Who Is Dog Food For?

In his new book, This is Marketing, Seth Godin claims that dog food must be getting better, more nutritious and "of course, delicious," because Americans spend more than $24 billion annually on dog food.  Dog food prices continue to climb and with them a corresponding increase in gourmet ingredients that now include sweet potatoes, elk and free-range bison.

 

Have you ever seen a dog buy dog food? How could we possibly know if dog food tastes better as it gets more expensive? Do dogs enjoy it more? "We have no clue whether dogs enjoy it more, because we're not dogs," notes Godin.

 

What we do know is that dog owners enjoy the "improvements" to dog food because dog food is made for, and marketed to, dog owners who are willing to believe that gourmet and more expensive dog food tastes better because of how the purchase makes them feel. Pet owners buy gourmet dog food for "The satisfaction of taking care of an animal that responds with loyalty and affection, the status of buying a luxury good, and the generosity of sharing it," explains Godin.

 

There is no way any marketer or manufacturer can know if dog food tastes better, because it would require understanding how a dog thinks. (And anyone who has spent time with the chief morale officer in the DPHA Bethesda office knows there is not a lot of mental activity taking place daily.) The right way to market dog food is to appeal to what dog owners want. Godin's dog food lesson for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms is that there is almost always a disconnect between performance and appeal.

 

There's two voices in our heads. There's the dog's voice - the one that doesn't have many words, but knows what it wants. And there's the owner's voice - which is nuanced, contradictory and complex. It's juggling countless inputs and is easily distracted. Dog owners select dog food based on hundreds of different factors, but taste is not one of those factors. The customers that you want to reach care about a range of inputs and emotions, not who's cheapest or how much of a discount you might offer. Godin advises everyone to choose your extremes and your market. And vice versa.