• by Tanya Gazdik , August 4, 2023

New research reveals that traditional advertising drives more more pet product and brand discovery than any other channel. 

Two in five (40%) pet parents in the U.S. report using traditional channels like print, radio or television to get information about pet products and brands.

The survey of nearly 1,500 U.S. pet parents (defined as those who own any type of pet) was commissioned by FWV Fetching, the division of French/West/Vaughan (FWV) dedicated to pet and animal health marketing, and conducted online by The Harris Poll.

Pet parents more likely to use traditional advertising for information are ages 45-54 (46%, vs. 36% ages 18-34) and those living in the Northeast (46%, vs. 34% in the West). Traditional advertising was followed by review sites and digital advertising at 29% and 24%, respectively, when it comes to driving pet product/brand discovery.

About one in five pet parents use human (22%) or pet (19%) social media influencer pages to discover pet products and brands.

Younger pet parents, ages 18-34, are about twice as likely as their older counterparts, ages 35+, to use human (37% vs. 15%) or pet (30% vs. 15%) social media influencer pages to discover pet brands.

Older pet parents, ages 55+, are the least likely age group to use digital advertising (15% vs. 33% ages 18-34, 30% ages 35-44, 21% ages 45-54) and official product or company social media pages (9% vs. 27% ages 18-34, 20% ages 35-44, 16% ages 45-54) to discover pet brands.

Only 14% of pet parents say they do not use any marketing channels to discover pet brands.

Although the pet products and marketing industries have evolved in response to new technologies, tools and digital offerings in recent years, some tried-and-true methods of reaching consumers are still relevant for a majority of pet owners, says FWV Fetching Founder and current special counsel Kristen Levine.

But as older generations age of out of pet ownership, it will be critical for members of the pet care community and their marketing partners to prioritize channels younger generations are frequenting, like human and pet social media influencers, she says.

“These findings remind us how important it is for brands to know who their customer is and segment their marketing budget across the platforms their customer is most likely to frequent,” Levine tells Marketing Daily. “While Gen Y and Gen Z are less likely to tune into traditional television or radio or read a paper, brands can confidently reach a meaningful segment of Gen X and boomers this way. There could even be an opportunity for brands that continue to invest in traditional advertising, as their competitors may not be doing so.”

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of FWV Fetching from June 28-30 among 1,493 U.S. adults ages 18 and older who are pet owners.

Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, income, education, marital status, and size of household where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.  Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.