My cat was waking up so much in the wee hours, that I finally got him a cat feeder. It was that or he was going to need a rescue. Kidding. Sort of. But I’m not alone. Over the past year, sleep patterns have suffered due to the anxieties and abnormalities of the pandemic, but they may have also shifted in response to something quite surprising: our cats.
What some cat owners may not know is that their pets are crepuscular creatures and are notoriously more active (and hungry!) in the early morning hours.
While many cat parents are happy to cope with that 4 a.m. feline wake-up call, the Sheba Brand is making it easier to protect their sleep with new custom content designed to help them get back to dreamland.
Now, most advertising creatives would be appalled to hear that their creative work, that they slaved hours over, would dare put someone to sleep. But in this case the creatives at AMV BBDO would cheer.
Developed in conjunction with Behavioral Sleep Therapist, Donna Fairly, and Renata Riha, a Sleep Physician from the University of Edinburgh, the agency has created a new film meant to aid cat parents in the early morning hours, when they may be reaching for their phones most.
The 4 a.m. Sleep-Inducing Film uses a combination of the best sleep techniques – including 20 minutes of body scans, ASMR voices, calm visual effects, meditation and soothing colors – to help cat parents get off their phones and get back to sleep. Watch below:
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Wake up!
“While we all know sleep is precious, most cat parents would say that they put the needs of their cats before their own,” said Craig Neely, Vice President of Marketing at Mars Petcare. “Sheba understands how we love to give in to our cats and created this sleep-inducing content in partnership with sleep scientists as a solution to fall back into a peaceful night’s sleep after meeting our cats’ early morning demands.”
“The film includes several sleep strategies that are helpful for inducing sleep,” notes Donna Fairly. “The tranquil colors and peaceful music, coupled with the tone of the voices throughout makes this content very relaxing, and should be effective for anyone with sleep challenges.”
The content can be viewed on the Sheba brand’s YouTube channel, and across their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
The brand has also curated a 4 a.m. Lullaby Spotify Album to help feline families drift back to sleep.
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
