• by Christine Champagne , January 26, 2007

Pet brands are fetching owners via the Web

Woof. Sixty-three percent of U.S. households — that’s 69.1 million homes — have at least one pet, and 45 percent of U.S. households own more than one animal, according to statistics compiled by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA).

Perhaps we shouldn’t use the term “own.” Marketing research shows that dog and cat lovers see their pets as members of the family — as children even.

These proud parents are willing and able and willing to shell out big bucks on Fido and Kitty. In fact, for 2006, it is estimated by the APPMA that Americans will have spent $38.4 billion on pets.

Eager to take a bigger bite out of this rabid market, the providers of pet products and services are pouring money into marketing efforts. According to a report released in December 2006 by Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, titled “Pet Brand Building,” total pet-marketing spending on national advertising — encompassing magazines, newspapers, outdoor, television, radio, and Internet — for 2005 came to about $640 million.

Meanwhile, 21 percent of that money funded Internet initiatives (which rank third in spending behind national television at 37 percent and magazines at 25 percent), explains Pack-aged Facts pet-industry analyst David Lummis.

A number of blue-chip brands are among those spending big bucks on branded sites, e-mail marketing, and search-engine optimization. Eukanuba, for one, which in the past had only employed brand Web sites, began devoting a sizeable portion of its marketing dollars to Internet initiatives last year, funding a redesigned Feed the Breed-themed Web site. It provides customized information to consumers as well as aggressive i-media and paid search efforts. This effort was executed after company research revealed that in terms of media consumption, Eukanuba consumers interact mostly with the Internet and magazines, according to Eukanuba brand manager Sean Clark.

Purina Ups Downloads

Interactive online marketing has come in to its own in the pet arena in the last 10 years, says Michael Moore, director of interactive at Purina. “Ten years ago, I was the guy out in the desert saying, ‘Hey, what about online?’ Now it’s front and center to virtually everything we do,” Moore says. He adds that five to seven percent of Purina’s marketing budget goes to Internet efforts. (That figure is in line with what other blue-chip brands are spending.)

These days, Purina is leading the pack into the wireless space. A leader in downloadable content, Purina recently increased the already sizeable offerings of free, personalized mobile content — ringtones, podcasts, and mobile wallpapers — available via company Web site, Purina.com.

Chris O’Brien, account director at Arc Worldwide who handles interactive for Purina corporate as well as Purina brands Friskies and Beneful, stresses the importance of offering pet lovers interactions with value exchange. “If you bring them the right tools and the right information,” O’Brien posits, “you are going to build an affinity for your brand.”

In addition to Purina.com, there are sites dedicated to specific Purina brands ranging from Alpo to Whisker Lickin’s, and about a year ago, Purina launched a community-oriented Web site called Petcentric.com, which is the hub of its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) engine.

Purina has also gone well beyond its proprietary Internet properties, launching a page of Purina downloads on iTunes, maintaining a presence on Yahoo’s pet portal (recently debuting pet-themed widgets), and serving as a principal sponsor of adoption database Petfinder.com.

Refreshing Step

When it comes to online advertising, cat litter “has been a sleepy category in terms of innovation — everyone thinks it’s just dirt in a box,” says Tracy Lessin, brand manager for Fresh Step. But Fresh Step broke new ground last year with an integrated campaign based on the premise that Fresh Step, with its new odor-eliminating carbons, works so well that your cat won’t even smell it.

Prominent components in the effort, FreshStep.com and LostLitterBox.com, focus on an online game in which one has to help a kitty find her litter box.

Players can register for a loyalty program called PawPoints at the sites, and 60 percent of those who have registered have also opted to receive surveys and other communications from Fresh Step.

Risking exposure to criticism, Fresh Step also undertook a rather daring effort last year in which it monitored the blogosphere, determined the most influential pet people on the Web, then sent 150 of them an e-mail asking them to test and write about this new-and-improved Fresh Step. A success, the tactic garnered Fresh Step overwhelmingly positive reviews on blogs and sites such as Epinions.com.

Del Monte Community

Del Monte, which owns pet brands such as Snausages, Pupperoni, and Meow Mix, is

blazing trails in mining the Web for consumer data. Using MarketTools’ Insight Networks, Del Monte launched an online community called “Dogs Are People, Too” last fall.

Slated for a six-month run, the community is made up of 300 specially selected dog owners and hosted by a Del Monte moderator. “This is a pretty unique approach [to market research], using a very new technology that enables the kind of interaction with consumers not many companies are getting,” says Del Monte director of marketing research Walt Wdowiak.

Useful insights have already been gleaned from the community, including the desire for safer pet transportation. “We’re actually talking with one of the major car companies about a partnership opportunity based on this insight,” reports Del Monte marketing director Geoff Tanner.

Elsewhere, Del Monte pet brands Web sites have also made a significant shift in strategy in the last 18 months. Whereas the sites once focused on product features and benefits, they now engage consumers on an emotional level, Tanner says. For example, 9Lives.com centers on homeless cat rescue, with brand icon Morris (an adoptee himself) leading the charge with his new sidekick, Lil’ Mo. Proud parents of adoptive cats can post pictures of their kitties on 9Lives.com.

“The great brands of the future,” Tanner maintains, “will engage consumers in a two-way conversation.”