If I remember correctly, the first book I was assigned to read in high school is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Arguably a relatively inaccessible piece of literature to expect a 14-year-old to rightly apply to life, it is one that I can now, years later, recognize as applicable to the workplace, particularly… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Who is the best pet marketing agency? Chances are good that you’re reading this because you searched for “best pet marketing agencies” or something close to it (“pet industry marketing,” e.g.). That would make perfect sense. Though your situation is personal and specific, it’s much easier to start big and narrow from there. This is… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Mark Zuckerberg recently announced a Facebook update in which posts from business Pages will no longer appear in users’ primary News Feed. While paid posts will continue to appear in the News Feed, an impending drop in organic engagement with Page posts means brands need to revisit their social media strategies in anticipation of this… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
As a student of journalism, “don’t bury the lede” was one of the first lessons—communicate the most compelling and important part of a story clearly, early. In branding and marketing, the mantra also applies; don’t bury the lead! When further extrapolating this thought to leads, it is important to consider that timely delivery of a… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Holiday marketing may be more ubiquitous than ever, given the ease of publishing content on social media, and yet doing it well has not gotten easier. Social media and digital marketing have increased expectations that brands will do something for any given holiday: after all, everyone else is. Yet the prevalence of these holiday promotions,… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
There are those days in life where you are filled with so much excitement, joy, and energy you can hardly contain yourself – you instantly want to share it with others. You inevitably know that you can’t literally “share” the joy – at least not in the way that you might share a favorite book… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
After a lot of hard work, we’re proud to announce (and show off a bit of) our partnership with a Midwestern pet food manufacturer and, a bit farther south, Duck Commander. We’ve worked on this dog food (and treats!) project from its infancy, and while there’s still more work to be done, here’s an overview… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Beyond Pet Industry Trends We love pet industry trade shows. From Global Pet Expo to SuperZoo to the Petfood Forum, we attend these industry shows because, as brand development and marketing partners to pet product companies, we’re part of the industry. There are a lot of good trendspotting roundups (rounds-up?) from this year’s Global, so we… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
The Guardian reports that the large UK bookstore chain Waterstones has opened three small branches without the chain’s branding. The three stores are individually named—Southwold Books, Harpenden Books, and The Rye Bookshop—located in small towns that previously lacked a bookstore, and have a smaller footprint than the typical branded store. Waterstones managing director told The… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Transparency is the biggest trend reshaping the food, pet, and nutrition industries today. We have dedicated significant analysis to the trend on this site, but we also want to make sure our readers are aware of relevant news on the topic, whether we analyze it or not. This post represents our first transparency report, covering the latter… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
The FDA recently announced changes to the Nutrition Facts label, with more details about sugar. Starting in 2018 [1], the FDA will require Nutrition Facts labels to distinguish between sugars found naturally in ingredients and sugars added, both in grams and a percentage of daily recommended value. The FDA is recommending no more than ten… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
With a nationwide GMO labeling bill now signed into law, brands are attempting to sort out what the new requirements will mean for their products. Although the FDA has until summer 2019 to establish the full rules for the law—and even longer to enforce them—the length of supply chains means that brands are already pondering… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Google vs Market Research As a college student circa 2005, I was brash enough with my newfound power of knowledge that I told my mother that Googling “didn’t count as research.” A few years later my mom asked me, somewhat pointedly, if that were still true, and though I had to admit that Google had… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Pet Marketing Insights The above list isn’t a sampler of pet industry trends. Rather, it’s a list of realities that we, as a brand growth firm and full-service marketing agency, treat as basic facts informing our pet marketing insight, strategy, and tactics. What really gets us excited are the deep cross-connections among trends and consumer behavior… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Since our beginning as food industry consultants 15 years ago, we’ve remained focused on the food industry. We’ve done so partly because the food industry is where we started and what we love. But we’ve also done so because we place great importance on the value of focus. Effective food industry branding and marketing require… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>