"The Man and the Dog"

DDB Argentina and Director Rodrigo Garcia Saiz raised awareness about organ donation in Argentina by touching people’s hearts in “The Man and the Dog.” We got a little background behind the inspiration from Beto Cocito, Chief Creative Officer at DDB Argentina.

Where did the idea behind “The Man and the Dog” originate? Organ donation is a delicate issue in Argentina. There are less than 1,000 people who are organ donors in the country. We knew we need something really inspiring and powerful to inspire people to donate. Something that touches people’s hearts.

So we asked ourselves what touched our heart over the last 5 years, what moved us almost into tears? “Hachiko” movie was one of the things. While we were talking about the dog’s long wait and the owner who never came back, we imagined another story: one with a happy ending where the dog finally encounters his owner but in a new person with a transplanted heart.

Can you talk about the production of the piece, specifically casting the perfect dog for the role. The film was shot by Rodrigo García Saiz, a Mexican talented director and a friend. We casted the best trained dogs in Argentina, and we were lucky, we found the Robert De Niro of dogs. We shot the ad in Buenos Aires in only two days and the dog’s trainer was with us during all the shooting.

What kind of impact have you seen from social media and overall for the campaign? In only 20 days the film got 7.5MM views on Youtube without paid media. The ad appeared in newspapers of different countries, as well as aired by all the TV News Channel of Argentina. And the best of all, the phone calls and people who visited the website of the Fundación Argentina de Trasplante Hepatica increased 800%.

Executive Producers: Diane Jackson (DDB Chicago), Kristin Branstetter (White House Post), Andrew Sommerville (The Mill)

Producers: Caitlin Morris (White House Post), Samantha Letzler (The Mill)

Production Companies: Central Films, White House Post, The Mill

Music: Michael Giacchino

Director: Rodrigo Garcia Saiz

Executive Creative Director: Beto Cocito

Creative VP: Hernan Jauregui

Client: Argentine Foundation

Agency: DDB Argentina/Buenos Aires

The music is performed by Michael Giacchino and its rights of use were kindly allowed by Disney and Pixar to the Argentine Foundation.