The global pet grooming market is projected to reach $14.5 billion by 2025, driven by increased pet ownership and rising spending on pet care. While much of grooming content leans into 'spaw days' and perfectly curated routines, we took a different route—celebrating the fun, everyday moments of life with dogs.
Our mission? To continue the legacy that made Earth Rated the #1 selling poop bag, by embracing the real, messy, and joyful parts of dog ownership. Since 2009, we've redefined pet essentials through thoughtful customer driven-innovation and a relentless commitment to our community. It was only natural that our grooming campaign emerged from that same community—specifically, a viral trend of dog owners burying their faces in their dogs' fur, reveling in their unique, beloved quirks.
Rather than marketing grooming as a path to a polished pup, we used this social phenomenon to launch Earth Rated’s first grooming collection, celebrating dogs as they are. The campaign "Can I Smell Your Dog?" wasn’t just inspired by the community, it was led by it. We partnered with viral creators already driving this trend, inviting them to recreate their most popular content with our products woven in authentically and collaboratively.
By making creators the storytellers, we brought authenticity to every piece of content—owned and earned. Our goal: Drive large-scale awareness where consumers discover products—on social media—while positioning our grooming collection as a fresh, community-inspired solution for pet parents who love their dogs exactly as they are.
The pet grooming space is crowded—but Earth Rated saw an opportunity to break through the noise by turning a social behavior into a brand movement, powered by the creators dog owners trust the most. The "Can I Smell Your Dog?" campaign wasn’t about us telling the story—it was about letting the creators who had built the most trusted communities of dog lovers tell it with us. Our goal was to drive massive video views and brand searches by partnering with creators whose content already resonated with pet parents like @GoldenChiliDog, @JessRona and @StadlerFam, building engaged awareness within the communities most likely to share, engage, and convert.
Our approach was built on a tiered creator strategy designed to drive awareness and engagement across the funnel. We partnered with macro influencers known for grooming content, whose audiences turn to them for trusted product recommendations. Supporting them was a diverse group of pet creators, including superfans and micro-creators with whom we had nurtured long-term relationships. By tapping into creators who had already built engaged communities of dog lovers, we ensured the campaign would reach people most likely to watch, share, and search for our brand.
The campaign came to life through creator-led storytelling, driving over 202 million organic video views. We collaborated with creators to recreate their most viral face-in-fur videos, integrating our grooming products authentically. This creator-first approach didn’t just generate views—it built trust, with multiple creators producing viral videos that extended the campaign’s reach across platforms.
On our owned channels, we mirrored this authentic, behind-the-scenes style with a grooming launch video that brought our community behind the scenes of the campaign. More than just a video, it became a moment of its own, earning 8.4 million views and becoming one of our most successful launch videos to date.
To amplify community participation, we sent grooming boxes to 150 creators and superfans, inviting them to share their experiences with our products. From this loyal community, we generated 650 pieces of UGC—proving that when you activate trusted voices, a little goes a long way.
The campaign wasn’t without challenges. Breaking through a crowded grooming category dominated by polished “spaw day” content meant leaning into behavior-driven, creator-first storytelling. By trusting creators to lead with their own voices, we created content that felt native and deeply relatable. Another challenge was maintaining brand messaging without compromising authenticity. We overcame this by setting clear brand guardrails while giving creators creative freedom, ensuring their content felt real while staying on-message.
But the real win was the creators. Their viral videos didn’t just drive reach—they built trust, sparked conversation, and drove action. From macro influencers to superfans, every creator became an extension of our campaign, turning a behavior dog owners already loved into a cultural moment.
The "Can I Smell Your Dog?" campaign delivered significant results, converting engaged awareness into measurable impact. At the heart of our success was the power of creator-led content: trusted voices driving massive reach. The campaign generated 202 million organic creator video views, with multiple creators producing viral videos that turned a beloved behavior into a brand moment.
Our behind-the-scenes grooming launch video earned 8.4 million views, proving that relatable, authentic content could outperform polished campaigns. Across the campaign, we achieved 10.8 million engagements, a testament to how deeply the creator-first approach resonated with audiences.
The community-driven approach extended beyond creators. From just 150 grooming boxes shared, superfans and creators generated 650 pieces of UGC, amplifying reach and showing the power of activating engaged audiences.
Most importantly, we turned awareness into action. For example, during the campaign months of July-September we saw a 1000% increase in Amazon brand searches for Earth Rated Dog Shampoo—proof that engaged awareness leads to intent.
This campaign was more than a launch; it was a movement powered by creators. When you let trusted voices lead, people don’t just watch—they share, search, and buy.
