P&G's Iams Brand Lets Facebook Fans Select New TV Commercials

As anyone who spends two minutes on YouTube, Buzzfeed or I Can Has Cheeseburger? knows, you can't go wrong with pet videos. P&G's brand stewards at Iams were hardly surprised at the response they got when they asked consumers to select on Facebook their favorite heart-tugging true stories about pets' relationships with their owners, and then aired the winners as TV ads beginning today.

The Procter & Gamble brand, which falls under its P&G Pet Care division along with sister pet food brand Eukanuba, invited its Facebook fans, for the first time ever, to vote on five commercials based on true stories to choose the pair (one dog story, one cat story) that would air first by asking them to "like," "share" and "comment" on the stories that most moved them.

"At Iams, we trust our fans and value their opinions a great deal, so we wanted to give them an opportunity to participate in choosing our  next commercial," Iams brand general manager Ondrea Francy said in a press release about the new "Keep Love Strong" campaign.

The winning spots include "Unspoken," (at top) in which a cat named Ziggy shows up on a family's doorstep and tenderly pries open the world of Jake, a developmentally challenged young man. The other crowd choice was "Welcome Home," (above), in which Rocky, a big shaggy dog, greets his owner Dawn upon her return home from an extended tour of military duty.

"Every day we're inspired by the stories we hear from our consumers about th love they have for their pets and the important role Iams plays in those relationships," Francy said. "One of the most important things about our new campaign is that it was inspired by real stories of unconditional love."

Watch the also-rans below: