Healthy Dog Gourmet ADV370J/PR367 MWF 8-9 Eric Webber Name(s): Paige Kroll UTEID: pk5926 Case: 8.2 Healthy Dog Gourmet Date: 10/19/15 Problem Statement: Business partners, John Kirk and Paul Fry, are creating an organic pet food brand that will be sold in Kirk’s Austin veterinary clinic. The company needs to make a statement in an existing market in order to bring in customers to the clinic to try the new brand and generate repeat purchases. Opportunity Statement: Healthy Gourmet and the veterinary clinic are planting their roots in a large community of pet lovers. With a growing number of organic pet food sales, the company can enter a market where customers have the budget and the willingness to purchase higher-end pet food. Critical Factors: • The population of the City of Austin is 900,701, with 9.74% of the population being women ages 25 to 34 and 10.96% of the population being women ages 45 to 64 (SimplyMap). • Austin is a city with a wealthy and diverse population. • Austin is pet-friendly, with the well-known fact that Austin has more pets on a per capita basis than most cities of its size. • Organic pet food use by U.S. pet owners is growing at a rate of 15% a year. • Pet owners who purchased organic pet food stated that they did so because they did not like the chemical elements found in conventional pet food. • In a survey of the 300,000 households in Austin, 43% had at least one dog. • 86% of pet owners treat their pet like a member of the family (Mintel). • The new veterinary clinic is in a higher-income area of the city with one other veterinary clinic located nearby. Solution: Target: Young Professionals and Empty Nester Women Women are the target market for this media strategy with a focus on two different groups of Austin women: young professionals and empty nesters. Of all U.S. female pet owners, 70% are the sole purchaser of pet food (Mintel). The young professional women are primarily college graduates, ages 25 to 34. The empty nester women are ages 45 to 64. Together, these groups make up 20.7% of the Austin population. These groups are important for Healthy Gourmet because they have the income to support buying more expensive food for their pets, as opposed to college students who will most likely spend less on their pet food because of their tight budget. Paid Media: Advertisements in Local Magazines Young professional women and empty nester women can be reached through local Austin magazines. These publications have a print version and a digital version posted to their website, so the advertisements can reach a larger percentage of the target market. Healthy Gourmet can purchase a half-page ad in each magazine for 6 months out of the first year and every quarter of the second year. The magazines that will best reach the target market include Austin Woman Magazine, Austin Monthly, Austin Pets Directory and Haute Dog Magazine. Advertisements on Pandora, Facebook and Twitter Healthy Gourmet should purchase :30 spots on Pandora radio, as well as advertisements on Facebook and Twitter. It will be important to purchase advertisements on Pandora because online radio streaming is becoming increasingly popular, and some companies are seeing more responsive behavior to these ads compared to traditional radio ads (Mintel). Pandora is also accessed in places besides the car, such as the home and office. Advertisements on Facebook and Twitter will catch the attention of our target consumers since they are spending time on these social media channels.
Owned Media: Twitter and Facebook Healthy Gourmet should reach their target through social media channels, specifically Twitter and Facebook. Young professional women frequently use both channels. Facebook is popular among the empty nester population. It is important that Healthy Gourmet creates a Twitter account to engage with consumers and influencers to spread the word about their product. Twitter can be used to engage with local media, such as the pet magazines listed above, so they can get support for their products. It is also important for the owners to make a Facebook page for the veterinary clinic and the brand separately. These owned media channels could be used to promote the Healthy Gourmet products and keep customers updated with information. Healthy Gourmet Website Healthy Gourmet should develop a website for the brand. This website will be referenced in advertisements and on the brand’s social media accounts. It will be a source of information for potential customers, so it is important to make the website professional and engaging. Austin is a community that loves to support local businesses, so it would be a good idea to include the company story and owner biographies. The website should also list the products, ingredients and link to social media accounts. A feature that would be added to the website is a sign up for an e-newsletter. This would help the company build a list of emails and send promotions to customers to generate repeat purchases. Online: Google AdWords Healthy Gourmet can purchase parts of the terms “organic dog food” and “all natural pet food” because they are relevant to the product and the target market. By purchasing these terms, the brand will create more awareness for the products and draw traffic to the website. ATX Bloggers Consumers value peer opinions when making purchases, and bloggers are a great way to bring positive attention to a brand. Healthy Gourmet should contact local, Austin bloggers that have a large community of relevant followers to publish sponsored blog posts. They can send free samples and information about the products to the bloggers. With these sponsored blog posts, the brand can establish credibility and gain attention from potential customers. Healthy Gourmet should contact pet bloggers and mom bloggers in the Austin area. Dogfoodadvisor.com Healthy Gourmet should offer their products to Dogfoodadvisor.com for evaluation and rating for their website. Many people look to this website to learn about different brands and value their rating system. This will give consumers an outlet to share their opinions about the quality of the dog food and advocate for their brand. Other: Farmer’s Markets Austinites like to shop local, so it would be beneficial to Healthy Gourmet to set up a booth at popular Austin Farmer’s Markets. This would be a great way for potential customers to see the products and learn more about them from the owners. It will also build personal relationships between customers and the brand. Healthy Gourmet can hand out flyers and samples of the pet food, as well as offer customers the chance to sign up for the e-newsletter. Healthy Gourmet can start visiting Farmer’s Markets during the month before the veterinary clinic opens to spread the word early and create buzz around the products. Rewards: This media strategy is relevant to the target market. The young professional women and empty nester women frequently use the social media channels chosen for owned media and advertisements. The two groups will be able to interact with the brand online through Twitter and Facebook to create relationships. The recommended placements for magazine advertisements are also relevant to the target, as many of these magazines are located in print at salons, stores and medical offices. These are also available online for those who do not see the print version. This strategy considers the value of customer relationships and stresses the local connection. This relates to the preferences of the Austin population. Consumers will be able to connect to the brand through their appearances at local Farmer’s Markets and their website, so they will see that the company started in their city. This strategy also reflects the importance of influencer and peer opinions by registering with dogfoodadvisor.com and sponsoring blog posts. Potential customers will value the posts they read on these websites to help form their own attitudes toward the brand. Risks: Social media and dogfoodadvisor.com will allow customers to potentially voice negative opinions about the brand, but it is important because customers know they are being heard. The company can also improve their products based on comments and concerns shared. Consumers might be annoyed hearing the Pandora ads or seeing ads on their social
media, so they may choose to ignore them. If consumers notice that the blog posts are sponsored, they might not consider them as credible. Additional Comments: Depending on the time of the year, there are festivals where Healthy Gourmet can showcase their products, such as Dogtoberfest and the Mighty Texas Dog Walk. They could also consider sponsorships with benefits like banners and branding on event materials. References: Demographics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2015, from https://www.austintexas.gov/demographics. Mintel. (2014) Pet Supplies – US – June 2014 Shopping for Pet Supplies. Retrieved from Mintel Academic. Mintel. (2014) Digital Trends Fall – US – September 2014. Retrieved from Mintel Academic. Simply Map. (2015). Retrieved from www.simplymap.com.