Canine Dental Disease is a relatively unknown yet incredibly prevalent issue for the majority of dogs in America. In fact, 80% of dogs will develop dental disease by the age of 3. However, many dog owners are not aware of the severity of the problem and subsequently don’t take the necessary steps for good oral health for their dogs. This lack of awareness around the severity of this disease meant pet parents aren’t discussing this topic beyond the vet’s office. So, how do you get America to care about this important canine health crisis and put the GREENIES™ Dog Dental Treats brand at the center of the conversation? You find a way to literally weave it into a cultural conversation they do care about – fashion.
We aimed to get America talking about this crisis and take the GREENIES™ brand mainstream. By infiltrating fashion culture by turning the resurgence of the classic houndstooth pattern into “HOUNDSTOOTHLESS,” we aimed to get America talking about this crisis with a head-turning fashion statement people actually wanted to wear.
In our research, we uncovered an alarming statistic – 80% of dogs develop dental disease by the age of 3.* For such a staggering amount of dogs this impacts, we noticed the conversation around the disease, or how to prevent it, wasn’t traveling much further than the Vet’s office.
*Source: American Veterinary Medical Association
Taking the dental disease conversation from the Vet’s office to the mainstream would require finding an equity capable of bridging these different spaces. We needed to tap into a conversation that our GenZennial target was passionate about: fashion.
As we dug into the conversation and trends happening in fashion, we noticed a pattern (yes, literally). The iconic “houndstooth” pattern was having a resurgence spanning from luxury lines to athleisure wear, and GenZennials were all in (“houndstooth” 23.2M TikTok views).
A trending dog tooth-shaped pattern gave us the runway to make our connection between canine dental health and fashion culture. To draw attention to the prevalence of the disease beyond the typical industry coverage of Pet Dental Health Month in February, we combined GenZennials love for pets and fashion by giving the timeless houndstooth pattern a makeover.
Intentionally blackening teeth to disrupt the design and using our signature “GREENIES Green” brand color for an ownable eye-catching contrast, our “HOUNDSTOOTHLESS” refresh on the trend was an unexpected yet effective way for the GREENIES brand to break through in culture and turn a statistic nobody was talking about into something they’d actually wear.
Now we needed to make the pattern fashionable for people and dogs to wear, so we collaborated with award-winning fashion designer, and dog lover, Christian Siriano to take our signature pattern and design the HOUNDSTOOTHLESS™ Collection – matching trench coats for pet parents and their pups and dropped the news ahead of one of the largest culturally moments: New York Fashion Week.
With a cultural trend, brand value, and novelty – the next step was ensuring our communications choreography maximized the story’s talkability. Prioritizing earned channels, the GREENIES brand dropped the collection ahead of New York Fashion Week, ensuring our news broke through before the well-covered event.
The brand pitched the story across verticals leveraging interviews, video content and photography. The news resonated with high-end fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment outlets alike.
For additional reach and authenticity, Christian (2.2M IG followers) published unique social content from his channels to elaborate on why this cause was a fit for him (and his pup, Poppy).
To further our credibility in the fashion space, we partnered with the biggest name in dog fashion, runway and social media, Tika the Iggy (1.1M IG followers). Tika created a custom reel following the popular #GRWM theme on TikTok. Along with her sister Kala, these cultured canines showcased the HOUNDSTOOTHLESS collection on their channels with a legendary “Who Wore It Better?” runway walk-off.
To round out the communications plan, organic social and digital content elaborated on oral health education, and the brand’s $50,000 donation to Banfield Foundation. A defined channel strategy, unique content, and well-planned timing ensured our story broke through and traveled well.
We helped canine dental disease break through by hijacking a cultural moment relevant to our target audience – New York Fashion Week.
Through 1,300+ placements and more than 730 million impressions, we successfully surpassed brand benchmarks to reach our audience. Beyond reach, “dog dental health” searches surged 73% YOY during the campaign window (compared to the same period the previous year).*
The campaign also proved effective with leading brand indicators such as, +18% Earned Share of Voice YOY, +54% Social Share of Voice YOY and +19% Talkability YOY** (defined as a composite score that is calculated as a function of two metrics: net sentiment and conversation volume, over the campaign period) – ultimately demonstrating that earning positive attention equals brand results.
*Source: SEMRush
**Source: Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Talkwalker
