For the Love of Dogs
My dog Betty is the center of my world. To me, she is a person--she has all the personality of a human, she is the size of a human (96 pounds) and she talks to me. And, yes, I talk to her. We have a relationship. Last week I had a conversation with a client over lunch about the love we have for our dogs and their importance in our lives. She told me a story about taking her dog to the Baskin-Robbins drive through to a cup of vanilla ice cream as a treat. The dog knows the words "ice cream" and will behave if promised ice cream. The dog recognizes the drive through and the girls who work the drive through recognize her. I love this story and can picture the dog's excitement as she is presented with her "treat" and gets brain freeze shortly thereafter. Wouldn't it be great if Baskin-Robbins included a menu item specifically for dogs? I have actually heard of one of our local frozen treat shops doing such a thing.It makes sense for brands to cater to dogs and their owners: there are between 40-50 million dog owners in the United States. Ad Age is thinking the same thing:
"The pet market, I don't need to tell you, is huge. Pet lovers will lavish more than $43 billion on their animal companions this year. Such devotion leads me to believe that non-pet marketers who can figure out a way to tap into all that pampering (The Wall Street Journal reported that formerly "bare bones" kennels have transformed themselves into posh daycare services that offer doggie massages and other amenities) will earn the undying loyalty of pet owners."
The article goes on to suggest that fast food restaurants, like McDonald's should offer "doggie meals":
"McDonald's already offers the Happy Meal for kids, so why not bring out the Doggie Meal for dogs (or, as Merrilee suggested, the Yappy Meal)? It would consist of a small water bottle, a plastic bowl, a snack portion of dog food (or a meal portion if you're on a long trip) plus a stuffed toy with the McDonald's logo. And if the McDog idea caught on and the dog-lover market proved to be as responsive as I think would, the bigger McDonald's outlets, those with play areas for kids, could also provide play areas for dogs."
Brilliant.