The Peterborough Humane Society’s “Never Too Late” video has beaten out four other finalists to claim the $20,000 grand prize in the 2024 People’s Choice Wagsies Awards.
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.”
On Monday (November 18), the Peterborough Humane Society announced on social media that it had won both the “Best Public Service Announcement Award” and the “People’s Choice Award”, with the latter award including $20,000 for animals in need. The awards were presented at the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement’s annual conference in New Orleans.
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.
In the minute-long ad, an elderly gentleman — played by Unmanned co-founder and chief marketing officer Kyle 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 only Canadian video among the five finalists, “Never Too Late” competed in online voting during the fall against videos called “Beware of Bullies” by Missouri’s APA Adoption Center, “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.
“Beware of Bullies” by Missouri’s APA Adoption Center came in second in the online voting, earning $10,000.
