NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith
Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com), the nation's
leading media and marketing company serving 102 million American
women and three out of four Millennial women, has partnered with
Merial, one of the world's leading animal health companies, to
develop and distribute "As the Dog Barks," an original video
series. The series is designed to engage millions of pet lovers
across Meredith Digital's network of properties and social
channels, while growing awareness for Merial, the Maker of
FRONTLINE® Gold Brand Products.
Meredith Digital engages nearly 50 million pet owners each
month, according to comScore. "As the Dog Barks" is a humorous
spoof of the classic daytime soap opera genre, featuring animals in
the leading roles. The four-part "webisoap" will air across
Meredith Digital sites with a custom hub on Better Homes and
Gardens (http://www.bhg.com/asthedogbarks), and organically via the
publisher's social channels. The custom hub features bios and
behind the scenes footage of the characters.
"As the Dog Barks" has already garnered strong social
engagement, with thousands of views for the trailer alone. Meredith
will continue to leverage its large social footprint of more than
60 million fans and followers across Facebook, Instagram and
Pinterest to drive organic video views of the series.
"We work collaboratively with our media partners to continually
reinvent how we reach pet owners," says DJ Perera, Director of
Consumer Marketing of Merial. "The 'As the Dog Barks' 'webisoap'
concept was an inventive, clever way for Merial to engage with
consumers while building awareness for our FRONTLINE products.
We're pleased with the series' initial success."
Merial's newest FRONTLINE® brand product, FRONTLINE® Gold, is
integrated seamlessly into the content, through product placement
and product mentions. Merial's video and display messages also
accompany the content as it is travels across Meredith Digital and
the Meredith Engagement Video Network.
The video series was created and developed by Meredith Digital,
written and directed by Gregory
Abbey, and uses voiceover talent to bring the canine
characters to life. The series features character types found on a
typical daytime soap opera (e.g., the mysterious stray, the doggie
diva, and the wise pooch), and parodies recognizable elements from
the daytime drama genre, including: extreme close-ups, tight
reaction shots, slow-motion running sequences, overly dramatic
music, and "tune-in-tomorrow" cliffhangers.
"Meredith Digital and Merial partnered together to create
original video content that is fun, fresh, and purposefully
designed to best engage consumers on our owned-and-operated sites
and the 60 million consumers who follow us across social
platforms," says Marc Rothschild,
Senior Vice President, Meredith
Digital. "Because it is designed with our audience in mind,
the Merial custom video program will be entertaining to our
consumers and drive real business results for FRONTLINE Gold."
ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION
Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP;
www.meredith.com) has been committed to service
journalism for 115 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple
distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print,
digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they
desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing
partners.
Meredith's National Media Group reaches more than 100 million
unduplicated women every month, including nearly 75 percent of U.S.
Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and
distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest
areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known
brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Parents, Shape
and EatingWell.
Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities,
including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart
stores across the U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is an
award-winning, strategic and creative agency that provides fully
integrated marketing solutions for many of the world's top brands,
including Kraft, Lowe's, TGI Friday's and NBC Universal.
Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated
television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households.
Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing
markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 – including
Atlanta, Phoenix, St.
Louis and Portland – and 13
in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce over 660 hours of
local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading
local digital destinations.
ABOUT MERIAL
Merial is a world-leading, innovation-driven animal health
company, providing a comprehensive range of products that focus on
disease prevention and overall health and wellness in animals.
Merial has three main business areas: pets, farm animals, and
veterinary public health, and its health solutions target more than
200 diseases and conditions across a variety of species. Merial
employs 6,900 people and operates in more than 150 countries
worldwide with over €2.5 billion of sales in 2015. Merial is a
Sanofi company. For more information, please see www.merial.com;
@Merial.
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090810/CG58830LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meredith-and-merial-partner-to-bring-first-ever-webisoap-to-pet-lovers-300329545.html
SOURCE Meredith Corporation