Humans have a special relationship with baby animals. Research done by Nobel prize-winning zoologist Konrad Lorenz showed that baby animals often resemble physical traits of human babies — large eyes, snubbed nose, etc. — and humans are subconsciously fooled into applying affectionate feelings toward young animals as we would young humans.
Research aside, there’s no doubt humans are engaging with baby animal, both physically and digitally. Twitter has an especially big presence of digitized baby animals, with both @babyanimalpics and @babyanimalpicss (account names separated by one “s” at the end) having more than 1.2 million followers. They’re accounts solely dedicated to sharing media featuring baby creatures.
I NEED ONE NOW 🐯 pic.twitter.com/8TEB1zWKQk
— Baby Animals (@BabyAnimalPics) November 10, 2015
Here’s a picture of two baby sloths cuddling I thought you all needed. pic.twitter.com/EANTaaX21t
— Baby Animals (@BabyAnimaIPicss) November 10, 2015
Another soft spot for most human beings comes in the form of free stuff. The most publicized shopping day of the year comes on the eve of Thanksgiving as stores move full-throttle into the holiday shopping season. The day after Thanksgiving is widely regarded as Black Friday, as millions (133.7 last year) of Americans pack their shopping carts to take advantage of ridiculously low sales available usually to a limited number of customers.
At the intersection of human love for baby animals and Black Friday shopping, we have Juno, the eternally energetic and excited puppy.
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This video of Juno galloping toward the camera is emblematic of the way people view the most intense Black Friday shoppers — quick, eager and downright stupid. Juno will become the new, affectionate mascot of Black Friday shopping, but will widely be known as #BlackFridayPuppy. It’s easier for the general public to identify with more of a brand than it is a very specific name. Juno is not destined for social media fame, #BlackFridayPuppy is.
#BlackFridayPuppy is a versatile concept because it can have both positive and negative connotations regarding the defacto holiday. The negative take is more so outlined above, that Black Friday shoppers are often viewed as incensed individuals reaching the best and earliest deals at all costs. #BlackFridayPuppy doesn’t seem to put a whole lot of thought as to where it’s running.
Advertisers will want to help make #BlackFridayPuppy the face of their door-busting deals, fully aware of the intoxicating effect a scampering, slow-motion puppy has on the vast majority of Americans. It is expected that from a business level, #BlackFridayPuppy will be a success because of its ability to touch the hearts of millions. From an individual level, #BlackFridayPuppy will be a wild success due to the symbolism of an intense puppy stupidly running toward a camera that it will inevitably hit.
The video nature of this content also lends itself to widespread success, given that it can run in television media and any other type of non-print media. In the digital age, this four-second GIF is the perfect product of a campaign that is destined to take off.