2009 PRO Awards: Feed the Senses

Agency: Arc Worldwide
Client: Nestle Purina

Friskies dry cat food was struggling to differentiate itself in the marketplace. Cat owners liked variety, but instead of buying multiple Friskies products, they were buying across brands. In addition, Friskies had sent out so many coupons over the years that their customers had become addicted to savings. Friskies wanted to open a dialogue with customers and prospects and build long-term higher-quality relationships.

Qualitative research showed that people delight in their cat’s curiosity, sense of exploration and playfulness, consider their cats to be their children and feel their cat’s happiness is important. Nestle created the Friskies Explorers club to help cat owners experience their cat’s world through digital education and entertainment.

The site has three main areas: The Sensory Zone allows people to compare their own senses to their cat’s. With Friskies Pix, pet owners can create pictures of their cats. And In the daily blog, cat behaviorist Pam Johnson Bennett and others explore the topic of senses and behavior. The site also offers a free kaleidoscope screensaver, feline ringtones, an ecard and other digital downloads. Explorers members can save their pictures to the Friskies gallery, comment on the blog, download premiums, enter sweepstakes, receive newsletters and be the first to sample products.

The Explorers club generated 450,000 members in the first two months. Overall traffic to friskies.com increased 70% and people began spending more time on the site looking for important information rather than just coupons. Shipments of Friskies Dry in August 2008 were up 15% as compared to the previous year. And according to Millward Brown, cat lovers cited Friskies as the brand they’d most consider purchasing within the segment.

Return to the list of 2009 Pro Awards winners.