At first glance the notice plastered on the newspaper box or streetlamp looks like every other forlorn cry for assistance in the big, not-very-pet-friendly city: “Lost Pet,” or a plaintive “Have You Seen Us?”

But on closer inspection, these missing animal friends look suspiciously … plush and, well, stuffed.

In fact, they are obviously toy dogs and cats. And they're not lost for long. Half a block away, there they are, happily gathered around a street team handing out samples of Science Diet Nature's Best dog and cat foods to passing commuters.

The posters and the stray-pet gimmick, developed by Minneapolis-based activation agency Innova Marketing, are attention-grabbing tactics that could easily have backfired. There are few things more volatile than worried pet lovers, after all.

Ron Pruitt, associate product manager for Nature's Best, says campaign strategy discussions did touch on the real danger that the approach could actually alienate or even anger the very audiences Hill's wanted to reach with its samples.

“We had a lot of conversations about how to make sure that didn't happen,” Pruitt says. “In fact, an early iteration contemplated using a real live pet on the poster. But we decided that wasn't the right way to go. By using plush animals instead, we decided internally that we could attract attention without alarming consumers.”

The strategy didn't set off any warning bells in its New York City rollout in June, nor have the street teams heard any complaints in two subsequent campaigns in Philadelphia and Chicago, says Innova account manager Ryan Flom.

“We haven't had any negative feedback,” he says. “We were trying to grab consumers' attention quickly, but also to defuse the situation quickly as well. By showing the plush animals grouped around our teams, people are getting the joke immediately. Seeing our team a block or half a block farther on, they're connecting the dots and getting the promotional idea. We tap into their passion but keep it safe.”

Flom says the “lost pet” gambit adds texture to consumers' exchanges with the Innova street teams. “It opens up the dialogue and gives consumers something to talk about when they encounter our folks, rather than just passively taking in information,” he says.

But Nature's Best thinks that information tells a compelling story. The five-year-old brand's dog and cat lines are both coming off complete re-launches that scrapped the colors and cute veggie and meat shapes to stress pure, high-quality ingredients. The brand is now the only pet food clinically proven to be all-natural, Pruitt says.

Science Diet is owned by Hill's Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate-Palmolive. The Nature's Best campaign will go to 13 other healthy-lifestyle metro areas before winding up in October.

In each, teams working high-traffic commuter locations offer a small sample along with product creative and a trackable discount coupon.

“Since this was a complete re-launch, down to everything but the name, we felt it was necessary to get the mass reach that comes from a commuter campaign,” says Flom. “Our target consumer reads ingredient labels, and the Nature's Best story is clearly told there, with no 26-letter ingredients and nothing produced in a test tube.”

Other teams go to fresh-food venues such as the Minneapolis Farmer's Market, Denver's Cherry Creek Fresh Market and Cincinnati's Midsummer at the Meadows gathering, distributing larger 4-lb. or 5-lb. bags of product.

The fresh-food locations allow for more time to answer consumer questions and explain the health benefits of the products. (They also increase the chances of encountering samplers willing to lug around a 5-lb. bag of dog food for an afternoon.)

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