Remember Pup-peroni dog snacks? Geoff Tanner hopes so.
Tanner, the senior brand manager at parent Del Monte Pet Foods, has a plan to revive the 25-year-old brand.
Through a partnership with Jeep for a summer sweeps, Del Monte will award a customized Jeep, tricked out to suit the dog of the grand-prize winner. The package includes a vacation for the winner and dog, $5,000 in cash, a camcorder and a page on www.Pupperoni.com to document their adventure.
“We got the idea from Pimp My Ride,” Tanner says.
The sweeps is tied to an instant-win game that puts codes in packages of Pup-peroni snacks. Consumers enter their codes online to see if they’ve won the Jeep or other goodies, from $1 million in cash and five $1,000 cash prizes, to travel gear and Jeep-branded leashes and dog collars.
If the sweepstakes is a hit, the partnership “could go in all different directions,” Tanner says, including a Pup-peroni tie-in with Camp Jeep, or dog-friendly activities at dealerships.
Del Monte first approached Jeep with some tantalizing data, including some overlap in their target audiences — physically active consumers who enjoy leisure time with their pets.
“We told them there are more households with dogs than there are with kids, and that dog owners’ No. 1 issue is transporting their dogs,” Tanner says. “They were very interested to hear that.”
Pup-peroni is also testing an innovative distribution idea.
Over the next few months, the snacks will be available in 30 to 40 vending machines at dog parks, highway rest stops and apartment complexes, mostly in California. The brand’s fortunes are already on the rise. Sales were $70 million for 2006, and are on track for $80 million this year, Tanner says. And Del Monte has recently become the No. 2 player (behind Nestlé) in the $14 billion pet food industry, thanks to a handful of acquisitions over the past two years, including Meow Mix and Milk Bone.
The sweeps extends Pup-peroni’s ad campaign, whose TV spots advocate for a “Pup-Friendly World.” Its marketing pact with venues like the Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park stadium, which welcomes dogs, puts Pup-peroni on sale in concession stands.
“This year is actually the strongest year on record for the brand, which indicates how well the ‘Pup-Friendly World’ message is working,” Tanner adds.
Pup-peroni’s marketing plan is part of Del Monte Pet Foods’ shift in promotion strategy to more “emotional” initiatives from its traditionally heavy reliance on FSIs and coupons.
“The last few years, we’ve come to recognize the bond that people have with their pets,” Tanner says. “It’s such an emotional space, it’s ripe for more emotional marketing.”
The sweeps runs June through August with print ads, FSIs and P-O-P support.
Some displays have motion-sensitive sound effects of a revving engine and squealing tires. Kroger and Food Lion get their own version of promotional materials.
A Pup-Friendly mobile tour will distribute game pieces, too. IC Group, Chicago, handles the campaign. RedPeg Marketing, Alexandria, VA, handles the mobile tour.
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