The French are champions of the animal cause. With 15 million cats and 7.5 million dogs, France is one of the top 3 European countries in terms of pet ownership, with more than 1/2 of French people owning an animal.
Yet identification is still not a reflex. Fewer than 1 in 2 cats in France are identified, even though they are the most common pets in French households. With a chip or tattoo, identification is a pet’s identity card. Compulsory in France since 2012 for all pet owners, identification is the only official link between the owner and his or her pet. It is a lever for public action that enables the State to manage the dog and cat population, considerably improve the search for lost or runaway animals, ensure the traceability of imported and exported animals and control the risk of epidemics.
In response, the Fichier national I-CAD (I-Cad National File of Pets Identification) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty have created National Identification Week in 2019. An event of general interest to raise awareness among future owners and players in the sector: professionals and associations. The 5th edition took place from 12 to 18 June 2023.
The challenge: to give a new impetus to media coverage beyond the highly specialised media of a National Week now in its 5th year. And, above all, to attract the interest of more generalist and local media, which are able to reach a target group of owners who are less involved.
Our conviction: Build a new narrative approach to the event through the preview publication of the Annual Identification Barometer; Multiply the angles to provide each journalist with tailor-made information adapted to his or her media and editorial line, and integrate it into the news; to boost interest and media coverage.
The decision was thus made to make full use of the data available in I-Cad National File of Pets Identification in advance of the week to offer tailor-made content, by animal, by department and by region, on lost/stolen animals, and even on preferred animals and animal names for the French people’s, statistics by region and department… the agency has developed a single awareness-raising message that can be used in a wide range of articles and audiovisual subjects with different stories and angles.
