Marketing Musings of a Dog Enthusiast
Brandweek featured an article discussing Iam’s integrated campaign for its ProActive pet foods containing prebiotics. The food has specific ingredients that stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, and should be distinguished from probiotic compounds like yogurt which contain beneficial bacteria, which would not live through the processing required to manufacture dry dog … Read more
The Humane Society of the United States has entered the pet food business with the launch of Humane Choice, a vegetarian dog food made from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic-certified ingredients. Manufactured in Uruguay, this product is sold through select PETCO and Whole Foods stores. A kibble which meets the American Association of … Read more
A veterinary study reported on dogchannel.com found that dog foods labelled low-calorie had inconsistent labeling and feeding recommendations. Content analysis showed that the food in the container did not always match package claims. Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University did an analysis of 44 different dog foods with labels indicating they would support … Read more
This article isn’t directly about dog food, but may give the industry some food for thought. USATODAY recently reported on comments critical of Kellogg’s for labelling Cocoa Krispies cereal with a claim that the cereal boosts immunity. If you do a Google search on dog food and immunity, over 150,00 results appear, including links to … Read more
As premium dog food brands which claim to use higher quality and more appealing ingredients grow in market share, some traditional market leaders are pushing back in court. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, which produces Science Diet brand pet foods, has been aggressively pursuing manufacturers which it feels have used deceptive advertising for their products. Blue Buffalo … Read more
Petfood Industry reports that Nutro has partnered with Meetup.com to sponsor 60 Meetup groups. The sponsored groups include a variety of existing dog Meetup groups across across North America, including specific breed groups, rescue groups and the Denver Yappy Hour all-dogs social group. Nutro is hosting a kick-off Meetup on September 16, in New York … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … 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