The Dog Marketing Blog

Pethead logo

I recently came across an article discussing Pethead grooming products in Pet Product News International magazine. Pethead is licensed to Skaffles LLC by Bedhead, which is an edgy brand of human hair products which features packaging with unusual shapes, colors and fonts.  This is the first time I’ve seen any human hair care or personal care brand extended into the pet space.  Like the Bedhead brand,  Pethead products are positioned at a premium price point, with shampoos at $18 on Amazon.com According to the article, this is also Skaffles’ first foray into pet products, the company previously specialized in trendy accessories targeted at teenage girls.   The Pethead brand also includes accessories for dogs.  Skaffles plans to further extend its pet products into grooming items for cats and American Kennel Club (AKC)  licensed merchandise.  This product line again confirms the humanization of pets trend and marks a breakthrough in crossover branding, which I’ve previously only seen in pet toys and clothing.  I’m eager to see what pops up next!

Petco Logo

An article from the San Diego Union Tribune talks about the social media strategies of two area businesses, one of which is Petco.   Petco learned that employees were talking about the company on both Facebook and Twitter and decided to leverage those tools for the brand.  On Facebook, Petco has both a fan page and a group; the group encourages people to become a fan.  Petco also has an official Twitter account a YouTube channel and a blog on their main site; links to their social media accounts appear on the blog page. Not only does Petco use popular social media sites extensively, they also promote a pet-centric online community with zootoo.com through the Petco.com site.

Grr-nola package

Further evidence of the humanization of pet foods is provided by the launch of All American Pet Company’s Grrr-nola bars.  An article on All About Feed notes that the manufacturer makes a number of health claims for the product and has it endorsed by a veterinary cardiologist.

This seems like a natural extension of the humanization of pet foods and this is the second product I’ve blogged about targeted specifically as a breakfast product for pets.  Of course dog biscuits, which have burgeoned into an entire snack food category have been around from the early days of manufactured pet food. I would think targeted dinner meals might be up next; doggie lunch buckets for dogs going to daycare seems like more of a leap and one likely to trigger guilt feelings in the working owners of stay at home dogs.

The press releases on the All American Pet Company’s website make some interesting statements.  They make some carefully worded statements of about the healthful ingredients in the food in a side bar attributed to their veterinary endorser, Kathy Williams DVM. The site also emphasizes that their products contains no wheat gluten, the ingredient involved in the massive 2007 pet food recall.

A couple things regarding their distribution plans seem unusual; the food is referred to as super-premium, yet they aspire to distribute it in big box stores, a strategy that is divergent from that of other foods in this category.  Veterinarian’s offices are also mentioned as retailers; it is unusual to see non-prescription foods available in these locations, so I’ll be interested to see  how this plan succeeds.

More evidence of the resiliency of pet food and products in the recession appeared in a MediaPost article reporting on a study of grocery shopping behavior conducted by Digital Research and ThinkVine.   Many respondents reported changes in their shopping behavior such as stocking up on sale items, using coupons and switching to store brands.

Pet products were one of the categories most resistant to change. While 57% of respondents said they had made changes to save money on cookies, only 40% said the same for pet food.  Eleven percent had changed to buying a generic or store brand of cereal, for pet food the figure was 7%.

A similar finding was reported by Petfood Industry from a  survey described on the U.K. website Retail Bulletin.  Over half the people survey (59%) said they switched from national to private label brands for food and healthcare products, while less than one quarter (23%) switched to private label  pet food or supplies.

Pedigree Adoption Drive poster

CMD Global profiles a campaign by Pedigree in Germany which launched in 2008 to raise brand awareness and sales when Pedigree found its products trapped in a stagnant mid-market position.  Growth areas in the industry were in value priced store brands and at the premium end of the market.   Pedigree’s strategy leveraged the dog-owning public’s love of dogs and sympathy for homeless animals to improve brand imagery and preference rather than focusing on a product-centric message.

The Pedigree Adoption Drive campaign encouraged consumers to adopt shelter dogs and donate to the drive that benefited local shelters. Photos and stories about shelter dogs were featured in the campaign which included television, newspaper, outdoor and point of sale media.

The campaign exceeded its donation target, increased shelter adoptions, and helped Pedigree register an increase in both sales and share during the Adoption Drive period.

The July issue of Petfood Industry magazine includes an article titled “Business is Barking” which summarizes Packaged Facts presentation from the 2009 Pet Food Forum.  Although I have to call Packaged Facts out on their creative cropping of the Y axis on a few charts for dramatic effect, the overall message is positive for the pet industry’s potential.

Total pet market spending was up 1.4%  in 2008 compared to the prior year with some indivdual brands up by double digits. Unfortunately, sales are forecast to see a slight (0.5%) decline in 2009, but are expected to regain momentum and continue climbing through 2013.

Petfood Industry reported on promotional efforts by HBH Pet Products on behalf of their No Grainers dog treats. These include a photo contest  co-sponsored by WalMart which is offering a $200 gift card as one of the prizes. They also ran a Twitter contest; consumers who follow HBH pet products and re-tweet (RT) a message about the contest were entered into a daily drawing to win a clicker and some treats.   The company has also launched both Facebook group and a Facebook page, allowing consumers to join or declare their fandom, respectively. I know I’ve seen debates as to which is better for commercial promotion and MBH seems to have come down squarely on the side of trying – both.

At the time I checked, which was after the Twitter contest concluded, the company had 200 followers, 17 group members and 6 fans, so I can’t say they’re getting the word out effectively. I often see promotions like this mentioned in MediaPost, but this one I have so far only seen mentioned in Petfood Industry, which has deeper coverage of industry promotions, but I would not think is as widely read. Of course, pet treat BUYERS are the ones who really need to know in order to improve these numbers.

Putting my consulting hat on, I’d recommend creating branded identities for No Grainers apart from the manufacturer in social media and also putting more investment into mass media to get the word out to dog owners about the treats – and the contest.   Grain-free products are riding a trend in pet food at the moment so there seems to me to be an opportunity to better leverage PR in support of this brand even if ad budgets are limited.

Packaged Facts recently released the 3rd edition of its Pet Care Services in the US report. I haven’t seen any online summaries of the report yet, but I could glean a few insights from the table of contents available online.  Total expenditures on pet care services in 2008 reached $23 Billion, hitting a 10 year high. Veterinary services are the fastest growing sector within pet services, with the increase in pet obesity with its health consequences as well as increasing numbers of geriatric pets helping to fuel this growth.  The number of households owning cats and dogs also continues to increase.

The report also covers changes in the structure of the pet services industry, increased corporate presence, more workers, and the growth of franchising.  Details about expenditures by service type, pet owner demographics and speculation about the  impact of the recession on spending are also included in the full report, which is available in a variety of formats on the Packaged Facts site.

MediaPost reports that Purina is launching an interactive screen saver application called the Unforgettable Tail to promote its Chef Michael’s brand of dog food. The food is described as both mass market and upscale, which I interpret as available in mass retailers at a high price point.  I did see Chef Michael’s in online and big box pet store e-store listings earlier this year when the agency selection was announced, prior to the brand showing up on Purina’s own site.   I also see it’s  now available at Wegmans grocery stores for $.79 for a 3 oz container.

The article says the application will be available by “month’s end” on the www.chef-michaels.com website; since it’s only the 24th of June as I write this entry, I could find no trace of it online other than a note on the Chef Michael’s site that something cool was coming “in May.”  Chef Michaels has purchased a sponsored link on Google for its name but I couldn’t get the link to work today (the site does exist.)   The application will evidently allow dog owners to link their online photos, such as anything uploaded via TwitPic, to  a personalized dynamic screen saver that, of course, promotes Chef Michael’s products. I’m very curious to see this when it’s up and running; I’ll check back on this story in July!

I recently encountered an online dog supplies company called Oh My Dog Supplies on Twitter.  Since following them, I’ve been impressed by their use of social media.  I checked out the website, which features an interesting collection of  premium quality dog products with a guarantee that you won’t find any of their items at a pet superstore.  They sent me a direct message on Twitter inviting me to their Facebook site, then from Facebook alerted me to gender-segregated Manly and Sexy dog photo contests which even offer prizes on top of your bragging rights!  Since I’m pretty set in my ways and dog purchase habits, I think they’ve done a good job getting me this engaged. Time will tell if I convert to a customer . . .