Million-Dollar Meow Mix Game Show Could Morph to Series

What kind of toy really turns your cat on? If that’s a question you can readily answer, “The Meow Mix Think like a Cat Game Show” on the Game Show Network is probably appointment viewing, and you might want to start practicing for next year’s reprise.

“We’re already talking about next year,” said Matthew Glass, CEO of Grand Central Marketing, which is executive producer of “Think Like a Cat,” a one-off GSN promotion that could send one savvy cat owner home with a $1 million prize for predicting his or her pet’s predilections.

The half-hour primetime show (9:30 p.m. ET) on Nov. 15 featuring ex-“Love Connection” host Chuck Woolery is the latest brainchild from Grand Central Marketing in its succession of campaigns for Del Monte’s popular cat food brand. Last year, it was the “Meow Mix Acatemy” in New York City’s Union Square and elsewhere in a national tour, exploring how cats think and offering cat owners advice about feline behavioral tendencies.

The “Acatemy” promotion was good enough to win in three categories of this year’s Promo Pro Awardscompetition: Best Idea or Concept, Best Campaign Targeting a Micro Audience, and Best Event Marketing (Five or Fewer Venues).

GCM is in conversations with Del Monte about making “Think like a Cat” more than a single show next season, with a series a distinct possibility, according to Glass.

This year, GCM conceived a game show that would challenge cat owners on their knowledge of their cat and its species. Auditions were held in eight markets around the country to select eight contestants – and their cats – for the big showdown. Ultimately, the objective is for owners to demonstrate an intimate knowledge of their felines.

The winning team takes home $25,000 if they don’t hit the million-dollar jackpot, with $2,500 going to their local feline charity. (It’s $100,000 for the charity for a jackpot winner.) The second-place team wins $15,000 and a $1,500 charity donation, with the third place finisher taking home $10,000, with a $1,000 charity prize.

An eight-cat race with each owner enticing his or her charge with Meow Mix sets the tone and narrows the field to three teams at the top of the half-hour, which will see four repeats on GSN – and a possible reprise next year.

“We’ve tried to stay true to that classic brand personality of fun and keeping cats happy,” “This could have been a straight trivia game, but this is more than that.”

This is actually the third TV series GCM has conceived for the brand, going back to “Meow Mix TV” on Oxygen in 2003, a half-hour show that spoofed the idea of people leaving their TVs on to entertain their cats. (The show featured cat-conscious segments such as squirrels scurrying up trees or goldfish endlessly rediscovering their bowls.)

Two years ago, Animal Planet ran three-minute segments from the Meow Mix House, capturing a group of strays gathered from around the country on webcams as they interacted in a kind of cat halfway house in Manhattan. (Approximately 2.5 million tuned in online.) It targeted the consciousness of cat owners about the plight of abandoned animals, and found homes for the strays.

“Think like a Cat” isn’t going to challenge for the top-rated cable show of the week. But the peripheral publicity around it will help deliver the brand message, along with point-of-sale signage and radio and online ads that draw attention to the show and the ongoing brand campaign.

It’s branding, according to Glass, playing to an extremely engaged audience. “We’re talking about cat owners, and they’re a passionate bunch,” he said. “It’s always been about how cats see the world.”