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 went back to the site and was able to create an Unforgettable Tail for Marley, which I both downloaded as a screensaver and tried to post it to Facebook, but the link didn’t work. Anyone else have better luck?