Tomorrow marks the first day of fall, yet the Halloween items have already been in the stores for weeks. Candy corn. Costumes. Orange nail polish. Halloween cat litter. Wait, what? Yes, whilst walking the aisles of PetSmart this weekend, I espied this Halloween edition bucket of Tidy Cats cat litter:
My first thought: FINALLY. Even though few things are less emotional than cat litter, finally a brand is leveraging holidays with cat owners. We know that cat videos are the most-watched items on the Internet. This is an audience whose emotions run high when it comes to their furry friends, so why not give them reasons to celebrate that go beyond the obvious cat costumes that allow ears to poke through tiny hats?
This packaging, complete with kitty-carved Jack-o-lantern and the warning “Odors Beware!” has limited-time, collectors’ appeal. Those who are already Tidy Cats customers will want to purchase even if their clumping litter inventory is high; more importantly, those non-customers who are willing to try another brand may just be pushed to purchase in order to have this bucket. Long after Halloween comes and goes, this bucket can be used for lots of purposes – to store Halloween decorations, for instance.
As a confirmed cat enthusiast (please see photo of Fritiz, feline love-of-my-life, in his Yankee cap at bottom of post), I’ve long thought that cat brands should be doing this. In fact, nearly a decade ago my company (The S3 Agency) pitched a holiday campaign to Meow Mix. We suggested giving cat owners another reason to connect emotionally with their cat food brand by celebrating a wide variety of holidays – starting with Cinco de Meow, something I’d been celebrating with my own cats for years! By creating new touch points all year long, this campaign would surely have driven brand loyalty – and imagine all that could have been done with social media.
Speaking of social media: I’m surprised that Tidy Cats hasn’t brought their Halloween theme into social channels or their website. Hopefully that will be coming soon.
Congratulations to Tidy Cats for scooping the competition with this smart move. You’ve truly scooped the cat competition! And since our cat-holiday-pitch didn’t land the Meow Mix account, I’ll be watching eagerly to see if your efforts result in the increased sales, loyalty, and shelf space that we predicted nearly 10 years ago.
~ Denise Blasevick, @AdvertGirl & CEO, The S3 Agency
