NONTRADITIONAL EVENT
	Company: Del Monte Foods Event: The Meow Mix Acatemy Objective: Sustain market-share growth momentum. Strategy: Capitalize on the emotional side of pet ownership. Tactics: Stage a celebrity-studded “cat school” for pet owners with classes and activities to help owners learn to think like a cat. Extend the event theme across multiple channels. Results: Exceeded attendance goal by 20 percent in the launch city; exceeded media-impressions goal by 30 percent. Creative Agency: Grand Central Marketing Inc., www.grandcentralmarketing.com Production Agency: Event Central LLC, www.eventcentral.bz Budget: $600,000

he saying goes that the cat who catches no mice does not earn her keep. But in the world of cat-food sales, it’s catching consumer attention, not mice, that determines if a feline food company keeps its spot on the shelf in a cluttered pet-food marketplace. Wet or dry, canned or bagged, from the familiar brands — Iams, Purina, Friskies — to a slew of new organic and even vegan selections, there is no denying that there are enough cat-food choices today to feed a feline for more than nine lives.

While some pet-food brands focus their marketing around science and ingredients or develop a cat-food recipe for every conceivable cat condition (try a special dry, hairball-control mix for the seven-year-old-plus set from Hill’s Science Diet), one brand has kept it fun, quirky, and simple since the ‘70s: Meow Mix, the brand with the signature “meow, meow, meow, meow” jingle.

Known for its catchy television ads and colorful, cartoonish, yellow-and-orange packaging, the brand has maintained mass appeal by keeping its products basic, while also appealing to the emotions of pet owners who tend to think of their cats as family members and want to understand what makes the feline mind tick. “The brand has always been about better understanding the cat. The more you understand your cat, the closer your relationship with the cat will be,” says Joe Tuza, vice president of marketing for Pittsburgh-based Del Monte Foods, a subsidiary of Del Monte Corp., which acquired the Meow Mix brand in 2006 from the Cypress Group.

Brand positioning, consumer loyalty, and innovative marketing are increasingly important in a cat-food market that has exploded since Meow Mix originated 40 years ago. At that time, cat-food sales in the United States were around $1 billion annually. Today, cat food is a $4.5 billion industry, with dozens of brands vying for a bigger share of the market. Only Nestlé S.A. (which owns the Purina Cat Chow and Friskies brands) has a larger market share of dry cat food than Del Monte Foods (48 percent to 20 percent), with private labels controlling another 15 percent of the market.

To grow its paw print in the cat-food market while reinforcing its lighthearted image, Meow Mix has partnered with New York-based event-marketing firm Grand Central Marketing Inc. to craft a series of entertaining marketing events over the past few years. Tuza feels cat owners are a perfect fit for event marketing because they think of cats as children, spoil them accordingly, and love to show them off. “There is nothing these pet parents won’t try or buy,” he says. “Anything that is cat-centric, they love to participate in. But there’s not a lot of opportunity for them to do that.” To gently sink its claws into these passionate owners, Del Monte has taken the lead in catering to that audience and providing them memorable Meow Mix brand experiences.

A HISTORY OF FELINE FUN

In 2004, Del Monte opened the Meow Mix Café, the world’s first restaurant dedicated to cats and their enthusiastic owners. Built to launch the company’s new line of moist cat food, the 3,500-square-foot restaurant on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was only open for two weeks. In that short amount of time, it served a total of 14,000 pouches of the new cat food product, generated a plethora of publicity, and featured a grand opening cameo from the original Catwoman, singer and actress Eartha Kitt.

Two years later, the event team rolled out the Meow Mix House, aka “The Real World for cats.” Ten cats chosen from regional shelters lived together — and had their lives taped — on camera in a custom-built, storefront house on New York’s Madison Avenue. Viewers could follow the cats’ antics online to see what happened when cats stopped being polite, and started being, well, cats. Their exploits not only made for humorous YouTube clips, but also generated 150 million media impressions for Meow Mix.

“The brand has an ability to do this due to its cultivated tongue-in-cheek personality,” Tuza says. “There are not a lot of brands that can pull that off.” Given the success of the café and reality house, and Meow Mix’s reputation for quirky and innovative events, the brand decided to launch a bigger and better event in 2007 — The Meow Mix Acatemy, a celebrity-packed, activity-focused cat school to teach cat owners how to think like a cat.

“We wanted to develop a campaign that would allow us to communicate the brand message to consumers in a more nontraditional way,” Tuza says. The Acatemy was also a way to continue the Meow Mix strategy of reaching cat-food consumers through out-of-the-ordinary campaigns that appealed to the fun and emotional side of cat ownership — and to break away from the litter of pet-food advertising.

MEOW’S THE WORD

When planning for the Acatemy began eight months prior to its Aug. 21 launch, the Meow Mix team used lessons learned from the café and reality house to prepare for the campaign. These events were mainly publicity stunts without long-term, large-scale promotions to stretch the spectacle to consumers nationwide. While buzz from these events spread naturally through the media and online, this time Del Monte wanted to build publicity and interest through a nationwide campaign featuring the Acatemy across multiple Meow Mix channels — from the Web to coupons and inserts to in-store efforts to advertising and radio spots. “We learned that we did not want to have a one-off PR event and not have it integrated across other elements of the brand,” Tuza says.

In addition, while Del Monte again planned to launch the event in New York, this time the Acatemy would go mobile for an 11-city national tour to keep the event rolling for an extra two months, and extend the Acatemy’s reach from New York to Los Angeles.

A coupon, which ran in Sunday circulars nationwide prior to the Acatemy, directed consumers to the Meow Mix Web site, where they could enter a sweepstakes to win a culinary weekend getaway with celebrity chef Cat Cora, a Food Network star and author who served as the mock dean of the Acatemy. The Web site also provided in-depth information about the Acatemy — from planned events to celebrity guests — to pique visitor interest prior the opening.

Beyond getting cat owners to come out for the Acatemy, the integrated event advertising also helped push the brand message and drive sales through the coupons. With total campaign costs topping out at more than $1 million, this comprehensive awareness and purchase-incentive strategy helped Del Monte recoup those costs before the Acatemy doors even opened.

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POUNCING ON THE BIG APPLE

To prepare for the New York launch at the Daryl Roth Theatre in Manhattan, Del Monte upped the local feline flair to attract attention. Large yellow and orange banners adorned the outside of the theater to advertise the event and direct onlookers to the Meow Mix Web site for more information. Giant cat sculptures á la Egypt’s Great Sphinx adorned either side of the columns at the theater entrance. Del Monte also positioned newspaper boxes throughout the city that contained “course catalogs.” Lined with faux fur, the boxes played the signature — and catchy — Meow Mix jingle when opened.

To build more media and consumer appeal, Del Monte relied on a heavy dose of star power. The Acatemy featured a slew of celebrities who had a cat connection of some fashion. In addition to chef Cat Cora, “America’s Next Top Model” winner CariDee English was on hand to teach attendees how to work the catwalk. Recording artist Kat DeLuna served as an expert on “singing like a cat,” and actor Vincent Pastore, better known as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero from “The Sopranos,” gave the event a little New York bite. While celebrity endorsers are not a new idea, Del Monte’s criteria — everyone must have a cat connection — added a cheeky and brand-appropriate twist to the unique event concept.

Tuza says the mix of celebrities garnered press coverage across a wide range of media forums. Instead of just a write-up in Cat Fancy magazine, having a famous chef, model, actor, and musician on hand increased the number and type of media outlets clawing for a piece of the action, from the New York Times and New York Daily News to E! Entertainment Television and various entertainment blogs.

Putting on the final touches, Del Monte even rolled out the red carpet for the Acatemy’s grand opening on Aug. 21. Except in this case, the red carpet was Meow Mix orange with yellow paw prints. “If you put up a red carpet in New York, people might not know what it’s for, but they will come,” Tuza notes. And that’s exactly what they did.

HEARDING CATS

Thousands of Acatemy students were greeted by a marching band, cheerleaders, and the Meow Mix mascot when they arrived at “school.” All visitors were welcome, from the certified cat enthusiast to the curious passerby, and of course cats themselves, provided they were on leashes and monitored by pet parents. Once inside, it was picture time, as Acatemy staff members issued human guests a laminated student identification card and gathered contact information so Del Monte could follow up with attendees after the event.

After registration, Acatemy students could participate in a variety of entertaining and educational events that encouraged them to think — and behave — like a cat. Cat owners could get physical with the “Cat-isthenics” course in the gymnasium by climbing a rock wall or playing tether ball with a giant ball of yarn. DJs were on hand to teach cat owners how to scratch like a cat, and Cat Cora offered a “Cook Like a Cat” course to teach humans the virtues of cat-like eating: portion control and frequent, small meals.

Pet psychic Emerald DeCouer gave personal consultations for cat owners seeking a glimpse inside their furry friend’s psyche, and cat “therapist” Carole Wilbourn presumably helped counsel felines bent on shredding furniture or their owners’ patience. Del Monte also had veterinarians on hand to address cat-owner concerns of a more serious nature.

To round out the Acatemy’s college-like experience, a book store offered visitors a variety of Meow Mix-branded merchandise to immortalize their experience, from clothing to backpacks, and even the official Meow Mix Acatemy textbook, “The Meaning of Meow: Understanding and Caring for Your Cat.” All proceeds from book-store sales were donated to local animal shelters, in addition to 1 pound of Meow Mix cat food for every Acatemy visitor.

TOOTHY RESULTS

By the end of the five-day New York Acatemy, 12,000 cat lovers had visited the event — 20 percent more than the team’s goal of 10,000 attendees. Riding high on the success of the event, Meow Mix packed up the show in two 24-foot box trucks for an 11-city tour.

The majority of activities offered in New York were transported to weekend events held in major cities such as Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, giving cat owners across the country a chance to get in on the fun. While the celebrities did not participate in the subsequent tour stops, Del Monte coordinated with local shelters at each stop to bring in animal experts to answer cat owners’ questions. The tour culminated with a “graduation ceremony” at the final stop in San Francisco on Nov. 4.

In all, 50,000 cat owners experienced the Acatemy and strengthened their bonds with their pets, and, Tuza hopes, the Meow Mix brand.

“The event has to fit the brand position. We have a fun, energetic, innovative personality, and the event certainly delivered on all of those attributes,” Tuza says. “But the ultimate goal at the end of the day is to raise profits, raise awareness, and get the brand message out to the customers.”

Thankfully for Tuza, the Meow Mix Acatemy event proved hugely successful when it comes to its results, saturating the media with Meow Mix mentions. In fact, Tuza says the campaign generated 200 million media impressions — 50 million more than the team’s goal of 150 million.

At the same time, Tuza acknowledges that translating what the Acatemy and its significant publicity means financially for the brand is a bit more complicated. “We’ve seen some great results,” he says. “Still, it’s hard to say that this event entirely accounts for that.” But even with that grain of salt included, the results are, indeed, impressive. When Del Monte acquired Meow Mix in 2006, the brand had annual revenues of $250 million and a No. 2 market share in dry cat-food sales, with 4 percent annual growth. Today, Meow Mix accounts for 14 percent of the dry cat-food market and 6 percent of the moist cat-food market. While the company does not disclose its individual brands’ sales figures, Del Monte has experienced a net sales increase of $415 million in 2007, largely thanks to the acquisition of the Meow Mix brand.

Corporate EVENT Award judges raved about the Acatemy’s fully thought-out strategy and execution. As one judge noted, “It wasn’t just about fun. They had business-relevant content in there, too. And it’s totally on brand.” Another summed up the program’s success very simply, explaining, in part, why the Acatemy earned this year’s highest honor, the Judges’ Choice Award: “They thought of everything. Every individual element was highly creative, making the event, as a whole, absolutely perfect.”

While a lighthearted event like the Acatemy might not be the right fit for every business, Tuza says events in general are a great way for companies to “bust through the clutter of traditional advertising and marketing — as long as they are true and consistent to the brand.” He also indicates Meow Mix will continue pursuing events as part of its brand strategy. “It’s part of the Meow Mix heritage,” he says. “It’s been a good success for us.” As three successful events have proven, it’s more than just good. For Meow Mix, it’s pure purr-fection. e