The following article is a case study for “KittenWise,” a campaign developed by Mars Petcare and Mars UnitedSM Commerce that earned a 2024 OmniShopper Award for Best Digital Mass Media Activation from the Path to Purchase Institute.
Objectives
In summer 2023, Mars Petcare needed to combat intensifying competition in the pet food category by winning over new kitten/cat parents during their first year of ownership. Specifically, Mars needed to:
- Grow market share across the full portfolio of cat brands.
- Engage new kitten parents through education, entertainment, and relevant product offers to introduce them to Mars brands.
- Convert these new parents into Mars cat portfolio shoppers.
Target Audience
The target audience was new kitten/cat parents in their first year of ownership.
More than half (52%) of cat owners acquire their pet impulsively without preparing, which leads to “New Cat Owner Anxiety.” These new owners need help from trusted sources as they begin the often-overwhelming experience of raising a kitten. Many adopters struggle when reality sets in and the responsibility of raising their pet turns out to be more expensive, time-consuming, and demanding than they had anticipated.
On top of this, new parents have a lengthy list of responsibilities to properly care for their new pet, including navigating the kitten’s preferences for food, litter, and supplies, and finding the proper training and socializing techniques. Sometimes, they feel like they don’t even know where to begin.
“It takes a village to raise a child,” as the saying goes, and Mars United’s insights revealed that this adage is just as true in pet parenthood. New pet parents rely most heavily on veterinarians and shelters when seeking the best course of action, with brands and retailers playing a noticeably minimal role in supporting and guiding their decisions.
And while owners typically don’t consider spending on their pet’s well-being to be a discretionary expense, inflationary pressures have required them lately to find ways of stretching the budget. Cat parents often consider the use of different food types as a way to serve both the functional and emotional needs of their cats: dry food being purely functional, wet encompassing both, and treats being almost purely emotional. Our challenge was to introduce wet options and treats alongside dry food as a way for pet parents to express love and bonding with their cat right after adoption.
Campaign Outline
“KittenWise™” was a national, multi-brand program designed to help new kitten/cat owners navigate their first year of ownership, launched to coincide with National Adopt a Cat Month in June. The core idea was to win over the target by serving as their “village,” providing the education, words of encouragement, savings, and products (via curated sampling) they needed to navigate the challenging but exciting first year of kittenhood.
By activating this campaign across an omnichannel platform, new pet parents would experience all-encompassing support from TEMPTATIONS™, SHEBA®, IAMS™, GREENIES™, and NUTRO™, a family of trusted brands that will stay by their side not just during kittenhood, but throughout their cat’s life.
This was an omnichannel campaign conducted across a three-month activation window. Digital executions included a dedicated national microsite that provided details about the program, educational articles, a kitten personality/product quiz, rebate rewards, a spin-to-win sweepstakes, product ratings & reviews, and add-to-cart functionality to facilitate immediate purchase. Among specific executions:
- Educational article topics included feeding during the first six months, adoption tips, kitten wellness, proper treatment, play time, the nutrition needed for healthy brain development, and stages of food transitioning.
- A quick quiz helped new parents find the products that best fit their specific needs.
- The spin-to-win sweepstakes offered chances to receive a free sample kit or treat toy.
- Social influencer activity, along with rich mobile, digital display, and mobile push ads, intercepted kitten parents and drove them to the microsite experience.
- The messaging and education elements were reinforced through a series of livestream shopping events conducted in collaboration with key retailer partners.
Unique Activation Touch Points
A series of three livestream shopping events hosted by social influencer Hannah Shaw — aka “The Kitten Lady” — provided an engaging, authentic overlay to the educational activity. The first event introduced parents to the KittenWise program and shared product benefits related to healthy kitten development. The second centered on kitten behavior and featured a pet behaviorist. The third focused on kitten wellness with a veterinarian. Each event was syndicated with one of the key retailer partners — Walmart, Chewy, and Amazon — and tailored to meet its specific product inventory. This strategy also allowed us to reach the unique audience of each retailer.
Results
The campaign proved to be extremely successful by engaging with kitten/cat parents at a time when they most needed support: during the early stages of pet ownership. Most importantly, it met or exceeded Mars Petcare’s business objectives:
- A high single-digit sales lift for participating brands and corresponding increase in overall brand share.
- 117 million total consumer impressions.
- 98% of the first-party data captured during the campaign came from shoppers new to the Mars Petcare database.
The KittenWise program is a textbook example of how a well-executed national consumer promotion can increase awareness for already well-known brands while also driving sales and share lifts.
