How salt PR helped the Pet Food Manufacturers Association to tackle pet obesity

The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA) launched a campaign to highlight the widespread problem of overweight pets, using PR as the only marketing channel. salt PR’s creative campaign lead to high-quality coverage in a range of broadcast, online, national, regional and trade publications.

There were three challenges: to highlight the consequences of pet obesity; to establish industry leadership on the pet obesity issue; and to provide each owner with a tool to help them monitor their pet’s weight at home.

Strategy

The campaign aimed to underline the serious nature of the pet obesity issue and provide a solution for owners to use at home.

The five key campaign tools were:

1. A White Paper entitled: Pet Obesity: The Reality in 2009 – salt commissioned the research of over 2,100 pet owners to highlight the extent of owners’ concern surrounding the issue of pet obesity. The research highlighted shocking results; one in three pets in the UK is overweight and nine out of 10 pet owners are not that bothered about their pet’s weight. The results were used as a basis for a White Paper aimed at establishing thought leadership and authoritative opinion within the industry. salt worked with experts, vets, and industry spokespeople to collate information and provide expert analysis.

In addition to the expert opinion, David Blunkett’s foreword created a high-profile starting point and set the tone for the White Paper. A press release detailing the key research findings was sold into the national, regional and trade media in conjunction with the White Paper.

The campaign was timed to launch at the PFMA’s AGM on 26 March 2009. Key spokespeople, pertinent message documents and the attendance of target media ensured the event was a great success, as the resulting coverage demonstrated.

2. PFMA Pet Size-O-Meters: salt worked with creative agency Folk on the development of easy-to-use guides for owners to gauge the weight of their dogs, cats and rabbits at home. These Pet Size-O-Meters are available to download from the PFMA website and continue to be distributed to vet practices and rescue homes across the UK.

3. A pass-it-on pack: this was a simple pack for pet owners incorporating the Pet Size-O-Meters, family pet pledge, top tips, pet myths debunked and a pet ownership diagnostic tool.

4. YouTube films: three short films were posted (for dogs, cats and rabbits) to demonstrate how to use the Pet Size-O-Meter at home. Media vet Marc Abraham presented the videos to bring the Size-O-Meter to life and encourage owners to actively participate in weight diagnosis.

5. Kid’s micro site: a kids-focused PFMA Microsite was launched to give children hints and tips on how to look after their pets. The site launched in May 2009 to key media aimed at children.

Results

Press coverage was extensive. Highlights include:

· Radio 4 Today Programme

· GMTV

· The Daily Telegraph

· The Daily Mirror

· The Daily Express

· The Daily Telegraph Blog

· The Sun online

· 104 regional newspaper and radio features including LBC and BBC three counties radio

· 21 articles in trade and hobby press including Cats Monthly, Dogs Today and the Vet Journal

The coverage reached over 47,490,243 million people and generated £314,367 in advertising equivalent value. Against a PR spend of £40,000 the PFMA received a +785% return on investment.

In addition to the media coverage, the campaign achieved:

· 560 Pet Size-O-Meter posters being downloaded from the PFMA website

· The short films on YouTube getting 756 hits

· 590 hits on the Kids microsite

The PR collateral also dovetailed into the PFMA’s marketing strategy which achieved:

· 5,500 Pet Size-O-Meter posters being placed in veterinary surgeries across the country

· 30,000 Pet Size-O-Meter posters being ordered to place in animal shelters across the UK

As a result of taking an honest, proactive position on pet obesity, the campaign helped to reinforce the PFMA as an authority on pet nutrition.

How much?

The budget was £40,000