• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Redbarn Pet Products, a family-owned premium pet food company, has launched a brand awareness campaign that spotlights everyday moments shared between dogs and their owners.

The campaign reminds people that life with pets is defined not only by major milestones such as teaching a dog to fetch, but also by the small, everyday moments — like a slobbery lick on the cheek or the way a pet nuzzles into your arms for affection.

“Redbarn. Ready for Life's Adventure” rolled out in March and will run through June, featuring CTV ads nationwide as well as paid social, organic social, an influencer program, and a display campaign. Aspirational images highlight various pairs of dogs and owners through a sequence of everyday adventures.

Redbarn’s products — including Bully Sticks and Bully Slices, Choppers, Kibble Grain-Free Land Recipe and Digestive Health Air Dried Powerfood — appear as treats on a walk, a bag tucked in the trunk, or a well-earned bowl after the pet and owner return home.

Megan Robles, vice president of marketing, told MediaPost that the overall goal for the CTV campaign is to increase brand awareness.

“We are looking at the KPIs, but also doing a brand-lift study via this campaign,” Robles said, adding that the details around measurement will become available in late July.  

“Ready for Life’s Adventure,” the name of Redbarn’s campaign, focuses on building brand awareness, but the goal for the display ad portion is focused on “lower funnel success,” such as turning high-intent leads into paying customers through purchases, typically measured by conversion rates and sales.

“With this specific campaign, we want to connect to our audience and hope they relate to our messaging of pet parent and dog partnership,” she said.

KPIs for the CTV campaign include impressions, video plays, video completes, and video completion rates (VCRs), while the display ad is based on impressions, clickthrough rates, CTRs on mobile interstitials, and viewability.

The creative elements for the campaign did not use artificial intelligence (AI) -- another example of how companies and brands have returned to humanizing messages to improve performance and build awareness.

Robles said Redbarn will not use AI to collect or generate metrics or KPIs.  

When asked what Redbarn’s marketers hope to learn from the data, Robles said the goal is to ensure the campaign’s message resonates with its consumers and builds brand recall. 

“We are hoping to learn that we are increasing our brand awareness and consumer understanding that Redbarn is a treat, chew and food company that understands how pet parents view their relationship to their pets,” Robles said. “We plan to have more campaigns in the future, so this will give us a good indication of performance metrics.”

The next campaign, scheduled to launch later this year, will use the data from this campaign to strategize the tactics that will best accomplish Redbarn’s goals.