The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Greyhounds As Pets borrows Santa's Little Helper — completed adoptions up 64.6%
After NZ banned racing, Special used The Simpsons' Santa's Little Helper in a Christmas campaign that lifted adoptions by 64.6%.
Greyhounds As Pets (GAP) · Special New Zealand
What it had to solve
New Zealand's government decided to ban greyhound racing from August 2026, leaving more than 2,000 retired racing greyhounds needing homes — the largest rehoming effort the country had ever faced. Greyhounds were also underrepresented in rehoming because of myths about the breed.
How it works
When New Zealand decided to ban greyhound racing from August 2026, the country faced its largest-ever animal rehoming challenge: more than 2,000 retired racing greyhounds would need homes, and the breed was still underrepresented in adoption because of stubborn myths about their nature.
Special New Zealand found the perfect advocate already living in popular culture. Santa's Little Helper — the greyhound adopted by The Simpsons on Christmas — is the world's most famous ex-racing greyhound. The Simpsons granted the charity the use of scenes from 36 years of episodes that quietly demonstrate the traits rescue groups wanted New Zealanders to see: gentleness, loyalty, and low-maintenance companionship.
The Christmas campaign, 'New Zealand's Little Helper', put that greyhound across out-of-home and social media, with media partners donating reach. The results followed the story: more than 51.5 million people reached in a nation of five million, site visits up 135%, adoption applications up 107%, and completed adoptions up 64.6%.
Why it lands
- Santa's Little Helper's own biography — an ex-racing greyhound adopted into a loving family — is the exact argument the charity needed to make.
- Thirty-six years of beloved episodes supplied authentic proof of the breed's temperament without a single new scripted claim.
- Christmas is when The Simpsons adopted their dog, so the timing made the story feel inevitable rather than promotional.
- A globally recognised character gave a small-country charity earned reach its budget could never have bought.
What it did
In a country of about five million people, the campaign reached over 51.5 million. Site visits rose 135%, adoption applications rose 107%, and completed adoptions increased 64.6%, turning a fictional greyhound into the ambassador for thousands of real dogs.
What you can take
Borrow a character whose biography already tells your story: the world's most beloved adopted greyhound made an unfamiliar breed feel like family before a single fact was argued.
Since then
The campaign was the second phase of a wider effort to reframe greyhounds in New Zealanders' minds as the racing ban approached, and it continued to gather recognition — including a Bronze Pencil at The One Show 2026 and a place in the New Zealand Best Design Awards. For Greyhounds As Pets, which normally rehomes hundreds of dogs a year, the surge in completed adoptions was an early answer to a rehoming workload about to multiply.
Sources
- New Zealand's Little Helper — case study
- The Simpsons back NZ's biggest dog rehoming in Greyhounds as Pets' new campaign via Special NZ
- The Simpsons Lend Support to Kiwi Greyhound Rehoming Push
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