Pedigree used AI to help people find a real best friend

A mysterious new artificial intelligence service appeared across São Paulo with a simple promise: it could help people find a friend.

The black-and-white advertisements did not identify the company behind the technology. They looked like the launch of another AI product designed to replace something people once received from real relationships.

The reveal changed that assumption. Melhor Amigo AI was created by Pedigree to connect people with dogs waiting to be adopted.

An unbranded campaign advertised artificial friendship

The first phase appeared without Pedigree’s name or familiar yellow branding. Minimal outdoor executions were placed at some of São Paulo’s busiest locations, including Sé and Luz stations and bus shelters along Avenida Faria Lima and Avenida Paulista.

Online content supported the outdoor campaign by presenting Melhor Amigo AI like a new technology company. Its promise to provide friendship encouraged people to question whether an artificial system could offer genuine companionship.

Brazilian creator Felca responded to the idea through social media. Known for discussing social causes and his own mental health, he questioned the growing use of AI as a substitute for personal connection.

His reaction helped move the campaign into a wider conversation about loneliness, technology and the difference between simulated interaction and a real relationship.

Pedigree revealed the real purpose of the AI

The campaign’s second phase identified Pedigree as the organisation behind the mysterious service.

Artificial intelligence was not being offered as the best friend. It was being used to help people find one.

Melhor Amigo AI connects potential adopters with dogs available through nearby animal welfare organisations. Its conversational interface asks users questions about their personality, routine, home and expectations before recommending compatible animals.

The process goes beyond presenting a catalogue of dogs. Matching people according to their lifestyles can encourage more considered decisions and reduce the likelihood of adoption being treated as an impulse.

At launch, the platform included more than 200 dogs through Pedigree’s partnership with Instituto AMPARA Animal.

Compatibility placed responsibility before novelty

Finding an animal that fits a person’s daily life is important for the long-term success of an adoption. A highly active dog may struggle in a home without enough exercise, while other animals may need particular levels of space, attention or experience.

The platform’s compatibility test brings those considerations into the search process. Technology helps narrow the options, but the objective remains a permanent relationship between a person and a dog.

This gives AI a supporting role instead of making it the centre of the experience. The system organises information and recommends possible matches, while shelters and adopters remain responsible for the actual adoption.

The campaign borrowed the language of large technology companies

The launch film deliberately resembles advertising for a major technology product. Its polished language initially suggests that artificial intelligence has developed another way to simulate friendship.

Pedigree then turns that expectation around. The technology cannot provide affection, greet someone at the door or create the everyday bond that develops between people and dogs. It can only introduce them.

The contrast allowed the campaign to question AI companionship while still using AI as a practical tool. Rather than presenting technology as a replacement for relationships, Pedigree positioned it as a bridge towards a real one.

The platform continued Pedigree’s adoption work

Melhor Amigo AI builds on Pedigree’s Adotar é Tudo de Bom programme, which has supported responsible adoption in Brazil for 17 years and helped more than 88,000 animals find homes.

Research referenced by the campaign found that 86% of respondents believed pets positively affected their mental health, 69% said pets helped reduce stress and anxiety and 63% considered their animals true friends.

Those findings supported the campaign’s central argument. Digital companionship may imitate conversation, but it cannot reproduce the physical presence and emotional bond created by sharing life with an animal.

By beginning as a mysterious AI launch and ending as a dog-adoption service, Melhor Amigo AI used current interest in artificial intelligence to direct attention towards animals already waiting for companionship.

Credits

Melhor Amigo AI, 2026. Client Mars. Brand Pedigree Brazil. Agency AlmapBBDO. President and CEO Filipe Bartholomeu. Chief Creative Officer Pernil. Creative Vice Presidents Fernando Duarte and Henrique Del Lama. Creative team Daniel Trimer, Gus Souza and Guto Merino. Strategy led by João Gabriel Fernandes with David Gross, Isabella Ayub and Najara Bartolo. Digital production by Lilian Cavallini, Juliana Sousa and Benext.ai. Content and media agency DPZ. Influencer agency BR Media. PR by AlmapBBDO, Giusti and Weber Shandwick. Illustration production by Black Madre. Adoption partner Instituto AMPARA Animal. Film production by The Youth, directed by Vinicius Kluge and Janaína da Veiga, with cinematography by Johann Stollmeier. Postproduction by Colossal and audio production by Raw Audio.