In a client economic system the place spending is supposedly slowing down, Native Pet’s “Let Dogs Be Dogs” marketing campaign — a completely satisfied montage of canines being, smartly, absolute menaces — lands as one thing quietly radical. It doesn’t promote worry. It doesn’t promote details. It sells feeling. And it appears, that also works.
Backed by means of CAVU Consumer Partners — the non-public fairness company at the back of better-for-you hits like Poppi, Hims & Hers, and The Farmer’s Dog — Native Pet is the newest evidence that puppy wellness isn’t a fad. It’s a sense. And it’s one who’s sticky sufficient to resist inflation, rates of interest, and no matter’s left of our collective monetary dignity.
From kibble to collagen chews
The complement marketplace for pets has traditionally been a peculiar, medical nook of the puppy aisle — quite a lot of vet-white packaging and obscure guarantees about “joint mobility.” But Native Pet, based in 2017 and now to be had in primary outlets, needs to show purposeful vitamin into one thing you in truth wish to purchase. The roughly factor that leads to your day by day pantry staple, now not simply for your canine’s bowl post-surgery.
The marketing campaign, created by means of Accompany Creative, skips over the science and is going immediately for the serotonin. Think user-generated movies of canines sprinting into lakes, tearing via residing rooms, and normally thriving. It’s now not about fixing an issue. It’s about extending the great things. Or as Accompany’s founder Jason Keehn places it, “We take supplements to feel our best, so why shouldn’t they?”
It’s suave. But it’s additionally strategic — a reframing of puppy dietary supplements as now not simply medical health insurance, however an act of on a regular basis care. Because in a crowded class with low client consciousness, pleasure is a extra robust conversion instrument than jargon.
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The CAVU impact: branding as habits
CAVU isn’t precisely a family identify, however its portfolio most likely lives for your refrigerator. Beyond Native Pet, the company has sponsored a who’s who of contemporary model darlings: Beyond Meat, Oatly, Vital Proteins, Once Upon a Farm, Bai, Waterloo, and OSEA.
And right here’s the trend: CAVU doesn’t simply in finding fascinating merchandise, it unearths cultural levers. Gut well being (Poppi). Protein panic (Vital Proteins). Clean good looks (OSEA). Parental guilt (Once Upon a Farm). Now they’re making use of that very same lens to puppy possession — a class the place love is irrational, and spending incessantly is simply too.
What’s rising is a brand new roughly non-public fairness playbook — one who prioritizes emotional storytelling over efficiency advertising, and model id as a core driving force of price introduction. CAVU’s way alerts that id, values, or even vibe are not fringe branding considerations. They’re central to how trendy CPG manufacturers develop.
This isn’t with regards to shifting product. It’s about shaping how a technology of shoppers pertains to wellness, components, and the firms that promote them. From biohacked drinks to puppy probiotics, the throughline is obvious: emotional resonance equals model fairness. And non-public fairness is paying consideration.
The recession that skipped the canine aisle
What makes this in particular fascinating is the timing. Consumer self assurance is wobbly. Grocery expenses are up. But Americans are nonetheless spending, particularly on pets. According to the “Pet Supplements in the US, 10th Edition” record by means of Packaged Facts, U.S. puppy complement gross sales reached over $2.7 billion in 2023, marking a 19% build up from 2022. This enlargement displays a just about 20% compound annual enlargement price
That enlargement is pushed by means of a generational shift. Millennials and Gen Z now make up nearly all of puppy homeowners, they usually deal with their animals like precise youngsters. They need choices, now not afterthoughts. They need blank components. And they would like manufacturers that mirror their values, although the product is technically chicken-flavored probiotic powder.
“Let Dogs Be Dogs” works as it will get this. It doesn’t beg to your consideration. It winks at you. It doesn’t guilt you into a purchase order. It invitations you right into a second of natural, slobbery pleasure. And in a sea of medical white labels and claims about efficacy, that may really feel refreshing.
Brand-building that in truth builds one thing
There’s numerous noise within the “purpose-led” model area. A large number of obscure manifestos about disrupting classes and raising life. But Native Pet’s marketing campaign does one thing quietly subversive: it displays as an alternative of tells.
Dogs being canines. Parents being bizarre. Supplements as a comfortable expression of affection, now not a remedy plan. It’s now not a revolution. But this is a reset on how we discuss well being, particularly in relation to the four-legged freeloaders who proportion our couches and our financial institution accounts.
For CAVU and Accompany Creative, it’s additionally a reminder that emotional intelligence would possibly simply be the sharpest instrument within the brand-building equipment.