Paw Prints is developing an organic dog food delivery service that will provide customized dog food delivered weekly to customers' doors in reusable glass containers. The company aims to target young professional women ages 18-34 in the Western US who value eco-friendliness and convenience due to busy lifestyles. Paw Prints believes its personalized and sustainable service addresses the needs of its target demographic for nutritious and convenient dog food without extra errands. The company will promote its brand focusing on attributes like customization, eco-friendliness, and the emotional connection of ensuring dogs get the best nutrition.

1. Paw Prints
Marketing 371
Professor Olson
Assignment #2: Pet Food Brand Development
May 8, 2015
Lisa Brecheisen
Caitlin Clark
Ashley Castro
Josh Doiron
Nicole Kuester

2. Introduction
According to CBS news, Americans spent over 56 billion on their pets in 2013. This
number has been increasing as the American pet culture continues to accept their pets as a
member of the family. The United States has many different types of pet to choose from, but
most Americans either have a dog or a cat as a family pet. According to ASPCA, there are 70 to
80 million dog owners in the United States, which accounts for approximately 37% of the
nation’s pet owners. Today, the average American does not work the traditional 40 hours per
week, rather they potentially can work 50 hours or more depending on their career. With
Americans becoming workaholics, we at Paw Prints can help these hard working professionals
by providing them with a customizable service to help them give their pet the best nutrition while
they maintaining a busy lifestyle.
Paw Prints
Paw Prints is an eco-friendly, organic dog food manufacturer and delivery service. The
food is made fresh on a weekly basis and delivered to the subscriber’s door in reusable glass
containers. Our weekly deliveries are made in our branded Prius V hybrid vehicles that are
driven by our friendly, knowledgeable, dog loving nutrition advisors. Customers can sign up for
a subscription and manage their accounts online to make any changes to their dog’s diet, add
treats or toys, or modify their plan.
Target Market Segments
To decide our target market we utilized a spring 2013 survey from Mediamark Research
Inc. The survey gathered data from 145,736 purchasers of wet dog food. Prior to deciding
gender, we wanted to focus on an age group that shares our company’s core values. We chose
the range 18-34 years of age to capture the Millennial market that makes up 26% of all wet dog
food purchases. We then looked at the education level of this demographic and found that 29.7%
were college graduates. 12.1% of these make $75,000 to $99,999 per year.
We decided that the ideal region to begin marketing our service is the western region of
the United States. The cultural values in this region reflect our emphasis on eco-friendliness and
organic ingredients. This region contained 21.6% of all survey participants, the second largest
percentage of all regions. Through the survey we found that 25% of the entire sample was

3. women between the ages of 18-34. Our service will be targeted at this niche market of women
18-34 in the western region with a college degree, making $75,000-$99,999 annually.
Our ideal consumer is a young professional woman with limited spare time to run
household errands such as buying dog food. She considers her pet to be the beginning of her
family, and cares for it as if it were her first child. This young, driven individual often works
more than the traditional 40 hour work week. Being short on leisure time, she wants to spend her
available hours with her loved ones, rather than at a pet store.
Through our research we strongly believe Paw Prints will help this hard working woman
to ensure that her dog is getting vital nutrition and care without being affected by her busy
lifestyle.
Brand Identification
Paw Prints falls under the Caregiver archetype. Our brand focuses on nurturing pets,
taking care of the owner’s needs, and taking responsibility for the health of the planet.
Paw Prints has multiple dimensions to our brand, in order to
connect with the millennial generation eco-friendly lifestyle. With
our wet dog food being in a clear glass container, we wanted colors
that would be bold and resemble eco-friendly colors. Paw Prints
logo colors are bright blue and green. These colors represents the
colors of the earth and focus on our mission of being an
environmentally responsible company that cares for your pet(s).
The predominant color is blue because it represents a calm and relaxing image that is beneficial
to the mind and body. Trust and loyalty are the strongest symbols of blue and pair well with dog
owners. We know our consumers have very hectic lives, in which we want to eliminate this
additional stress of caring for their pet, by assisting them with giving their dog the vital nutrients.
The secondary color is green in the paw print of the logo. Green symbolizes freshness and
corresponds to safety representing the natural aspect of our product as well as the organic

4. portion. Incorporating the eco-friendly aspect, the green symbolizes the continents on a world
map.
Not only do our colors represent the earth, but also the shape of our logo embodies a sense of
protection. The green pawprint encapsulated by a ring of blue implies a sense of protection and
calmness. Protecting your pet and nurturing it, safe from the work-life stress outside.
Paw Prints has a young female veterinarian as a spokesperson. She gives her testimonial not just
as a veterinarian, but as a loving pet owner as well. She does not yet have children but sees her
dogs as her family, and she wants to feed them healthily and sustainably. Being a hard working
professional, it can be difficult for her to have sufficient time to shop for all the products that her
canine family needs. She knows that her dogs have specific dietary needs and it is convenient
that a company like Paw Prints can deliver her dog's food to her door with the exact amount of
nutritional ingredients that her dogs can benefit from every day.
Customers will be able to associate the brand with words such as eco-friendly,
nutritional, convenient, and customizable. The symbol that associate with the brand is the logo of
the paw print. The idea behind the logo and the name “Paw Prints” is a play on the concept of
carbon footprints. The brand revolves around sustainability such as our eco-friendly car and the
reuseable containers and with this we strive to reduce our own carbon footprint. People that are
associated with the brand are the veterinarians that recommend
the product to pet owners. Also a dietitian is associated with the
brand since they are the ones who create the food. There is a
nutrition advisor who is knowledgeable about the full range of
product offerings and the personal needs of all of their members
in their delivery region. They will not be viewed as sales
associates though, but more like the local advisors for their
clients’ pets. The nutrition advisors will arrive dressed in a green
polo paired with khaki slacks in an eco-efficient vehicle, a
Toyota Prius V that will have both the Paw Prints logo. The
nutritional advisor will be familiar with the customer’s name,
dog's name, dog's diet and health needs. They will also keep
notes of the customer’s diets, which will also connect them with the pets since they will know
what they need and can also bring treats appropriate for that dog.

5. Reasons for Crafting Brand as it is
Group Influences
Our ideal consumer’s childhood involved growing up with pets and seeing their parents
treating them as part of the family. Throughout our customer’s childhood, they noticed that their
parents would trust the advice from a veterinarian. As the individual grows up and is now a
young working professional, what they learned from their parents about caring for family pets
will influence how they care for the dogs in their own adult lives. The consumers will rely on
their veterinarian to make diet recommendations for their beloved dogs and respect that advice.
With the veterinarian playing such a vital role in the development of the pet owner’s behavior,
we find it important to provide vets with samples and information to encourage them to
recommend Paw Prints to their clients.
Paw Prints has a distinct culture that captures the millennial generation because of the
sustainability aspect of our dog food. By targeting women aged 18-34, we are capturing a market
that is very conscious about protecting the earth as well as doing good for the benefit of
everyone. Our product maintains a level of eco-friendliness by incorporating a reusable container
system that will give customers the ability to exchange the empty jars upon each fresh delivery
for reuse. This shows that our product is sustainable, unlike our competitors’ products that use
bags or aluminum can for dog food. The Millennial Generation gravitates towards products that
are seen as sustainable and convenient. Once the millennial generation notices that Paw Prints is
a sustainable company that values recycling their jars and having organic ingredients, the rest
will be history and they will become brand loyal. Another important part of our brand is the
personal connection the customers have with Paw Prints. The food they receive is personalized

6. not only in content, but also in presentation. Every delivery of food comes with the pet owner’s
name and the pet’s name on the label.
With Paw Prints targeting young professional women, who works more than the average
40 hour work week, our sub-culture is made up of workaholics. Typically, workaholics will
work everywhere they go whether it be at their office, home, or on their phone running errands.
Workaholics by choice do not give themselves any
leisure time because their primary focus is excelling
at their job. Although, workaholics have a tendency
to have no leisure time, they still enjoy spending
time with the ones they loved such as their pets or
significant others. This sub-culture needs a product
that is readily available for them as well as
convenient. Many workaholics are not price
sensitive, which makes them not as brand loyal
because they are more focused on convenience. At
Paw Prints, we will match the young professional
women workaholic lifestyle by delivering their
customized order to incorporate the convenience factor of our product. Once we have instilled in
the target market that our product is convenient they will start to become more brand loyal and
trust the Nutritional Advisors to decided new customized orders because the will be too busy
working.
Psychological Influences
Buying dog food is how owners satisfy their pet’s physiological needs. Such essentials
are basic to life along with water, shelter, warmth and air. When a person befriends a furry
animal, higher needs are filled for the owner. These may include safety, belonging and esteem.
A pet can help protect its owner physically and make them feel secure mentally. Pets are
commonly thought of as a friend and part of the family which satisfies social needs. Lastly,
there may be esteem needs that are aided with a pet such as a dog. Taking care of another
requires a level of responsibility, time and effort which can enhance a person’s confidence and
feeling of accomplishment.

7. Selfishly, owners want these positive attributes to continue and along with the strong
influence of love they are willing to buy what they believe is the best. This means freshly
delivered, customizable and organic dog food. There is relief in knowing that ‘Fluffy’ is getting
all the nutrients that the pharmacist recommends with Paw Prints dog food and supplemental
boosters. The innate desire is to feed your dog but the motivation is due to convenience,
customization and care. This means customers choose between ideal options in an approach
conflict. The id is satisfied and immediate gratification is granted as changes are easily made
online and nutrition advisors visit the home every week to help.
Customer’s psyche may be protected by idealization, identification and regression.
Idealization is where customers see the same delivery advisors every week, get rewards and feed
their pets what they know is healthy and environmentally friendly. With constant positivity
being reinforced, there can be an exaggeration of greatness of qualities. Identification may be
used for those who are health conscious and want to do the same for their dog. This is especially
true for those who follow a strict diet such as organic, locally grown, gluten free, non-GMO,
vegetarian, etc. They eat a certain way and want their pet(s) to do the same. Lastly, a customer
may use Paw Prints dog food and services as a way to regress. They can back to an earlier time
where a pet is a best friend who can be taken care of like a doll.
Behavior theory or operant conditioning is a form of stimulus response theory used by
Paw Prints. Reinforcement is strongly used due to the fact that dog food is a habitual, relatively
low-involvement item. Discounts are given for long term purchases and free treats, boosters and
toys are given out every three months to loyal customers. Owners buy food and get a reward.
Conditioning is done through the use of repetition where customers get into the habit of having
personalized dog food dropped off at their door. When they see the Paw Prints logo on their
porch and the eco-friendly, reusable glass containers that were delivered by a hybrid vehicle they
feel good about being eco-friendly. The more times a customer orders through this company and
goes through the process of having food delivered and returning the used jars, the more
comfortable they become with it.
Cognitive theories or those that involve thinking also take place and are encouraged.
This is through owner’s active learning to find the best foods and care for pets, where it is clear
that Paw Prints excels. All pet foods, treats and boosters are transparent in what goes into the
food and just as importantly, what does not. Through knowledge it becomes apparent that with
the care and proper nutrition pets can live longer and have a better quality of life. Customers

8. discover that by having food delivered they are able to save precious time with their dog instead
of shopping for them which is a smart alternative and lastly that their choice is sustainable and
environmentally friendly.
The consumers of Paw Prints are perceptually vigilant, that is to say that they are looking
for the stimulus of specialized dog food. This intentional search that customers make is through
looking for key benefits that Paw Prints has and competitors are lacking in. Paw Prints is a total
product that does not simply provide superior dog food but also great service from well trained
and knowledgeable ‘family members’, quality assurance with a no hassle money back guarantee,
a dedication to provide for dogs, owners and the planet as well as products that are tailored to the
needs of the customers and visually appealing. The stronger a customer’s self-relevance for one
or numerous of these features the more important our company becomes to them.
Additional exposure is improved by allowing vets to give out free samples to customers
where they find it appropriate. At specific farmers markets, pet events and dog shows where
potential customers are interested in a product such as ours, we have booths with information as
well as rebates for trial offers. Paw Prints is always family friendly, clean and inviting. The
recognizable puppy world logo is on display and animals are welcome. Information on the
history of the company, the workers behind the product and the improvements to the planet are
emphasized alongside the customizable nutrition and delivery service.
Market Mix
Features, Benefits, and Emotional Connections
The brand revolves around being natural, fresh and eco-friendly. Features of our brand
will be customization, which will allow customers to create a product specifically for their dog.
Other features that will be offered from the product will be the delivery service and the eco-
friendly packaging. Also customers will be able to add nutritional boost to their order that can be
mixed in with their food. This can be beneficial for pet owners because their dogs will be getting
additional nutrients that the vet recommends are needed for their current life stage. The benefits
that will come of this will be that dogs will have healthy foods to eat that will hopefully cause
them to live longer. Also benefits will be customers will be making a contribution towards
making the world more eco-friendly. A dietitian will be producing the food so customers can feel

9. comfortable the food their dog will be eating will be the most wholesome because of their
credibility. Since the personality type of our brand is a “caregiver”, the emotional connections
that exist with our brand is the feeling of knowing your animal is getting the best food
specifically for them.
Pricing Strategies
The pricing strategy we created for our product varies based on the supply of food. This
will range from a weekly delivery that can be subscribed for a month, three-month, six-month or
a year supply. The product is available for three different ages such as puppies, adult, and mature
dogs. The packaging of the product is in a reusable glass container. If customers take advantage
of the recycle program by leaving the used containers on their porch for the nutrition advisors to
pick up they will receive 10% off their next purchase. There are discounts for paying for a
subscription in advance. It will also be cheaper for customers to buy in longer subscription
periods. For first time customers who are recommended by their veterinarian, there is a health
and wellness promotion.
Distribution
Since our brand is based around the idea of customization, our product will be sold to
customers through an order process. Customers will be able to order the product online on our
website, by phone, or place an order through their veterinarian. Customers will receive the
product from a specialized delivery person in an eco-friendly Prius that will be equipped to store
the product at its correct temperature. Regardless of which subscription period the customer paid
for (One month, three months, six months, and one year) they will receive a supply every week
from their advisor. The advisor will keep notes and a log of information of the dog so it knows
for the future. Customers will become familiar with their nutrition advisors and will be able to
order from them for their next delivery.
Promotional Campaign
The slogan for the product is “caring for you pup and your planet”. It is geared to the fact
that both the planet and their dog will be benefiting from this product. Since our target market is
towards a younger demographic, we will be mostly using social media to promote our product.
We created a Facebook and Twitter pages to reach out to our customers. On Facebook we

10. targeted ads to our specific demographics, which are female and between the ages of 18-34. A
Linkedin page is also useful for advertising since our target market is a young working
professional who is familiar with the website and can receive advertisements. We also
incorporate the use of samples of our product in higher end pet stores such as Kahoots. We
created a stand in the store and inform customers about our product while giving them samples.
Since we work with veterinarians as well we also give them samples so they can recommend to
their pet owners. The nutrition advisors also promote to current customers when new products
become available by giving samples to customers to try.

11. Works Cited
"Americans Spent a Record $56 Billion on Pets Last Year." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d.
Web. 08 May 2015. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-spent-a-record-56-
billion-on-pets-last-year/>.
"Millennials: We Help The Earth But Don't Call Us Environmentalists." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 08
May 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2014/10/11/355163205/millennials-well-help-the-planet-
but-dont-call-us-environmentalists>.
"Pet Industry Stats." MediaMark Research Intelligence. N.p., Jan. 2013. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
"Welcome." ASPCA. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2015. <https://www.aspca.org/>