THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!
From the 4th Annual Shorty Social Good Awards

The Dodo's "Comeback Kids"

Gold Honor in Video Series

Objectives

The Dodo is the #1 digital media brand in the world for animal people and most-engaged with media brand in the world on social, owning the animal category across social platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. We tell fun, entertaining, emotional stories about animals that make people laugh, cry happy tears, feel ALL the feels, and fall in love with animals. Our audience is everyone who loves animals, from people who are obsessed with their pets to those people who have dedicated their lives to protecting and saving animals.

Over the past year, The Dodo continued to dominate not only the pet and animal landscape, but also media and entertainment more broadly. One of The Dodo’s fan-favorite shows, “Comeback Kids,” aims to inspire viewers by shining a spotlight on animals who found one determined person to help them rebound from a seemingly insurmountable setback. The mid-form series chronicles these comeback kids’ amazing transformations, and shows what it means to be truly resilient.

Strategy and Execution

“Comeback Kids” tells the stories of animals who have had a rough start in life -- until they found someone who refused to give up on them. These are animals whose stories inspire millions of people to dig deep and think positive during difficult times. Each episode highlights everyday people who go to extraordinary lengths to help animals in need. The show proves that a little love can make a huge difference and change an animal’s life forever. 

Season 3, sponsored by GEICO, premiered in March 2019. It featured a fresh slate of unique animals from across the country -- including a pig in North Carolina who was found stranded in a hurricane, a puppy who was never supposed to walk but taught herself how to run, a fuzzy zebu calf in Iowa whose family built her a custom wheelchair, and a baby wolf who found her place in a rescued pack. Viewers fell particularly hard for Nubby, a 2-legged puppy who found the best family to help him grow strong. Nubby’s episode amassed nearly 30M views on Facebook alone. 

“Comeback Kids” is one of the most successful Facebook Watch series to date and has helped make The Dodo the #1 most-loved publisher on Facebook Watch (in terms of “love” reactions per episode). [Source: CrowdTangle, July 2019] 

The series has evolved over the course of its three-season journey. We are diving deeper into the animals’ stories and also highlighting a more diverse set of animals. “Comeback Kids” episodes tackle important issues such as the dog meat trade and backyard breeding to encourage our viewers to take action. Our more in-depth stories show that animals are just as resilient as us when given a second chance at life. 

Results

The series, which includes three seasons and 15 standalone episodes has seen the following success:

Media

Video for The Dodo's "Comeback Kids"

Entrant Company / Organization Name

The Dodo

Links