Hasta La Creative!

Raleigh agency Howard/Merrell launched a new spot for PackRat, clarifying the meaning of the term “Pet Carrier.”

The spot opens on a spokesman explaining that a customer misunderstood what PackRat meant when they recommended a pet carrier. Instead of the familiar little cat boxes, he strapped his feline into a drone. When the cat flies into a power line and falls, the spokesman catches the critter, very obviously a stuffed animal. Moments later it’s a real cat again, and is transferred to a pet carrier for the move as the spokesman invites viewers to visit 1800packrat.com or call for more information about moving pets.

The attempt at humor not only falls flat, it leaves me wondering what kind of person would need more very obvious information about moving a pet and whether they should really be responsible for another living being. It seems that there are enough actual ambiguities involved with the process that the agency could have highlighted instead, and hopefully they’ll move on to one of those with future spots.