Redefining Dog Treats with Natural Preservatives

The Challenge:

New legislation in the UK meant the current most-used preservative in dog treats could no longer be used. Our client, a leading pet food brand, created some prototypes of new treats using alternative natural preservatives.

We needed to locate dog owners who care about naturalness and sustainability, with a mixed range of dog sizes and ages, to gather feedback on pet and owner perceptions of the new treats.

The Solution:

We used our in-house recruitment panel to locate dog owners via an online questionnaire, followed by a conversation with one of our moderators to ensure the participants were exactly who we were looking for, to meet our client’s brief.

We then completed a 10-day HUT (Home Usage Test) to gather feedback on the new treat samples via videos and written surveys.

To delve into deeper insight, we followed this up with a 90-minute Zoom focus group with some of the participants, to discuss their findings further.

The Result:

Our client was very happy with the results. The consumer insight demonstrated a clear winner amongst the treat prototypes. The HUT feedback and additional focus group responses enabled us to provide the client with valuable detailed feedback and suggestions to improve the whole range of dog treat products.

This allowed our client to proceed to market with confidence, with a refreshed range of dog treats that met their objectives, and offering their target audience a more sustainable and environmentally friendly product for their pets.