The Farmer's Dog was able to win the game with its Emmy-nominated ad
The team from The Farmer's Dog, the goal of their first Super Bowl ad was simple to make viewers cry.
"There was a line in the brief that 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!) advertisement "Forever" to life. "I'll never forget that line. It was an enormous motivational factor, both creatively and in my case."
We were interested in learning more about the spot Staff-Picked -- which was the top-rated ad in the 2023 Super Bowl and has been nominated for the Emmy nod (!) -- so we talked to Goh as well as the team of creatives of The Farmer's Dog to find out more about their generous collaborative process, their super-detailed description of the brief, as well as the dogs that were the inspiration for the ad campaign. Read on for the episode's major takeaways. Or, you can watch the entire conversation below.
| Name of the project | "Forever" The Farmer's Dog |
| Stakeholders |
Teressa Iezzi Director of Content/Creative
Sophie Forman, Director of Brand Design |
| Campaign objectives |
Teressa and Sophie decided to design an ad that embodied their corporate slogan, "Long Live Dogs."
Historically, the company had been focusing its ads on the nitty-gritty details of its product. However, Teressa and Sophie were aware that the Q1 campaign needed to more clearly define its purpose -- of helping dogs live longer, happier and healthier lives to life in a different method. |
| Goals |
* Bring to life The Farmer's Dog goal and rallying call with a powerful, artistic way
* Tell an emotional story which goes beyond the specifications of the product |
| Timeline |
The entire campaign took four months from beginning to end to run and the break-down of the production going like this:
October | Short stage November | Goh is sharing his pitch with his team December | Shoot January | Post-production February |
| Resources | The Farmer's Dog team worked incredibly together with Goh in the creation of the end product. Goh played the role of creative director and director for the project as well as Teressa and Sophie played a key role in shaping the project. The trio worked closely in the development process from start to finish. |
| Principal to takeaways |
* Put money into your short
The story is the most important thing to focus on and not on the product * Great work deserves great promotion |