Marketing Musings of a Dog Enthusiast
Primo Pads was a vendor at the Ann Arbor Kennel Club shows July 4th weekend, so I stopped by to purchase a pad for one of my dogs and exchange one that had been chewed. I decided to ask the business owner, Gary Berding, how he got into the business of making these durable, high … Read more
MediaPost reports that Dogtime Media has just launched the Save A Dog Facebook application with the support of Frontline as its exclusive advertiser through September. The application allows users to check out adoptable dogs by breed and location, and then virtually foster, walk, and send dogs to their friends. Points are earned for downloading the … Read more
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 … Read more
The animal feed industry website All About Feed reports on research published by IBISworld which confirms the continued growth of the pet industry; several of these trends have been noted in the Dog Marketing blog previously. Veterinary services are growing fastest, with a trend toward continued specialization; increased owner awareness of these specialties further drives … Read more
I just finished reading Pets in America by historian Katherine C. Grier, published in hard cover in 2006 and paperback in 2007. Although I found it a bit dry in places, overall it is a fascinating account of the subject. The book includes a tremendous amount of information about the marketing of pets, pet products, … Read more
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 … Read more
Retailwire reported on research regarding pet category retail spending before and during the current recession. Pre-recession research showed that pet spending was less likely to suffer during a econonmic downturn than spending on groceries, household and luxury goods. However, data on actual spending in the fourth quarter of 2008 showed that pet owners shifted their … Read more
A friend of mine who pet sits forwarded a copy of a dog tips newsletter from Nanny 911 for dogs, which is distributed to over 2800 subscribers weekly. The author is Victoria Rose, a positively oriented dog trainer who currently lives in the Portland, OR area with her Doberman Pinscher, Jetta. The Nanny 911 e-newsletter … Read more
Advertising Age reports on the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Social Media conference with a clip showing Forrester’s Josh Bernoff discussing the research that DelMonte did amongst their I Love My Dog online community to develop Snausages Breakfast Bites. The parallels between canine and human product marketing are so clear (who buys the dog food?) Here we … Read more
Petfood Industry News published an article about the increasing use of celebrities in dog food and product marketing. Rachel Ray collaborated with Dad’s to create a pet food line called Nutrish, Cesar Milan has a relationship with Petco, Martha Stewart and Purina and Ellen Degeneres’ relationship with Halo foods are all detailed in the discussion. … Read more