Meredith And Merial Partner To Bring First-ever "webisoap" To Pet Lovers

NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com), the nation's leading media and marketing company serving 102 million American women and three out of four Millennial women, has partnered with Merial, one of the world's leading animal health companies, to develop and distribute "As the Dog Barks," an original video series. The series is designed to engage millions of pet lovers across Meredith Digital's network of properties and social channels, while growing awareness for Merial, the Maker of FRONTLINE® Gold Brand Products.

Meredith Digital engages nearly 50 million pet owners each month, according to comScore. "As the Dog Barks" is a humorous spoof of the classic daytime soap opera genre, featuring animals in the leading roles. The four-part "webisoap" will air across Meredith Digital sites with a custom hub on Better Homes and Gardens (http://www.bhg.com/asthedogbarks), and organically via the publisher's social channels. The custom hub features bios and behind the scenes footage of the characters.

"As the Dog Barks" has already garnered strong social engagement, with thousands of views for the trailer alone. Meredith will continue to leverage its large social footprint of more than 60 million fans and followers across Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to drive organic video views of the series.

"We work collaboratively with our media partners to continually reinvent how we reach pet owners," says DJ Perera, Director of Consumer Marketing of Merial. "The 'As the Dog Barks' 'webisoap' concept was an inventive, clever way for Merial to engage with consumers while building awareness for our FRONTLINE products. We're pleased with the series' initial success."

Merial's newest FRONTLINE® brand product, FRONTLINE® Gold, is integrated seamlessly into the content, through product placement and product mentions. Merial's video and display messages also accompany the content as it is travels across Meredith Digital and the Meredith Engagement Video Network.

The video series was created and developed by Meredith Digital, written and directed by Gregory Abbey, and uses voiceover talent to bring the canine characters to life. The series features character types found on a typical daytime soap opera (e.g., the mysterious stray, the doggie diva, and the wise pooch), and parodies recognizable elements from the daytime drama genre, including: extreme close-ups, tight reaction shots, slow-motion running sequences, overly dramatic music, and "tune-in-tomorrow" cliffhangers.

"Meredith Digital and Merial partnered together to create original video content that is fun, fresh, and purposefully designed to best engage consumers on our owned-and-operated sites and the 60 million consumers who follow us across social platforms," says Marc Rothschild, Senior Vice President, Meredith Digital. "Because it is designed with our audience in mind, the Merial custom video program will be entertaining to our consumers and drive real business results for FRONTLINE Gold."

ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) has been committed to service journalism for 115 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.

Meredith's National Media Group reaches more than 100 million unduplicated women every month, including nearly 75 percent of U.S. Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Parents, Shape and EatingWell.

Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities, including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is an award-winning, strategic and creative agency that provides fully integrated marketing solutions for many of the world's top brands, including Kraft, Lowe's, TGI Friday's and NBC Universal.

Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households. Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 – including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis and Portland – and 13 in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce over 660 hours of local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading local digital destinations.

ABOUT MERIAL

Merial is a world-leading, innovation-driven animal health company, providing a comprehensive range of products that focus on disease prevention and overall health and wellness in animals. Merial has three main business areas: pets, farm animals, and veterinary public health, and its health solutions target more than 200 diseases and conditions across a variety of species. Merial employs 6,900 people and operates in more than 150 countries worldwide with over €2.5 billion of sales in 2015. Merial is a Sanofi company. For more information, please see www.merial.com; @Merial.

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SOURCE Meredith Corporation

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