ID Branding

Reader Feedback

9 Responses to “Why The Lack Of Marketing/advertising Campaigns On Premium Food?”

• 

  Anonymous says:

  February 24, 2010 at 8:28 am

  Simply stated the premium foods that we know are the best which you mentioned in your question sell themselves by us the consumers and responsible pet parents word of mouth which is the best advertising. We know from personal experiences with our pets that these foods are best for optimum health of our furry friends and our opinions matter when asked by a friend “what do you feed your pet”. I see what your saying that these company’s would make more money with TV ads maybe but they are doing just fine without it so why spend the advertising money.
• 

  Echo Two says:

  February 24, 2010 at 11:49 am

  Mass advertising campaigns are hugely expensive and most of the premium companies are small and can’t afford it. What you’ll find is that they do targeted marketing – promotions at pet stores, advertising in animal-related publications and being sponsors at animal-related events. This targeted marketing gets them more bang for their limited buck.
• 

  Cattitud says:

  February 24, 2010 at 5:52 pm

  I have wondered that too. Your question made me go look in one of my Cat Fancy magazines. There were only adds for the supermarket brands. But the latest Cat Fancy I got had another magazine upside down on the back side of it called Naturalcat. It is the premier edition. In that one is a series of adds by Petco featuring the good brands such as Wellness. I hope Cat Fancy keeps publishing this new magazine.
• 

  Anonymous says:

  February 25, 2010 at 12:32 am

  Hi Take care of my cat!
  This is a great question. I have wondered about this very issue myself.
  I am happy to report that my vet fills the shelves of her waiting room with Wellness, Natural Balance, Evo and other quality products. It is more than likely because she is a holistic vet who also is licensed in acupuncture also. It is really convenient for me if I run out.. to drive a few miles to get the products. There is not one can or package of Science Diet for sale at her clinic.
  My cat only vet, on the other hand has stacks of Hills rx diets which I totally do not understand.
  Petco’s website does feature Wellness and Natural Balance products, which is a step in the right direction because Petco is a very popular “super market” for pets. But I suspect that the lack of TV advertising as well as advertising on pet related websites helps to keep the cost of excellent quality food within reason.
  This being said, most of us who use the products are always “advertising” them, so to speak which I think is really beginning to catch on judging from many more questions about those products and where to get them.
  I love your fantasy about these products being advertised on YA:)
  Troublesniffer
  Owned by cats for over 40 years
  Member: Cat Writer’s Association
• 

  Kia Koala says:

  February 25, 2010 at 4:36 am

  I have wondered this too!! Maybe they don’t make as much profit as the crappier brands and can’t afford advertising? I would love to know this as well.
  I mean heck, the advertisments even in this forum are for Purina, maybe we can get YA to switch
• 

  giggles_ says:

  February 25, 2010 at 10:12 am

  Typically you would think word of mouth is the best kind of advertisement. It’s unfortunate that people rely on television/the media to inform them on things (pet food, world events etc). I agree! I wish the premium food would advertise themselves more; it wasn’t until I asked what some quality cat food on here was when I found out what good cat food is. However, being an advertising/marketing major you wouldn’t believe how expensive advertising can be (wish I could remember stuck in a job where I can’t do what I want to do but happy to just have a job).
  I agree while it is expensive maybe them marketing themselves will get the other brands to put better ingredients in their food. Or at least give the opportunity to have consumers explore their options more!
• 

  ♥Alex♥ says:

  February 25, 2010 at 11:15 am

  The really good company’s don’t need to be put on tv or magazines. They are so well of and have nothing to prove. All the commercial brands are on tv because they want to prove between eachother whose food is better. For example Wellness and Blue Bufffalo have nothing to prove and probably are close friends but when it comes to meow mix and 9 lives it is a competition to prove what food is better. Don’t worry if you don’t see these foods on tv that doesn’t mean they are crap this just means they have nothing to show and prove because they are confendent about their foods.
• 

  miranda says:

  February 25, 2010 at 2:24 pm

  Crappy ingredients = money to spend on advertising
  Iams and Purina have lots of money to pump into major advertising campians and are backed by much larger companies (Proctor and Gamble and Nestle). Science Diet and Royal Canin are probably so expensive because they need the extra money to get vets to push their products. Aside from Science Diet’s impressive marketing strategy, it has nothing going for it. So I have to assume the money is going into marketing and they’re still making a good profit.
  Many of the better brands do use targeted marketing. I get emails from Petco and lately they’ve been advertising Natural Balance. Wellness generally has a good position in their in store ads. It was nice to see that issue of Cat Fancy too. It would be a step in the right direction to keep that section.
  People should never believe all the advertising they hear on tv. If they’re buying their own food solely off the tv’s recommendations then they’ll end up with health problems too.
• 

  Bob N says:

  February 25, 2010 at 7:14 pm

  Could it be that these “wonder foods” are not as wonderful as they are made out to be?
  I think you will find more evidence based science behind Science Diet and Iams than any of the so called “wonder foods” that so many people try to push upon everyone.
  Why else would these “wonder foods” not be advertised in the general media or other outlets?
  It may simply be that they do not have the evidence based science that would be necessary to back up any claims made in advertisements.
  At least in the USA, what you claim in advertisements must be provable.
  Without any evidence of the claims, no advertisements can be run. You’d think they would spend the money to gather the evidence – but, then if it can’t shown, why waste the money?
  One more thing – vet offices in the USA, at least in the Midwest, do not contain shelves of Science Diet, Iams, Royal Canin, etc “normal” foods.
  They carry prescription foods but not the normal adult or kitten foods.
  The reason is simple – vets cannot compete with pet stores on prices for the non prescription foods and don’t even try to do so.
  But back to the original question, if these foods are the wonder foods people make them out to be, why aren’t they advertised?
  As I said above, I suspect they don’t have the evidence to back up the claims they would want to make in their advertisements.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website