Friday is National Bring Your Dog To Work Day

Bring Your Dog To Work Day is set to take place tomorrow (Friday 23rd June). To celebrate, the event founder HOWND has released the day's first official movie. Click here to view.

The piece - which was put together by award-winning video collaboration tool Seenit - encourages dog lovers across the UK to donate and get involved in Britain's favourite day at the office.

"It's a joy to watch Bring Your Dog To Work Day's first official movie. People have been more than happy to share why they support the event," says Jo Amit, co-founder of HOWND.

"We hope it encourages even more businesses and employees to take part - as we’re seeing new businesses sign up daily. We’re encouraging employees to submit their ‘pooch selfies’ on the official website – with £100s worth of prizes from the sponsors up for grabs for the best ‘Dog with a Job'."

These selfies are published in the ‘Dog With A Job Hall Of Fame’. Employees can simply donate a minimum of £2, upload their selfie and describe their dog’s work duties.

Individuals that donate £5 or more will be automatically entered into the annual mega prize draw to win £100s of goodies from our business sponsors.

Raising money for animal welfare and promoting the benefits of bringing dogs into safe work environments are both aims of the event.

The two official charities for 2017 are All Dogs Matter and Animals Asia. All money raised this year will be split equally between these two charities. However. HOWND also encourage companies to raise funds for their chosen charities too.

Businesses that still wish to take part can register on the Bring Your Dog to Work Day website.

"This year we’ve got a wide range of businesses from across many industries on board – and we’re expecting many more to sign up as official sponsors this Friday," explains Jo.

"These include large corporates such as Norton Rose Fulbright, Miele and Vets4Pets as well as Trainline, Private Fly, Henry Schein, Flexi as well as a host of well known UK pet businesses.

“If you own or run a business, it’s easy to become an official business sponsor. The official website receives thousands of unique visitors daily with the sponsor logos rotating randomly for fair exposure. For a small donation, the exposure for any business involved is tremendous.

"In return for a minimum donation of £50, your company’s logo, business description, and URL are displayed on the Bring Your Dog to Work Day website homepage, as well as on a dedicated sponsors page."

Both official charities also give every sponsor a 'shout out' on social media. In addition, HOWND reshares all sponsor activity, providing they use the hashtag #BringYourDogToWorkDay - which since the initiative’s inception in 2014 has trended every year on Twitter.

Bring Your Dog To Work Day has become a recognised calendar event, taking the national press and social media by storm over the past three years.

This has led to the initiative claiming bronze and silver ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ accolades at the annual PetQuip Awards.

“We’ve enjoyed incredible results on a shoestring budget. The day has been featured on national television and been the focus of a number of radio talking points around the country,” adds Jo.

“There’s also been national coverage from the likes of The Guardian, Daily Mirror, Metro, Daily Express, The Telegraph, Waitrose Weekend, Sunday Post, The Times, Mashable and Fast Company.”

Celebrities have got involved too, with the likes of Ricky Gervais and ITV’s Loose Women tweeting their support. This has helped the #BringYourDogToWorkDay hashtag trend on Twitter in both 2015 and 2016.

For further information about Bring Your Dog To Work Day visit the official website or email hello@bringyourdogtoworkday.co.uk.