Nestlé Purina PetCare Co.

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Nestlé Purina PetCare Co.

INCREDIBLE DOGS CAMPAIGN
MULTIPLE STRENGTH FOR MULTIPLE CATS CAMPAIGN

Checkerboard Sq.
St. Louis, Missouri 63164
USA
Telephone: (314) 982-1000
Fax: (314) 982-2134
Web site: www.purina.com

INCREDIBLE DOGS CAMPAIGN

OVERVIEW

NOTE: Since the initial appearance of this essay in the 1999 edition of Major Marketing Campaigns Annual, Ralston Purina was acquired by Nestle USA. The essay continues to refer to the company's former name, as that was the official name of the organization when the campaign was launched.

With the "Incredible Dogs" marketing campaign—a broad effort that included advertisements, an essay competition, and canine athletic events—Ralston Purina Company encouraged consumers to purchase Purina Dog Chow and Purina Puppy Chow to help their pets attain an exceptional level of health and energy. An advertisement in Reader's Digest in November 1998 showed a man in a business suit prone on the sidewalk in front of his house. A large puppy stood on the man's chest, regarding him inquisitively. In the door of the house was a hole shaped like the outline of a puppy, implying that the dog had burst through and tackled his owner outside. The headline read, "It's gotta be the Puppy Chow." The text said that Purina Puppy Chow offered appealing taste and the perfect nutritional formulation—including calcium and protein but no artificial colors—for puppies to develop strong bones and muscles. The ad included the slogan "Incredible puppy food. Incredible puppies" beside a picture of the product. The "Incredible Dogs" campaign was developed by the Fallon McElligott advertising agency. It ran through 1998 and into 1999 in print and broadcast media.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Ralston Purina was founded as the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1894 by William H. Danforth, George Robinson, and William Andrews. The enterprise began by marketing feed for horses and mules and expanded into hot breakfast cereals, including Purina Whole Wheat Cereal. The name was derived from the company's slogan, "Where purity is paramount." The product was later called Ralston Whole Wheat Cereal when it was endorsed by Dr. Albert Wester Edgerly, a widely recognized health advocate commonly known as "Dr. Ralston." In 1902 the business was renamed Ralston Purina Company. During World War I Danforth served as YMCA secretary for troops in France, where he noticed that soldiers responded eagerly to the word "chow." After the war he changed the word "feed" to "chow" on all of his company's livestock and poultry feeds. In 1986 Ralston sold its animal feed business, Purina Mills. The divestiture allowed Ralston Purina to concentrate on pet food and other consumer packaged goods.

In 1998 Ralston Purina was the world's largest maker of dry dog food and dry and soft-moist cat foods. Its dog food brands included Dog Chow, Puppy Chow, Fit & Trim, Grrravy, Mainstay, Butcher's Blend, and a premium product named Purina O.N.E. The company also made Purina Biscuits, Beggin' Strips, and T Bonzpet treats; Cat Chow and Meow Mixcat foods; Tidy Cats cat litter; and Eveready and Energizer batteries. Rural Purina dealers had been selling food for hunting dogs and working farm dogs since 1926, but the company's dog food was not available at grocery stores until 1957. Purina spent five years researching and formulating pressure-cooked Purina Dog Chow, a nutritious and palatable brand designed specifically for grocery outlets. The product gained popularity so quickly that for a time the company could not manufacture enough to keep up with demand. By January 1958 Purina had 14.8 percent of the dry dog food market, and by the following August Dog Chow was the most popular brand in the nation, a position it held for the next 40 years.

Dog Chow was first advertised with an "eager eater" theme that focused on its appealing flavor. An advertisement in Good Housekeeping in 1990 continued that tradition by showing a dog with its head and front end buried in a sack of Purina Dog Chow as it ate food straight from the bag. The text said that, although they were unaware that the product contained real meat, bone meal, whole grains, and 43 nutrients, dogs loved it because it tasted good. The ad included the slogan "All you add is" and a heart-shaped graphic to represent the word "love." That slogan had been in use since the 1960s, but it was replaced during the 1990s as the company worked to revive interest in the brand. An advertisement that ran in Country Living in 1997 showed a dog trotting up to a sack of Purina Dog Chow and crawling inside to eat from the bag. The ad said that dogs could not resist the product's taste. "It's packed with quality ingredients for the unsurpassed, scientifically balanced nutrition you expect from Dog Chow," said the text. The tag line was: "Purina. Bring out the champion in your dog."

TARGET MARKET

In 1996 there were at least 54 million dogs and 59 million cats in the United States. More than half of the nation's households owned pets. One survey in the late 1980s indicated that most dogs lived with people who owned homes in small communities. Households with dogs—especially those with purebreds—were usually larger and had more money than those without dogs. Dog owners tended to be 35 to 54 years old, and their children were most likely to be 6 to 17 years old. People considered their dogs to be part of their families, often treating them as if they were children or regarding them as best friends. About 6 percent of the average dog owner's grocery bill went for dog food. In 1996, with sales of $7.5 billion, the pet food market was larger than the market for juice, baby food, and pasta. Since people felt strong affection for their dogs and wanted them to live as long as possible, they usually shopped for the best pet food they could buy. They wanted manufacturers to consult with veterinarians and breeders to develop highly nutritious pet food.

The "Incredible Dogs" campaign emphasized that Ralston Purina used scientific research to formulate healthful products. Since it included athletic competitions, the marketing effort appealed to consumers who enjoyed extreme dog games, one of the fastest growing activities for people and their pets. In these sports competitions dogs performed spectacular feats such as leaping off ramps into water, executing acrobatic routines, and racing through obstacle courses. Some participants in events sponsored by Purina had first qualified by winning competitions hosted by regional chapters of organizations such as the North American Flyball Association, a group that promoted the popular sport of dog flyball.

UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET MARKET

In 1996 Fallon McElligott won a Grand Effie Award, a top honor in the advertising industry, for the "Purina Dog Chow Every Day" campaign, which advised consumers to buy only Purina Dog Chow to provide their pets with a consistent, nutritious diet. Fallon McElligott developed the campaign after research indicated that consumers who usually purchased Dog Chow realized that dogs did not need variety in their diets. In contrast, consumers who frequently switched brands thought that dogs, like humans, needed various types of food. The advertising campaign emphasized the fact that dogs tended to develop stomach problems or become finicky eaters when they were given assorted brands of dog food.

COMPETITION

Purina Dog Chow had remained the nation's top brand of dry dog food since 1958, although its market share had slipped to about 10 percent by the early 1990s. According to Pet Food Industry magazine, Purina Dog Chow led the category in 1993 with sales of $245 million. Purina Puppy Chow was second with sales of $140 million, and Meal Time (made by Kal Kan, the pet food division of Mars, Inc.) was third with sales of $100.5 million. By the end of 1998 Ralston Purina had 15.4 percent of the U.S. pet food market, according to Feedstuffs magazine. The Friskies PetCare division of Nestlé S.A. was second with 12.4 percent, and the Heinz Pet Food division of H.J. Heinz Company was third with 12.3 percent.

In 1998 Mars continued its effort to achieve global consistency among its products by changing the name of Pedigree Select premium dog food to Cesar Select Dinners. The Cesar name had been used in Europe and Asia but was new to the United States. Aimed at small dogs, the product was promoted with print ads that showed a diminutive pet dragging its owner out of bed by the leg of his pajamas. The tag line was: "What do you feed the head of the household? Only the best." Meanwhile, Friskies PetCare advertised its Alpo brand with the tag line, "A great dog deserves Alpo." Other primary rivals included premium brands such as Iams Natural, made by Iams Company, and Hill's Science Diet, made by Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. "What vets feed their pets," said the headline in an ad for Hill's Science Diet. The text added, "There's nothing better for your best friend."

MARKETING STRATEGY

The "Incredible Dogs" campaign was a broad marketing effort that included advertisements, contests, and performances by canine athletes. Designed around the theme "Incredible dog food. Incredible dogs," the Internet site for Purina Dog Chow featured information about events related to the campaign. The Fallon McElligott agency developed advertisements to emphasize that with nutritious food and proper care, any dog had the potential to show exceptional qualities and live a long, healthy life. According to Advertising Age, Purina spent $89.9 million to advertise all its pet foods in 1998, up 19 percent from $75.6 million in 1997. Of that amount, $58.6 million went for television commercials and $30.6 million for print advertisements.

One magazine advertisement showed a boy in a basketball uniform watching a small dog balance a spinning basketball on its nose. The headline said, "It's gotta be the Dog Chow." The text added that Purina had used advanced scientific knowledge to develop a product with the perfect amount of omega fatty acids to make a dog's coat grow thick and lustrous and to ensure proper immune function. The ad concluded with the tag line "Incredible dog food. Incredible dogs" beside a picture of a bag of Purina Dog Chow. Another magazine advertisement showed an airborne boy gripping a stick. Below, a puppy holding the other end of the stick was apparently lifting the boy high off the ground. The text explained that the highly digestible product had been reformulated to help puppies build strong bones, muscles, and immune systems. The ad included the headline "It's gotta be the Puppy Chow" and the tag line "Incredible puppy food. Incredible puppies."

Early in 1998 Purina became the sponsor of Lou "Mack" McCammon's traveling animal act, which had been touring the country for a decade. The act was renamed the Dog Chow Incredible Dog Team. Dressed in spangled costumes that featured the Purina logo, the energetic canine stars of the show performed impressive acrobatic feats such as jumping over obstacles, leaping into the air, and catching flying Frisbee disks. McCammon wore a costume that featured the Purina logo, and the insignia was displayed on signs, on a piece of artificial turf where the animals performed, and on coupons and flying disks that were given to spectators. The dogs performed on television programs and at state fairs, amusements parks, sporting events, and corporate gatherings, primarily in the West. The dogs were of assorted breeds, and some had been adopted from animal shelters. One of them, Scooter the Wonder Dog, was the official mascot of the San Francisco 49ers sports team. Purina's sponsorship of the show was intended to demonstrate that any dog had the potential for incredible achievements if its owner gave it good care, exercise, and proper nutrition.

DISTINCTIVE TRADEMARK

The red-and-white "checkerboard" logo of Ralston Purina Company was based on a textile pattern that one of the company's founders, William H. Danforth, remembered from his childhood. He had noticed that it was easy to identify the children of a certain family in his hometown because their mother made all their garments from one bolt of cloth. One year she used gingham with alternating red and white squares, a design that Ralston Purina later incorporated into its trademark to give its products a distinctive, unified look. In 1921 the company introduced one of the first animal feeds in pellet form, a product line known as "Checkers." In 1933 Admiral Richard Byrd brought Ralston Purina Dog Chow Checkers along to feed the sled dogs that accompanied him on his expedition to the South Pole, a celebrity endorsement that helped publicize the brand.

In 1998 the company also sponsored the first Purina Dog Chow Incredible Dog Challenge, an extreme sports event for canine athletes. The competition was publicized via a national public relations campaign, local radio advertising, point-of-purchase promotions at supermarkets, and coverage on the ESPNcable television network. Several thousand spectators and more than a thousand dogs attended the competition, which was part of the annual Purina Pet-Pourrievent at Purina Farmsin St. Louis. Participants included a beagle that had learned to jump hurdles by watching a team of Labradors in training, a dog that won a diving competition by leaping into water from a height of 20 feet, the River City Flyers team of border collies and one terrier, and a formerly homeless dog that had been adopted by a stranger and eventually toured with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Another contest, the Purina Dog Chow Search for America's Most Incredible Dog, was in its third year in 1998. Competitors submitted photographs of their dogs along with brief essays describing the qualities that made each animal incredible. Contestants were not judged on appearance or breeding but on endearing qualities such as loyalty, companionship, and playfulness. The winner in 1998 was Keisha, an abused German shepherd that had survived two euthanasia attempts, was rescued, and blossomed into such a lovable companion that she inspired the friends of her new owner to adopt other pets from rescue organizations. The dog and her owner, Melissa Osburn, received a $10,000 cash prize, a lifetime supply of Purina Dog Chow, a medallion, a tour of Washington, D.C., and a stay at the luxurious Willard Hotel. Senator Bob Dole was the master of ceremonies at a celebration in honor of the winner and four other finalists in the contest.

OUTCOME

Advertisements in the "Incredible Dog" campaign continued to run during 1999 as other facets of the marketing effort attracted large numbers of participants and spectators. In 1999 the winner of the fourth annual Purina Dog Chow Search for America's Most Incredible Dog was Harley, a Jack Russell terrier from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Events in the second annual Purina Dog Chow Incredible Dog Challenge were conducted at locations throughout the United States. Participants competed for $75,000 in prize money in contests that included sled dog sprinting, racing through agility courses, diving, catching flying disks, high jumping, cross-country racing with human partners on skis, and rescuing avalanche victims. The promotion received 12 hours of national coverage on ESPN.

Advertising Age reported that while the U.S. market for canned dog food was flat to declining in 1997 and the first quarter of 1998, sales of dry dog food in food, drug, and mass merchandise outlets increased by 8.4 percent to $2.38 billion. Ralston Purina had sales of $4.7 billion in fiscal year 1998, up from $4.5 billion in 1997. Sales in its Pet Products division increased 12 percent to $2.58 billion. In 1999 Ralston Purina announced that it would spin off its Eveready Battery Company, Inc., subsidiary into a separate business to enable the parent company to concentrate on dog food and other core products.

MULTIPLE STRENGTH FOR MULTIPLE CATS CAMPAIGN

OVERVIEW

Tidy Cat was the established U.S. leader among cat-litter brands in the 1990s, but a new wave of product innovations claiming to enhance the odor-controlling properties of cat litter resulted in market gains for competitors while leaving Tidy Cat without any defined product advantages beyond its low price. Aiming to position the brand for sustained dominance, a project that required changing consumers' perceptions about its odor-controlling power, owner Ralston Purina (which was acquired by Nestlé S.A. in 2001 and grouped with that company's pet-related product lines under the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company banner) decided to relaunch Tidy Cat as a litter specifically designed for households with multiple cats. This was partly accomplished through alterations in packaging and product variety as well as through a change in name from Tidy Cat to Tidy Cats. The company enlisted agency Berlin Cameron & Partners (later renamed Berlin Cameron/Red Cell and then Berlin Cameron United) to communicate the newly branded product's image in a campaign that was launched in July 1998.

Budgeted at $10 to $15 million a year and running for many years, the Tidy Cats campaign was called "Multiple Strength for Multiple Cats." Most of the campaign's spending was on TV spots, and the controlling idea behind the commercials did not change over the course of the campaign's long run. Building on a research-driven understanding of multiple-cat owners' views of their pets, the spots showed groups of talking cats with distinct personalities who commented on the attributes of Tidy Cats while fooling humans into believing that they were just cats. The cats were aided in a variety of misdeeds and corresponding cover-ups by the odor-controlling power of Tidy Cats, which enhanced the cats' innocence in the minds of their owners.

According to a 2004 study conducted by marketing-research firm Millward Brown, the Tidy Cats relaunch successfully convinced consumers that the brand was synonymous with multiple-cat litter-box effectiveness, and it dramatically rehabilitated perceptions of Tidy Cats' odor-controlling capabilities. Tidy Cats sales grew each year during the campaign without any investment in new technologies or the development of product advantages beyond the brand's newly crafted image.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Tidy Cat, first introduced in the 1960s, had been the longtime market leader among cat-litter brands in the United States when, in the 1990s, its market share began to erode. This was primarily a function of the arrival of new products claiming innovations, such as litter varieties that clumped for easy scooping or that boasted odor-control features activated by the cat's movements. The promise of even slight relief from what was usually an unpleasant household chore drove consumers to embrace the brands that had supposedly improved upon the standard formula for basic clay cat litter. As the uncontested category leader, Tidy Cat had invested neither in research that might allow it to unveil its own technological breakthroughs nor in marketing meant to differentiate the brand by virtue of any product advantages. Tidy Cat's main brand attribute was its low price; consumers did not perceive it as the most effective litter for controlling odor.

This situation threatened to make the erosion of Tidy Cat's market share an ongoing phenomenon, and Ralston Purina solicited ideas for a new marketing campaign that would remake the product's image among consumers. As of 1997 Tidy Cat's advertising, featuring the tagline "If it's anything less than Tidy Cat, you'll know," was handled by Fallon McElligott Berlin (FMB), the New York office of the Minneapolis-based agency Fallon McElligott (which later became Fallon Worldwide). FMB principal Andy Berlin, however, had recently enlisted that agency branch's core creative personnel in the establishment of a new entity, Berlin Cameron & Partners. After a review of multiple agencies in 1998, Ralston Purina selected Berlin Cameron to craft the new Tidy Cat campaign.

Among various Tidy Cat litter varieties, sales of its product intended for multiple cats had been growing throughout the 1990s at double-digit rates, while sales of the brand's other formulas remained flat. It became apparent that consumers believed that Tidy Cat Multiple Cat Formula offered greater odor control. This facet of a cat-litter brand's image being far and away the most important one, Ralston Purina decided to pitch Tidy Cat as a litter specializing in multiple-cat-strength odor control, thereby creating a distinct identity that no other cat-litter brand could claim. Ralston Purina thus staked the brand's future on a risky move: a product relaunch of a brand that was already number one in its category. This consisted of a package redesign, a realigning of product offerings, and even a renaming of the brand (albeit a slight one). Each of the product variants was now marketed as intended for multiple cats. That fact was prominently showcased on the new packaging, and the product's name was changed from Tidy Cat to Tidy Cats.

TARGET MARKET

Owners of multiple cats composed the target market for the "Multiple Strength for Multiple Cats" campaign. Half of cat owners owned more than one cat, and these owners bought 70 percent of all cat litter. If Tidy Cats could recast itself as the only brand formulated to satisfy this portion of the cat-owning public, all other competitors would be left with a target market consisting only of single-cat owners, who purchased less litter per capita. Meanwhile Tidy Cats would not necessarily be losing the business of single-cat owners, because multiple-cat strength was equivalent, in the eyes of many consumers, with greater odor-controlling power. This, of course, was what all cat-owners wanted in a cat-litter brand.

There were no key demographic factors that unified multiple-cat owners, but Berlin Cameron had found, over the course of intensive research into the cat/owner relationships in such households, that these consumers had a different attitude toward their cats than did owners of only one cat. Because cats' idiosyncrasies stood out by contrast with one another, multiple-cat owners usually valued the unique personalities of their cats more intensely than single-cat owners did. A lone cat in a household often established a relatively calm atmosphere. In contrast, a multiple-cat home was more likely to produce entertaining and dramatic scenes resulting from the interaction of cat personalities. The people who presided over these households tended to relish the eventful tableaux enacted by their cats, even when the result was disorder or slight property damage. Many multiple-cat owners, Berlin Cameron further found, suspected that their cats communicated with one another.

"Multiple Strength for Multiple Cats" built on this understanding of multiple-cat owners and attempted to show them that Tidy Cats alone understood their relationship with and appreciation of their pets, while also convincing them of the rational benefits of the brand.

COMPETITION

At the time of the "Multiple Strength" launch, Tidy Cats' leading competitors were First Brands' Scoop Away and Clorox's Fresh Step. First Brands had recently introduced the industry's first cat-activated charcoal litter, one of the technologies that threatened Tidy Cats' market share. A new arrival on the industry scene also brought a category-wide threat. In 1997 Church & Dwight, the corporate parent of universally known freshness product Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, introduced Arm & Hammer Super Scoop, a litter that included baking soda and thereby leveraged consumer trust in the older, extremely well-established product.

In a category not known for its use of humor in marketing, Fresh Step had meanwhile launched a campaign that, like "Multiple Strength for Multiple Cats," was noteworthy for its reliance on a comic concept. Tagged "Fresher with Every Step" and budgeted at an estimated $8 million, the campaign broke at the same time as "Multiple Strength" and attempted to showcase Fresh Step's supposed superiority over less expensive cat-litter brands, presumably including Tidy Cat(s). "Fresher with Every Step" showed cats discarding packages of cheaper litter when their owners were not looking, so that the owners might be more readily encouraged to buy Fresh Step.

MARKETING STRATEGY

The "Multiple Strength" campaign was launched in July 1998 and ran for a number of years. Its annual budget was estimated at $10 to $15 million, the overwhelming majority of which was allocated to TV spots. The campaign was meant to work with the package redesign, the product lineup changes, and the alteration in product name to establish Tidy Cats as the one and only litter for multiple-cat households. The chief obstacles to the campaign's success included the inherent limitations of the cat-litter industry. Unlike other pet products, cat litter had little emotional resonance for pet owners. Associated with a chore that most people dreaded, cat-litter brands had a difficult time inciting consumer affection. Berlin Cameron needed to demonstrate the brand's knowledge of the multiple-cat owner's bond with his or her pets, and it needed to enliven the product's image to make emotional connections with consumers. At the same time the agency had to transmit the practical, odor-control message that would provide a rational basis for purchasing Tidy Cats.

The agency set out to accomplish these tasks with a humor-based narrative concept that remained the same throughout the campaign's multiyear run. Each of the TV spots employed the conceit of talking cats in multiple-cat households. Litter naturally found a place in the cats' conversations, and the supposed effectiveness of Tidy Cats, making for a decrease in litter-box odor, gave the cats increased credibility with their owners and with other cats. This translated into increased freedom to misbehave and live fully. In general the cats in the commercials were shown to have exaggerated versions of the communicative resources and distinctive personalities that multiple-cat owners, according to Berlin Cameron's research, believed their cats to possess.

MULTIPLE-STRENGTH DIATRIBE

Not everyone was sold on the Tidy Cats relaunch strategy. Writing critically of the decision to recast the brand through packaging, changing the product lineup, and altering the name of the product—previously called Tidy Cat—Laura Shanahan remarked in Brandweek, "Yeah, babe, very necessary, that 's' on the end … but anyway, that's not the problem. See, there's three—count 'em, three—new formulas under the new 'n' improved pluralized name and I don't see a dime's worth of difference between 'em." Noting that the Tidy Cats stable included formulas for "Immediate Odor Control," "Long Lasting Odor Control," and "Antibacterial Odor Control," Shanahan wondered why one litter could not provide all three forms of odor control, as she had assumed was the case with the original Tidy Cat product. "If you were a betting man, which would you choose?" she asked. "I chose another brand."

The campaign's first TV spot, for instance, featured a pair of cats discussing the new Tidy Cats litter that had been put into their litter box. One cat said, "It is specially designed for multiple cat households," and the other retorted, "Or one cat with a very large bladder." When humans approached, one cat said to the other, "Quick, act like cats!" and the cats darted off in different directions. As the campaign progressed, the conceit of cats living sophisticated lives behind their owners' backs was extended and made more elaborate. For instance, a 2004 spot showed cats behaving like secretive teenagers and throwing a wild party when their "parents" were away from home. The spot's backdrop was a richly detailed, decadent cat party, featuring cats leaping on and off furniture, cats swatting at aquarium fish, a cat "scratching" a record on a turntable, and a generalized cat-party roar of laughs, exclamations, catcall whistling, and even a belch on the sound track. The instigator of the party, a cat named Max, was shown talking with an impressed, naive female cat. "Great party," the female cat told Max, "but won't you get caught?" "Nah," Max said coolly, "I have them all the time." "How do you get away with it?" "Tidy Cats," Max answered. The sound of his owners arriving home led Max to shout, "Everyone out!" A human couple walked through the door to find the house silent except for the sound of Max and his two compatriots purring together in a pet bed on the floor.

OUTCOME

A tracking study undertaken by marketing-research firm Millward Brown indicated that Tidy Cats had accomplished its goal, between 1998 and 2004, of building the consumer perception that it was the single brand of cat litter "specially formulated for multiple cats." By fall of 2004 Tidy Cats was recognized by more than 60 percent of consumers as owning this brand attribute, up from 30 percent before the brand relaunch in 1998. The Millward Brown study discovered a corresponding rise in the consumer perception that Tidy Cats was an effective odor-controlling litter. Overall, Millward Brown ranked Tidy Cats as the top-scoring product in 18 key areas that the firm used for rating consumer perceptions of cat-litter brands. Tidy Cats' sales increased every year between 1998 and 2004, even though the Tidy Cats formula offered no new technologies or innovative chemical advantages to compare with other growing brands. The repositioning of the brand, entirely a work of image crafting rather than product substance, seemed the only explanation for such sales growth.