R+K launches inaugural pet panel

In March 2019, Rhea + Kaiser launched its first proprietary research panel of dog and cat owners, with the goal of analyzing and validating a variety of pet care trends and hypotheses, and to better understand the market and its influencers. These findings, along with additional information on the attitudes and behaviors of pet parents regarding things such as Fear Free Training, food and supplement purchases, help us better guide pet care clients in developing strategies to market effectively.

Our first panel survey unveiled some insights into valuable tips for effective marketing of foods, products and services to pet parents. One of the most intriguing was around Fear Free Training.

Fear Free Training: Sounds Good, But Not Sure What It Is
Our panel indicated that Fear Free Training by their pet care provider (i.e. veterinarian, groomer, walker) received, on average, a 7 out of 10 on importance, but that only 18 percent actually know what it is. We perceived this to be both a curiosity and interest in Fear Free Training, but also indicative of a knowledge gap in what the training is and how it can benefit the pet care consumer. We also suspect there were several interpretations of this data: an awareness of the training is not the same as understanding it. Furthermore, we questioned how consumers could rate the importance of a product or service at 70 percent without knowing what it is.

Why it matters: Fear Free Training is a certification that provides veterinary professionals, pet professionals and pet parents with compassionate physical and emotional animal education. However, our survey indicates that there is a population that values the importance of having a practitioner with this certification without having any understanding of it. Therefore, the goal is to market Fear Free Training not just as a value point, but as a way to truly connect with pet parents. This means to demonstrate all of the compassion and emotional nurturing that Fear Free Training offers, and to ensure through the marketing process and materials that pet parents really understand what Fear Free Training is and how it’s a benefit to the pet.

The pet care market includes a myriad of practitioners and pet parents, all of whom have the same goal of providing optimal pet wellness. That also requires a solid understanding of how each of these individuals selects the various products and brands that they use to keep their pets healthy.

R+K intends to launch additional pet panel surveys on a monthly basis (or as often as needed) and to use the data to guide clients and association partners on the most effective marketing practices to connect with pet parents.