Running head: PEDIGREE DRIVEN ADOPTION

Pedigree driven adoption:

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Case study: Mars Petcare Inc.

Mars Petcare is the most profitable and productive company operating the pet food with

an estimated value of $33 billion dollars in the year 2013 (Mars Inc. company profile, 2014).

Pedigree is a part of world food manufacturer Mars in the United Kingdom. The marketing

strategy was behind the demonstration of the love of a dog is at the heart of the brand. “The

Pedigree Adaption Drive” was to help charities to home over 100,000 abandoned dogs in the

street each year in the United Kingdom. The pedigree adoption driven campaign was responsible

for dog ownership that is abandoned and in need of a loving home. However, donation of every

pedigree product sold during the campaign was used to rescue to help the campaign.

Pedigree always believed that dogs make our lives better. The campaign was launched to

ascertain that dogs should not be abandoned, however, they should be brought home and be

loved. The pedigree adoption driven campaign was a marketing strategy for mars petcare as

more dogs were adopted. The pedigree adoption increased sales of Mars Petcare Inc. dog food

product.

The campaign was sponsored by many brands and yielded to lifetime customer

relationship. Dog love was the core of the brand than caring of the dog which was the core

strategy of marketing where creating emotion for people to love the abandoned dogs and re-

home them. The campaign created a mobile application and a Facebook page called ‘Dog-A-

Like' which connected the owners and the homeless dogs. Through this campaign of homeless

dog finding owners, it increased the pet food sales product of Mars Petcare Inc.
Running head: PEDIGREE DRIVEN ADOPTION

Return of financial profit to the investors is one of the biggest challenges by marketing

managers. Mars Petcare Inc. ensured that there was a profit return to the investors through the

pedigree program. The marketing managers ensured that the cost of the advertisement was not

high and reached the targeted audience. The fixed cost was identified and included to all cost so

that the program could be profit feasible. The metrics to count and promote marketing campaign

were accounted for by the manager on how to bring abandoned dogs home will increase the sales

of mars petcare products.

Homeless dog on the street does not get care by owners and eat food from streets bins.

However, with the campaign for loving the homeless dogs and re-homing them, it will ensure

that the owners take care of the dogs. Additionally, the use of technology such as creating mobile

applications and Facebook page helped reach more audience. As a result of the campaign, 3500

dogs were adopted (Pedigree adoption drive, 2012). The mobile application and Facebook page

‘Dog-A-Like’ reached more than 5.8 million users and over 200,000 bowls of dog food were

consumed during the first month according to “Pedigree Adoption drive”, (2012). The campaign

led to the production of a second series which was aired in the year 2013. The use of the database

created the mobile application directly increased the sales as a new adopted dog owner was

identified and delivered dog food at a discount.

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There are key factors that influenced customers in the decision of buying pet food as pet

ownership has become common in the modern world. It is becoming socially and culturally

acceptable to treat pets as children due to the rise of ‘pet parenting' trends (Ferdman, 2014). As

for how one can buy his or her child well, so is how one wants to treat his or her pets. This

includes feeding them well with the best pet food. The new pedigree program pet owners will

want to buy the pet the best quality food to demonstrate the love they have for the pet as

according to Lee (2013). Mars Petcare Inc. increased pet food product sales as a result of the

pedigree program as according to Armstrong (2014).

Price is another factor which determines the customers’ decision for purchasing pet food.

Good quality food which is affordable attracted pet buyers to buy more products from the seller.

Unlike the new pet owner who will target on quality pet food, the senior pet owners will target

on pet food that is affordable as argued by “Pet Food Manufacturing”, (2013). The culture of

keeping the pet as a way of keep rodent away as increased in many homes which have called for

the pet owner to buy the pet food. Pet keeping is calling for better care as from ‘pet parenting’

trend across modern society according to Ferdman (2014). Culture in the modern world is also

calling for pet ownership which yields to buying pet food.

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The modern world is living on modern technology where adverts are being made through

social media platforms. There are many campaigns that are being driven through social media

such as ‘Pedigree Adoption Driven’ which was on mobile application and Facebook (Pedigree

adoption drive, 2012). There are pros and cons associated with the social media campaign. The

pros of social media campaign are low cost. There is no need for physical material publication

which cost a lot of money rather, the material is online and less cost is needed to create them.

Social media campaigns reach more audience as modern people have access to the internet all

over the world. The campaign is trackable and data mining is available as one can be able to see

how many views for a certain video or how may reaction made by the viewers. The social media

campaign allows for real-time interaction and feedback as viewers can comment on the content

and you are able to rely on them. This is a way of giving feedback.

On the other hand, social media campaigns have their own disadvantages associated with it. For

instance, there is no control of what the viewers will write or comment. The content has no

control over what kind of the audience to reach and sometimes it may be viewed as ethical racist

or viewers’ discretion not adhered to. The sharing of content in social media can make it land to

the wrong audience which is not targeted by the campaign.

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References

AB Awards 2012 winner – Pedigree Adoption Drive', Marketing 21 August 2012

Armstrong, A. (2014, April 9). Mars buys P&G's pet food brands in a $2.9bn deal. Retrieved

August 2014, from The Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk

Ferdman, R. (2014, April 8). American's seem to think their dogs deserve better food than they

do. Retrieved August 2014, from Quartz: www.qz.com

Lee, H. S. (2013). Fast growing pet ownership in Mexico: A preliminary field study. Journal of

American Business Review, 2(1), 115-122.

Pet Food Manufacturing: Quarterly Update 9/30/2013. (2013) First Research Industry Profiles.

Austin: Hoover's Inc.