You can help the Peterborough Humane Society win $20,000 by voting for their “Never Too Late” video, one of five finalists in the 2024 People’s Choice Wagsies Awards and the only Canadian entry.
You can vote at hillspet.com/wagsies-awards once per day until one minute before midnight on Thursday (September 26). The video that receives the most online votes will win up to $20,000, with second place winning $10,000.
Released for a holiday campaign last December, “Never Too Late” tells the story of an elderly gentleman bearing a gift for someone named Lucy.
With its full title “It’s never too late to fall in love again,” the video was created and donated by Peterborough-based creative agency Unmanned.
“We really wanted to encourage the community to either adopt or if they can’t adopt, donate, or if they can’t donate, help spread the message and awareness about these animals in need,” Unmanned co-founder and chief marketing officer Kyle Christie told kawarthaNOW last December.
In the minute-long ad, an elderly gentleman — played by Christie’s own grandfather — crafts what appears to be a leather belt in his workshop, before wrapping it as a gift and readying himself to meet someone named Lucy.
VIDEO: “It’s never too late to fall in love again”
After leaving his house carrying the gift, the man arrives at his destination and waves a greeting at a smiling woman who emerges from a building to meet him.
The ad’s big reveal is that the man has actually arrived at the Peterborough Animal Care Centre. The woman is a volunteer who brings the man a dog named Lucy he has adopted, and the man’s gift is a leather collar for Lucy.
The touching and heartfelt video is obviously resonating with those voting online for the Wagsies Awards. The only Canadian video among the five finalists, “Never Too Late” was leading the voting at the time this story was published.
However, a video called “Beware of Bullies” by Missouri’s APA Adoption Center was only a few hundred votes behind in the voting.
The other videos up for contention are “Scotty Adoption” by Pasado’s Safe Haven in Washington, “Cadbury Paws” by Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA in Virginia, and “A Lifesaving Haven” by Houston SPCA in Texas.
Presented by the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and the Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love program, the Wagsies Animal Welfare Video Awards are described as “a celebration of the incredible work shelters do for pets and our communities.”
With files from Megan Gallant.
