Nestle Purina Brings Star Power to Retail

St. Louis — Nestle Purina Petcare enlisted celebrity cats for two recent account-specific campaigns.While Purina’s Friskies launched its gravy swirlers, extra gravy chunky and party mix gravy-licious lines nationally in August, Kroger enjoyed an exclusive social media program. A brand showcase within Kroger.com hosted a 60-second video starring Grumpy Cat, who serves as Friskies “official spokescat,” and Kroger-sponsored NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger’s cat, Mr. Tickles. The web page also hosted exclusive digital coupons for the brand.“‘Lap It Up’ emerged as a way to link assets together in a meaningful way to assemble a campaign that was totally ownable,” says Purina retail & shopper marketing manager Eric Winter. “No one else could have executed this program. America’s famous feline Grumpy Cat shamelessly ‘motivates’ Mr. Tickles, who is on a quest to become the first cat of professional racing as he sets out to ‘Lap It Up’ at the track with Friskies gravy as fuel.”The Lap It Up video and new products were promoted in stores with shelf blades and floor clings. Updates on Mr. Tickles’ Instagram account supported. The effort’s goal was to drive awareness and trial of the new gravy products.The launch enjoyed significant support at other retailers. Meijer merchandised the SKUs on pallet displays. Supporting floor clings offered mPerks digital coupons that were valid from Aug. 13 to Sept. 9. Delhaize America’s Hannaford stocked Gravy Swirlers on quarter pallets in the pet aisle.The manufacturer leveraged its relationship with celebrity felines Nala Cat, Waffles, White Coffee and Luna Rose for an exclusive “Save a Fortune” campaign at PetSmart. A store in Los Angeles hosted a meet-and-greet event with the cats on Sept. 26 where shoppers could fill out a survey from the program’s mascot, Madame Fortuna, to determine which of the celebrities their cat is most aligned with. They could then have a photo taken with that cat and get their own fortune told. While Nala Cat and Waffles also promoted the national Friskies gravy launch, the Save a Fortune campaign was focused on Purina’s entire portfolio at PetSmart rather than just the new brand.“We’re focused on driving shoppers to stores in search of these meaningful brand experiences,” says Purina retail & shopper marketing manager Andrew Goldberg. “We’re finding that shoppers demand more out of the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. In the spirit of fun and compelling engagement, we developed a storyline that features the all-powerful Madame Fortuna to peer into the future of your cat’s wants and needs.”Consumers nationwide could enter a crystal ball-themed instant-win game and sweepstakes via text or a promotional web page operated by Southfield, Michigan-based HelloWorld from Aug. 28 to Oct. 15. The sweeps awarded the grand-prize winner with $750 and a cat condo resembling a Zoltar fortune-telling machine. Five runners-up received a $500 PetSmart gift card and 27 others won a $25 card. The game awarded 55 winners with $10 to $50 cards.Shoppers who purchased $40 worth of Purina products at PetSmart during the campaign could upload their receipts at the promotional web page to receive a $10 store gift card.“Cat lovers who shop at PetSmart are looking for fun and creative and compelling ways to save on Purina cat products and engage in the chance to win a unique prize,” Goldberg says.While the program had no in-store activation, it was supported with run-of-press ads, updates on the celebrity cats’ social media accounts, programmatic digital ad buys, and email blasts sent to consumers that had previously engaged with either Purina or PetSmart. The partners are measuring traffic and engagement during the campaign and Purina hopes to annualize Save a Fortune.Purina would not disclose what agencies worked on either campaign.

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