit prompts describing their ideal pet, the AI analyzes factors including temperament, energy level, living situation compatibility, and household composition. The tool then returns matches with complete profiles from Best Friends, including photos and direct navigation to the organization’s website to complete adoption applications.
For featured pets seeking their loving homes, Amazon Ads created personalized, animated videos showing how they might thrive in home environments. Based on the pet profiles provided by Best Friends, the AI-generated content transforms static pet profiles into emotional narratives that help potential adopters visualize life with their future pet – an important factor for dogs and cats that struggle with traditional photo- based listings.
Early results demonstrate the campaign’s potential: in February, PetArmor and Amazon constructed a custom dog park and “catio” at Glen Rose Animal Control in Texas, transforming one of Best Friends’ 6,000 shelter and rescue group partners into a playful environment that allowed personalities to shine. The following day, on Valentine’s Day, the shelter hosted an adoption event that resulted in two dozen cats and dogs finding loving homes – more than quadrupling the shelter’s previous single-day adoption record. By facilitating more organic connections between pets and prospective new families, the event supported Glen Rose in its efforts to achieve no-kill.
Video documentation of the transformation runs from April 6-July 31 across Amazon properties including Prime Video, Streaming TV ads, and PetArmor custom Amazon Brand Store.
These updates to the shelter directly improve adoption outcomes by providing spaces where adoptable pets can truly showcase their temperaments and personalities. What’s more, most of the materials used to build the park – from turf and agility courses to solar powered lighting – are available to purchase on Amazon, proving these types of spaces don’t have to be difficult to create.
Additional campaign elements include “Stream It Forward” on Fire TV, where Amazon will make a donation to Best Friends for each hour of curated, animal-centered entertainment watched. Featuring classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry alongside modern favorites Ratatouille and Lilo & Stitch, featured titles will be highlighted with a sponsored banner, making it easy for viewers to contribute while enjoying their favorite, pet-themed, family-friendly titles. Also available is a shoppable hub featuring an interactive questionnaire that recommends personalized product bundles for creating safe play spaces at home.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Both the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter and Aztec Animal Shelter are full-to-the-brim with adoptable dogs and cats near-by, just waiting for their “someone” to find them and take them home. Both local shelters also partner with Best Friends.
Meet Gourd, a happy boy who is waiting at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter for his forever home. Gourd is estimated to be 6 months old with a playful, friendly personality. AI’s best guess as to breed suggests some bull terrier, mixed with, well, anyone’s guess. He is currently 25 pounds. He probably won’t get very much taller, though, like all of us, he may get a little wider with age. Shelter staff report he is good with kids and other dogs and would make a great family pet. Be sure to come check out Gourd and his other friends staying at the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter.