Artlist Collection’s The Dog coming to mobile

It’s not hard to make small animals look cute, but the phenomenon that began in Japan back in 2000 - taking pictures of dogs up close using a wide-angle lens - has become a marketing gold mine.

To date Artlist Collection: The Dog has drummed up an impressive $300 million in sales revenue, with over 100,000 images spanning 70 breeds the range of The Dog licensed products has expanded to include plush, online greeting cards, mobile phone and mp3 accessories, video games, bags, wallets, nightwear, collectables, bedding, housewares, and Top Trumps.

And now Connect2Media has snapped up the license to bring The Dog to mobile phones. Hopefully this will spell games, as well as the usual wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones, and will expand to include the kind of cyberpet, or vet management type of games the property is ideally suited to.

“The Dog is a very strong franchise and we are delighted to be able to bring it to mobile,” says Connect2Media CEO Eric Hobson.

“The unique aesthetic of the licence combined with its universal appeal makes it an attractive proposition in the ‘virtual pet’ category, a sector that is sparsely populated in the mobile world. The licence also takes the Connect2Media catalogue to a wider demographic than ever before and is bound to appeal to a younger, female consumer base.”

What’s also quite appealing about the expansion of The Dog franchise is that a percentage of proceeds - including those that will come from Connect2Media’s new deal - go to the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals charitable organisation, so it’s nice to think you’re helping the animals by playing the games.

Watch this space.