The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2021
Milk-Bone's 'Chewpons' turn whatever dogs destroy into coupons for treats
Dog owners send photos of chewed-up belongings to Milk-Bone and get back personalised, redeemable coupons for Milk-Bone treats.
Milk-Bone (Smucker's) · Leo Burnett Toronto
What it had to solve
Dogs chew everything, from a sentimental stuffed animal to a heartbreaking passport, and Smucker's wanted a Milk-Bone promotion that met owners in that familiar moment of mixed frustration and humour.
How it works
Dogs chew. The range Milk-Bone's campaign drew on ran from a stuffed animal a child loved to the passport a family actually needed — the sentimental and the heartbreaking at once. Rather than preach about dog treats, Leo Burnett Toronto and Smucker's built a promotion that answered this universal owner experience where it happens, on social media.
The mechanic was a swap. Dog owners sent in pictures of whatever their dog had destroyed, and the brand, working with couponing partner WebSaver, replied with customised coupons for Milk-Bone treats. The coupons could be redeemed at easily accessible retailers nationwide, from PetSmart to Rexall, Walmart and more, so the joke ended in an actual trip to the store.
The campaign made dog destruction itself the creative material. Incoming DMs ranged from the sentimental to the truly heartbreaking, and each one was an answerable moment: proof of a dog being a dog, converted into a reason to buy the treat that dog loves.
Why it lands
- The idea needed no new product or channel — it repurposed the photos owners were already posting of chewed-up belongings.
- Every submission was a personalised story, so the reply felt like service rather than an advertisement.
- Making coupons redeemable at national retailers closed the loop from a social-media joke to a store visit.
- The brand embraced the damage instead of denying it, which made Milk-Bone the sympathetic answer to a shared frustration.
What it did
The inbox filled with chewed things ranging from the sentimental to the heartbreaking, and every submission was answered with a usable coupon — dog damage became a reason to visit a store and buy treats.
What you can take
Turn the customer's annoying reality into the promotion itself: let owners send the damage their dog caused and answer it with a redeemable reward — participation becomes the ad.
Since then
The campaign was archived by D&AD under Commerce as a promotion built from user damage: a DM showing what a dog chewed became a nationally redeemable coupon. Its distinguishing move — treating the destruction owners already complain about as an asset rather than a problem — remains the reason the work is still shown as an example of a couponing idea with a built-in story.
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