Pet Food Marketing Executive Robert Wheatley recently published a marketing advice article on the Pet Food Industry website. From Mr. Wheatley’s words, it is clear that pet food knows we (Pet Owners) are getting smarter by the day about pet food quality. Among his advice to pet food were some great words; “The product is the marketing”.
Mr. Wheatley makes his points very clear. “The informed pet parent has emerged: spending more while challenging brands on their commitment to better nutrition and seeking credible validation on the quality of ingredients.” He suggests that pet food business models “may need to be structured for what lies ahead: Consumers will hold brands accountable for their nutrition integrity…”
Two of his “bigger issues” mentioned were (1) “Premiumization is not a temporary adjustment in consumer preference.” In other words Mr. Wheatley gets that we (educated Pet Owners) aren’t going away. And (2) “People increasingly believe there are real quality of life and health benefits from feeding a more expensive, high quality diet to their furry family members.” I’d say it’s more like people are increasingly witnessing the real quality of life and health benefits of feeding a high quality diet to their pets, but he was close.
How well Mr. Wheatley’s advice was taken by pet food manufacturers who peddle pet foods full of waste ingredients and risky chemicals is hard to know. But I do agree with many of the points he made; educated Pet Owners are growing in number by the day and we’ll never go back to by-products, animal fat, and chemical preservatives. U.S. retail sales of organic pet food was a mere $14 million in 2003 and rose to $84 million by 2009. http://www.petfoodindustry.com/5753.html
It will be interesting to see over the coming years which pet food companies will listen. They know we know; but that could be a very good thing.
To read Mr. Wheatley’s full article, visit http://www.petfoodindustry.com/6097.html
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author, Buyer Beware
Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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