Demographics provide only a vague understanding of pet food buyers, and when marketers try to classify customers based on age, ethnicity or other demographic variables they risk stereotyping them, said David Allison from Valuegraphics Project during his presentation at Petfood Forum Kansas City Missouri on May 2. Instead, looking for common values among pet owners may reveal more meaningful ways of appealing to dogs, cats and other buyers of pet food products.
Allison noted, “we often sit in rooms and talk about the demographics of our target audiences – those we want to influence, engage, motivate and inspire – which is fine and has been done for centuries innocuously. However, what this confirms for each other is that the only way we understand people is by placing them into stereotype groups: male or female, black or white skin color, rich or poor status status status status status status status age class sexual orientation sexuality gayness/straightness etc etc etc etc etc and making decisions based on those stereotypes based on these stereotypes e.g. “If your target audience comprises 84% of women, what will that do to your decisions? Make everything pink?”
While his audience laughed, Allison pointed out that we see this same phenomenon with children’s toys and clothing. Additionally, demographic-based decisions may mislead pet food companies when trying to target specific audiences for marketing campaigns. Instead, professional pet food makers can employ values common across all pet owners throughout the United States as the foundation of any messaging approach.
“These values make pet food shoppers unique among consumers,” Allison stated.
US pet food buyers stand out from the general population by possessing three values that differentiate themselves.
Pet owners tend to embrace personal responsibility values. Researching is essential in fulfilling this need to take ownership over everything in life; before buying pet food they’ll research its composition and potential competitors.
“They want to ensure they understand what’s in the food, and are taking an expansive view,” he explained. “These researchers are long-term thinkers with an eye on the future.”
Personal Responsibility mes He noted that personal responsibility ties into trustworthiness values. Pet food shoppers seek products with trustworthiness that allow them to solve a problem for their pets, such as functional ingredients. Owners may appreciate a degree of complexity as they look for ingredients tailored specifically for their animals’ health needs in much the same way they would approach a drugstore for medications and supplements for themselves.
Allison noted that pet food industry websites tend to include research information as part of their background pages.
“Polyphenols can be difficult to come by,” he explained, but they’re out there if one digs hard enough. And those interested want to know this stuff! They want dinner parties with their friends where people will remark: oh you’re serving us this stuff!”
He proposed consumer education programs that provide certifications related to pet nutrition.
Allison suggested: “Your clients want you to appear as knowledgeable when it comes to pet nutrition, so don’t hide this knowledge behind a subhead. Instead, use it as an advantage in front page advertising; make it as visible and clear as possible.”
Experiences
Pet owners value experiences; these moments serve as rewards to them. Novel pet food ingredients offer this value.
Assign novel ingredients a prominent position and present them as treats for pets. Loyalty programs can also fulfill customers’ desire for experiences; beyond providing material items and discounts, loyalty programs provide experiences such as more activities to do with their pet(s) or with other owners of similar breeds; personalizing pet foods with images of dogs or cats on packaging is one such example, while giving loyal customers direct lines into companies or providing concierge services when traveling are also options.
Pet food marketers can leverage personal responsibility, trustworthiness and experiences as common ground among pet owners – rather than conventional targeting of demographics or age groups – in their marketing of pet food products.