Tapping the Power of PR in the Booming Pet Care Industry
The pet industry is booming. American families now have more than twice as many dogs and cats as kids, and pet owners will spend close to $46 billion this year on their four-legged, finned, furry and feathered friends – more than the GNP of all but 59 countries – a figure that’s more than doubled in the past decade. More and more newspapers, TV programs, magazines and national Websites regularly report on all things pets, meaning pet product companies are smart to turn to the power of PR to create awareness and drive sales of their services and products.
I partnered with Chicago marketing communications firm Matrix Partners, Ltd. to expand its client offerings to provide media relations. We helped pet care professionals, product manufacturers and marketers tap the power of consumer media to introduce their products to millions of prospective new customers.
Please click the links below to see some of the work I led for Matrix Partners in the pet care field.
StickySheets Pet Hair Removal product
StickySheets are the creation of a Denver-area entrepreneur who came up with the idea while he struggled to remove pet hair from a second-hand car he had purchased for his son. I oversaw a national PR campaign for the product that led to coverage on ABC-TV's "The View" talk show and countless regional newspapers, TV stations and Web sites. Please click on the appropriate icons below for examples of press materials and resulting media coverage.
Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar of ABC-TV's "The View" demonstrate StickySheets on the show
Once again proving the power and credibility of "earned media," product orders in the first week after the episode aired surpassed total number of orders in the previous six months. Subsequent orders continued to be well above earlier sales levels, and customers referenced “The View” as their source of awareness.
StickySheets also was able to leverage "The View" appearance and buzz created by other media relations placements to secure distribution in a sample group of PetSmart and Petco stores.
Please click on the link at right for a video overview of the StickySheets PR campaign.
packaging its 20-oz. retail products in 100% biodegradable bottles manufactured in the United States from corn, the first U.S. personal grooming or pet products company to do so.
Please click on the links below to see samples of the work and results I achieved for TropiClean.
Organic pet product extends its environmental sustainability
Formulated with natural organic botanicals that promote a pet's naturally shiny, healthy coat, TropiClean specifically sought PR assistance to publicize its latest commitment to environmental responsibility:
Dr. Holly Knor, from Animal Planet TV's "Emergency Vets" reality show and her family's Cairn terrier, Ben. Dr. Knor spoke on behalf of our client at the North American Veterinary Conference.
Publicizing
ground-breaking research at a major vet conference
Client
Vetri-Science Laboratories of Vermont was scheduled to release
significant research findings conducted at a major university supporting
the effectiveness of its Glyco-Flex canine joint support supplement at
the North American Veterinary Conference.
The problem? Its session was up against the
conference's equivalent of a 900-pound gorilla: an event and reception
sponsored by Ralston-Purina.
In true David-and-Goliath form, I identified an effective way to overcome this scheduling disadvantage: on my recommendation, we
contracted with Denver-based vet Holly Knor, who had just completed a
regular stint on the Animal Planet Network's "Emergency Vets," to appear at the conference on Vetri-Science's behalf and address the audience on issues both compelling and relevant to Vetri-Science's research. Dr. Knor
gave a touching speech on the "Human-Animal Bond," tying pet
owners' devotion and love for their pets to increasing numbers of
scientific breakthroughs like the ones being sponsored by Vetri-Science.
Her appearance helped Matrix Partners exceed our client's target audience size
six-fold and attracted coverage from a variety of clinical and
general-interest veterinary publications.
Please click on the
links below for additional information.
