Marketing Musings of a Dog Enthusiast
I spent last weekend at the Midland Michigan Kennel Club dog shows. These are fairly small shows with a limited number of vendors, but it’s the second all breed show I’ve attended in the past month where Canidae had a booth. This is a brand I’ve been familiar with as a holistic, high quality dog … Read more
Pet Food Industry News reports that Mars’ Pedigree brand will launch vegetarian dog food in India. These products are meant to appeal to vegetarian owners, and according to an article in MyDigitalLifeFC, more than half of all Indian dog owners would prefer to feed vegetarian. Although we tend to think of dogs as carnivores, they … Read more
Can’t resist some shameless self promotion. I recently got word that a dog I bred, Woodrow, will be in the fall Drs Foster & Smith dog supplies catalog. Woodrow’s owner, Doug Nartker, told me a dog trainer in the area had suggested Woodrow as a potential model. Woodrow and the company are located in Northern … Read more
Ad Age shared a report from Martin Lindstrom regarding a clever dog food product placement in Venezuela. Master Dog food was a sponsor of the reality show La Granja Vip – a version of an international reality format known as The Farm. They wanted to integrate their brand with the show and decided to have … Read more
I got an email today from Packaged Facts announcing that one of their analysts, David Lummis, will be presenting at the Petfood Forum next week in Chicago. His topics will include the increased involvement of celebrities in pet food marketing (Rachel Ray, Cesar Milan), the influence of online marketing, and the trend toward organic/natural pet … Read more
I went down to Knoxville with a couple of my siblings recently to visit my Mom. While we were there we visited the local Food City to do some shopping and my sister signed up for a shopper card to get a discount on her purchase. While checking out I noticed that there was an … Read more
NPR’s Fresh Air this week featured an interview with Michael Schaffer, author of One Nation Under Dog, a book about consumer dog culture seen through the eyes of a journalist and first time dog owner. At this point I’ve listened to the interview and just started reading the book, but it chronicles the decision of … Read more
Tyson Foods recently announced they purchased a minority stake in Freshpet, a manufacturer of refrigerated pet food. This news inspired Packaged Facts, to send an e-direct reminder about their Fresh Pet Food in North America study which was released in July, 2008. Freshpet will apparently gain access to Tyson’s distribution network and manufacturing facilities, while … Read more
The Truth About Pet Food reported on a pet food class action lawsuit that was thrown out in Nevada. Owners who purchased WalMart’s house brand Ol’ Roy canned food felt deceived by the product’s “Made in USA” language on the label. This product was one of those that included Chinese ingredients tainted with melamine. The … Read more
As promised, I’m returning to my Detroit Kennel Club vendor interviews with a profile of Smucci custom pet beds. The owner/artist Debi Kahn was doing interior decorating when she got the idea for making beautiful furniture that doubled as pet furniture. She blogs about her DKC experience and includes some great photos from the event. … Read more