LETI Pharma's "Mayores amigos" (Senior Friends) initiative is tackling two overlooked demographics simultaneously: elderly residents in senior living facilities and aging dogs in shelters.
Launched in collaboration with VML Health, the program connects Spanish retirement facilities with animal shelters via mayoresamigos.com. Once registered, homes can coordinate visits between residents and senior dogs, complete with matching bandanas for the animals and t-shirts for participants.
The initiative addresses a harsh reality facing older shelter dogs. Potential adopters consistently pass over senior dogs since their limited remaining years mean heartbreak is closer on the horizon. Yet these dogs can prove easygoing and loving companions for households with children or elderly family members. By facilitating regular visits to care facilities, Mayores amigos expands adoption prospects beyond the shelter walls, introducing animals to residents' families, caregivers and facility staff.
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What LETI Pharma is tapping into is the growing belief that connection itself is therapeutic. The campaign positions companionship as a low-cost, high-impact health intervention. It's a powerful idea for a pharma brand and aligns with a broader shift in how consumers define health and wellbeing — encompassing not just body and mind, but emotional and social dimensions, too.
Loneliness is now widely recognized as a health risk on par with smoking or obesity. Mayores amigo doesn’t medicalize loneliness; instead, it humanizes it, using shared vulnerability (aging humans, aging animals) as the basis for mutual benefit. For residents, the visits provide diversion, purpose and emotional stimulation. For dogs, they offer affection and a new chance at finding a home.