This store has been popular for a year because of the water bowl at the door! How do Starbucks and McDonald's create a "pet traffic password"?

Pet marketing is not exclusive to pet brands, but one of the marketing touchpoints for consumer brands. Starbucks and other leading brands have long been very successful in pet marketing. What is the secret behind this? Let's take a look.

The essence of marketing is the process of discovering and satisfying needs. This is not what I said, but what Philip Kotler, the "father of modern marketing", said. Applying this concept, those brand marketing that goes beyond the circle often accurately discover and satisfy user needs.

A coffee shop in Shanghai called CAN COMPANY has been popular on social platforms for a year and gained a lot of fans because of the action of putting water bowls for pets and the slogan "Adults drink coffee, children drink water". The action of a water bowl and the affectionate name of a child show the love for pets.

Some people say that today's pet industry is very similar to the maternal and infant industry 20 years ago. As people are less and less willing to have children, the companionship economy of "furry children" has a huge market. After all, in the past, the slogans in major places were "No Pets Allowed", but now there are many "pet-friendly experience stores".

It is understood that the number of people who keep dogs and cats in my country has reached 68.44 million, and one in every 20 people is a cat or dog owner, and nearly half of them are born after 1990. In addition, there is a group of people who "addict to online pets" that cannot be ignored. Such a large number of pet owners and such a high proportion of young people are enough to attract great attention from brands, and a term called "pet marketing" was born.

Pet marketing is not exclusive to pet brands, but one of the marketing touchpoints for consumer brands. Leading brands such as Starbucks have long been very successful in pet marketing. What is the secret behind this?

How can we truly understand the needs of young consumers and avoid failure? Today we will talk about it in detail through specific pet marketing cases.

1. Successful pet marketing often meets people’s emotional needs

Although both children and furry children have the word "children" in their names, they are very different in terms of satisfying emotional needs. The biggest difference may be that the mission of a pet is companionship, and it is exclusive to its owner, while a child is a complete life, and he will grow up and leave in the future, and he will grow into his own appearance.

Pets can also form emotional connections like children and become a part of social life, but most importantly, pets have a strong healing effect. After all, who can resist a little cutie who only has eyes for you? Therefore, pets themselves, or even pet-related toys and peripherals, as long as the design touches people's hearts, will become a medium that will cause people to spread and express themselves.

When Starbucks' cat claw cup became popular in 2019, I didn't quite understand it. After a few years, when I looked at Starbucks' cat claw cup again, it seemed no different. It was just a cherry blossom superimposed on a cat's claw. But when you pour milk or a drink, a concrete, cute cat's claw appears. People's daily lives are always accompanied by stress and boredom. Imagine an afternoon when you were scolded by your boss, or a dull day, and a cute cat's claw suddenly appears, as if it was specially designed to please you and heal you. Would you be instantly overjoyed?

Starbucks' cat claw cup, KFC's Peppa Pig, and Bing Dwen Dwen have all been popular on the Internet. They have even transformed from a toy or a souvenir into a social currency that combines multiple attributes such as emotion, social interaction, and entertainment.

But no matter how they change, their images have indeed triggered the original emotional impulse of consumption. Both are Olympic mascots, why is Bing Dwen Dwen popular instead of the red Shuy Rhon Rhon? In addition to Bing Dwen Dwen's image as the national treasure panda, it may be that the harmlessness and friendliness of the image can also make people feel at ease.

There are two reasons why the ugly and cute Psyduck became so popular. First, before Psyduck, there was an emoticon package circulating on the Internet, in which a little yellow duck twisted its body left and right and looked at others, which was very cute and easy to make people smile. Second, the Psyduck launched by KFC has a magical posture and background music. Later, after the secondary co-creation of netizens, Psyduck was superimposed with various self-deprecating and teasing emotions, becoming a story duck with a full sense of substitution, thus forming a viral spread.

Image source: Weibo @Kend

2. To be pet-friendly, you need to understand both pets and pet owners

Since 2013, Starbucks has been exploring the development of "Paw Puccino", a drink made with fresh cream, specifically for dogs.

Today, Starbucks has opened more than 100 pet-friendly stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and even lower-tier cities. Taking your dog to Starbucks to eat cream has long become a standard. In addition, pet-friendly stores often have some outdoor pet facilities. This not only satisfies pets, but also solves the problem of pet owners based on the life scenarios of consumers.

Image source: Weibo @星巴克中

After get off work, walking the dog and spending time with pets are important "recharge moments" for young people, but with limited weekend time, what can they do if they want to spend time with friends but don't want to leave their pets behind? They can only bring their pets with them. But most restaurants don't allow entry, but Starbucks' design is more comprehensive. Just like restaurants making baby meals for babies and providing baby chairs for babies have become standard, this provides a solution that allows overwhelmed parents to have a "moment of peace of mind".

The same is true for Starbucks. Its designs are practical and just right. For example, there are seats for dogs and people to share outdoors. There are cup slots on the seats that can just fit a cup of coffee. There are leash hooks and water bowl hooks on the seats. Consumers can buy coffee in the store without worrying that the dog will spill the coffee. There are also special areas for poop and special trash cans, equipped with gloves and trash bags. Pet-friendly stores are also set up near parks, public green spaces, and lakes, making it easy to walk the dog and take pictures.

This provides a one-stop dog walking solution for dog owners. It can be a high-frequency, daily, and continuous action. This is also an important reason why Starbucks can replicate pet-friendly stores in more and more cities.

McDonald's launched 100,000 cat beds at the end of 2021, which were also snapped up, and even the McDonald's mini program was overwhelmed. Users who choose to place an order with the "McDelivery Takeaway Service" and buy designated packages of 60 yuan and 80 yuan will have the opportunity to get a "McDelivery Cat Bed".

Image source: Screenshot from Weibo @麦当劳猫窝宣传

What insight is behind this simple creative move?

• The McDelivery team has previously noticed that during the Double Eleven period, the growth rate of consumption of pet-related products was very obvious;
• The McDelivery team conducted research on cat supplies and cats and learned that cats have no resistance to paper boxes as cat beds;
• McDelivery chose winter as the ideal time to stay at home. At this time, most customers who order takeout will be at home. If they have a cat at home, they can use it immediately.

With such insight, and preheating on social media in advance, the event became a hit as soon as it was launched, and a second wave of dissemination was formed after the event, thus completing the screen-sweeping process.

Of course, there are also cases where things go wrong, especially when it comes to landing, such as holding a pet party. It is not that easy, and all aspects must be considered. For example, if there are more pet owners than expected, will there be enough water bowls and water for the pets? Are the benefits provided by the event enough?

How can pet activities get all consumers and pets involved? This requires an event organizer who truly understands pets, otherwise it is easy to attract negative feedback. For example, although McDonald’s cat beds have been popular, McDonald’s hamburger cat beds lack stability, and netizens complained that "some cat beds have fallen apart."

Pet-friendliness is often reflected through some hardware, but consumers pay more attention to "software", such as whether the staff really welcomes pets or is inherently very pet-averse. A friend in the pet industry told me that when she was interviewed for a pet grooming job many years ago, the interviewer told her that compared to your professional ability, we value your patience more. From this perspective, if a brand wants to do some offline activities that directly contact pets, it must train the staff in advance, otherwise it will have the opposite effect. The original intention is to show pet friendliness, but in the end it will be blocked by pet owners.

3. Focus on pain points and combine with main business to provide pet value-added services

Some brands directly cross over to make pet products, pet services and experiences. But I always believe that professionals should do professional things. For brands, cross-border is more difficult and requires more professionalism. Perhaps you can choose a lighter and more effective approach. Brands can start from the pain points of pet owners and their cute pets, or provide services or products within their business scope for cute pets. This is an approach that comes from the daily life of cute pets and goes to the daily life of brands.

The underwear brand ubras has launched cat-ear home clothes, dust-free cotton cat-stroking home cardigan sets, etc. Starting from the pain point of pet hair sticking to clothes, relevant clothing is launched for pet owners to meet their needs of being close to their pets. In addition, ubras also promised to use 1% of the profit of the first month of the launch of new products as a special fund to rescue stray animals. Even Juneyao Airlines has launched the Pet Free Flight Card, which is the first charter product that allows people and pets to travel together in the cabin, meeting people's needs to travel with pets.

Tai Er Pickled Fish uses the essence of the big single product sea bass, uses the unused fish meat and bones as raw materials, adds the necessary nutrients for cat food, and makes it into public welfare cat food. Customers can use the "secret code method" commonly used by Tai Er to get cat food and rescue stray cats.

IKEA has also launched pet products such as cat scratching boards that are consistent with the home furnishings. Many home furnishing products are also being designed to be pet-friendly. For example, cats like to crawl under chairs, so can a cushion be attached to the regular chairs?

Image source: @WeiboIKE

In order to reduce pet hair, effectively remove mites and odors, and other pain points of pet raising, Liby launched the Liby Friendly Star Laundry Detergent Beads. This product uses a new formula that is residue-free and harmless to pets and decomposes quickly. Combined with the quick wash mode of the washing machine, it has been certified by national professional organizations and can save 70% of water and electricity compared to conventional modes.

In the past, there were very few hotels that allowed pets to stay during holidays, but now more and more hotels are starting to change this situation, providing space and activities specifically for families with pets. People can take their dogs to hot springs, stay in five-star hotels, play in the snow, etc. The resort of Anaya has a special kennel hotel with a loft structure, with rest upstairs and activities downstairs, and all pet-related facilities are also available.

There are also special pet-friendly parks with large lawns, pet swimming pools, self-service bathing and hair-drying areas, and professional beauticians for maintenance, etc. Some shopping malls provide pet-specific strollers and diaper pads for free borrowing, so that customers can go shopping with their pets without pressure.

It is worth mentioning that Meituan Waimai created an advertisement for cute pets, "This Cute Pet Is a Little Urgent". Meituan's advertisement says, "Hurry up and go to Meituan Waimai, and we will send you a pet ice pad to cool your hot dog," "We will also send you dried fish that you can eat as soon as you open your mouth," and "We will also send you fresh grass that will keep your little rabbits well behaved." By recreating various life scenes of cats, dogs and their owners, when your pet is hungry, silly, drifting, or itchy, you can think of Meituan Waimai as a helper.

Image source: Weibo @Meituan Waimai

Brands need to constantly find effective touchpoints to shape their brand image. There are too many details and touchpoints that can be made for pets' clothing, food, housing and transportation. If you do well enough, your brand will occupy a place in the minds of consumers and it is possible to create a pet growth curve.

IV. Conclusion

When we talk about pet marketing, there are actually two ideas.

One is to target pet owners and online pet owners, and do more segmented, vertical, and heavier things, such as Starbucks’ pet-friendly stores and Meituan’s pet version of takeout.

The other is for all consumers. Pets have become a major pillar of social media popular culture. How to use pets as a medium to find the greatest common divisor of user emotions and lead a new trend has become the key to pet marketing for brands.

The origin of all business is demand, and the origin of all demand is the insight into consumers. The level of insight determines the upper limit and ceiling of brand marketing actions. This is a compulsory course for all brands. Pet marketing is a new touchpoint for observing consumers, but the deep needs of consumers reflected in it are common. Whoever is able to grasp it can start this pet marketing war and gain the recognition of consumers.

Author: Jiao Yimeng

Source: New Consumption Think Tank