• by Tanya Gazdik , November 1, 2018

PetSmart Charities has partnered with GroundTruth, a location platform that leverages data and insights, to drive mobile users who are potential pet adopters in-store this year.

GroundTruth is able to reach potential adopters via real-time targeting of mobile users near PetSmart locations as well as audience targeting of mobile users grouped based on their past visitation behavior, says Eric Hadley, CMO of GroundTruth. 

“For example, in the campaign, GroundTruth created a custom audience, comprised of moms and dads, recently moved (those who visit stores like truck renting and leasing), and pet lovers who are ages 24 to 54,” Hadley tells Marketing Daily. 

Since the partnership began in early 2018, GroundTruth has supported all of PetSmart Charities National Adoption weekend events and ran a seasonal campaign through spring and summer to support kitten and cat adoptions, in which GroundTruth was the sole media partner. Currently, adoptions for PetSmart Charities are up 12% this year. 

GroundTruth’s commitment is already full steam ahead, with a final push slated around a Nov. 9-11 nationwide adoption event.

Partnering with 4,000 animal welfare organizations, the retailer's charitable arm has helped find homes for more than 8 million pets through adoption, says Suzi Berrios, director of charities, customer experience, at PetSmart Charities.

“Each year it becomes increasingly more important to keep up this momentum,” Berrios says in a release. “Partners like GroundTruth, who donate their technology, allow us to reach our most engaged mobile audiences and then measure if their efforts resulted in a store visit."

GroundTruth used its location-targeting capabilities around PetSmart locations during key adoption periods to drive over 110,000 visits to the retailer's brick-and-mortar locations. The kitten and cat initiative alone drew over 65,000 visits in-store and the September National Adoption Weekend saw a total of 32,159 pet adoptions, making it the most successful weekend for PetSmart Charities. 

Additionally, the top five states where GroundTruth drove the most visits were also the top five states with the most adoptions. For the February campaign, Texas saw the highest correlation, with 3,029 adoptions recorded and 2,241 visits driven by the location platform company.

In addition to real-time location targeting around PetSmart locations, GroundTruth used its first-party audience data and targeting to connect with PetSmart customers. It also created a “Charitable Audience” that accounted for 73% of visits in May.

The partnership is a part of GroundTruth’s Location for Good program, a philanthropic initiative, in which the company donates media campaigns to generate awareness and action for nonprofits. Location for Good has also supported campaigns with American Red Cross, Goodwill, Movember, Thrive Market and The Ad Council.