The UK is a nation of pet lovers – and, at MEERKATworks, we are proud to hold our paws up high in this department. In 2026, around 62% of UK households – approximately 18 million homes – own at least one pet. The country is now home to an estimated 15.5 million dogs and more than 13 million cats, while the UK pet food market is worth approximately £4.3 billion. It is a significant commercial opportunity, but that does not make pet food marketing easy.
Challenger brands must compete with established household names, retailer-owned ranges, specialist diets, fresh-food subscriptions, premium products and a growing number of supplements and functional treats. They must also persuade owners to change something that can directly affect their pet’s appetite, routine, digestion and health.
For many emerging pet food brands, paid social and search advertising provide an effective route to their first customers. These channels can test propositions, introduce products, generate ecommerce sales and reach owners searching for solutions to specific problems.
However, as the brand grows, the same approach can begin to deliver diminishing returns. Customer acquisition becomes more expensive, audiences become saturated and sales depend increasingly on retargeting, discounting and constant creative production.
Pet food is a high-trust purchase
Generally speaking (although we have heard occasional exceptions to the rule!) pet owners do not experience the product themselves; they don’t taste it, judge how it feels or directly assess its nutritional value. Instead, owners make decisions on behalf of their pet, and this changes the purchase journey. A new jumper, cleaning product or snack can usually be tried without much perceived risk. Changing a pet’s main food may bring concerns about whether the animal will eat it, whether it will cause an upset stomach and whether its nutritional claims can be trusted.
Pet food purchasing is particularly dependent on emotion, perceived health outcomes and continuing trust. Owners may need reassurance from ingredient information, customer experiences, veterinary or nutritional expertise and clear explanations of how a product is formulated before they are ready to switch. Modern pet brands increasingly reflect this in their positioning. Newer businesses often lead with veterinary formulation, allergy-friendly ingredients, specialist nutrition, transparent sourcing, subscription convenience or evidence-based product development. UK brand Omni, for example, combines vet-formulated, allergy-friendly dog food with supplements, subscription benefits and access to veterinary support.
The limits of performance-only pet food marketing
Paid search and paid social deserve their place in any media plan. Search advertising can capture people actively comparing products or looking for help with allergies, digestion, weight, life-stage nutrition or fussy eating. Paid social can introduce the brand visually, demonstrate the product, test different messages and reconnect with people who have already visited the website. The problem arises when these channels are expected to perform every marketing task at once.
Performance platforms are generally strongest at capturing or converting demand – they can be less effective at creating broad familiarity among people who are not yet actively looking for a different pet food and this can leave growing brands caught in a cycle. They repeatedly target the same pools of likely buyers, increase promotional activity to maintain conversion rates and give more credit to the final advert than to the encounters that originally created interest.
There are several warning signs:
- A growing proportion of sales may rely on retargeting.
- Branded search may remain flat.
- Customer acquisition costs may continue to climb.
- Campaign performance may fall as soon as an introductory offer ends.
- The business might also struggle to translate strong online engagement into sales when it secures a physical retail listing.
These are not necessarily signs that social or search advertising has failed; they may indicate that those channels need greater support from media designed to build recognition and create future demand. The MEERKATs’ work with challenger food and drink brands follows this wider principle: media should be selected according to the role it needs to perform across awareness, consideration and conversion, rather than because a particular platform is fashionable or familiar.
Target pet-owner needs
With pets present in almost two-thirds of UK households, a pet food brand must identify the owners most likely to need its product and understand what is happening in their lives – and of course their pets’ lives – when that need becomes apparent. Potential audience groups might include owners dealing with their pets’ sensitive stomachs, allergies, poor skin or coat condition, weight management, healthy ageing or fussy eating. Other brands may be more relevant to people motivated by convenience, ingredient transparency, ethical sourcing or lower-impact production.
Demographics can refine this picture, but they should not replace the underlying need. PDSA research found that newer pet owners were more likely to be aged between 18 and 44, university educated, living in urban areas, working or studying full-time and part of households earning £50,000 or more. This information could help initially guide a campaign, but it is not a complete audience strategy. Two owners of the same age and income may make completely different feeding decisions because one is worried about allergies and the other is primarily concerned about cost.
A stronger audience definition should establish:
- What has triggered the owner to reconsider their current product
- Which concern or need the new product addresses
- What prevents the owner from switching
- Where the owner researches possible solutions
- Whether the purchase is likely to happen online, in-store or through a vet
- What will encourage the customer to reorder
This moves the media plan beyond broad interest targeting and towards genuine purchase motivation.
Give every advertising channel a clear job
Scaling does not mean appearing everywhere; it means choosing a combination of channels in which each one contributes something specific.
Search and social advertising
Search advertising should capture existing intent, answer immediate needs and make the brand visible during active comparison. Social advertising can generate initial discovery, communicate the personality of the brand and show how the product fits into daily life. It is also well-suited to testing different creative approaches, customer stories, expert content and introductory offers.
However, performance data should be interpreted carefully, as a retargeting advert may receive credit for the final sale even when the customer discovered the brand through another channel.
Television, streaming and video
Television advertising is not only for the largest established pet food companies. Broadcaster video-on-demand, connected television and addressable formats can allow challenger brands to target selected audiences, households or geographical areas more precisely than a traditional national campaign. It may even be possible to reach pet owners in their homes while they’re watching their favourite shows with their dog or cat.
Video can be particularly valuable when the proposition needs explanation. It gives brands space to demonstrate the product, show the relationship between an owner and their pet and communicate emotional reassurance alongside rational evidence.
MEERKATworks has over 20 years’ experience in the TV arena. We plan and buy campaigns across traditional television, BVOD, streaming and addressable formats, including platforms operated by ITV, Channel 4 and Sky. The right option depends on the audience, geographical requirements, available creative and the role television must perform within the wider media strategy.
Radio, podcasts and digital audio
Audio advertising can build familiarity through repeated exposure and reach owners during parts of the day when visual advertising cannot. Pet owners may be listening while commuting, working, exercising, travelling or walking their dog. Podcast advertising can also provide relevant editorial environments in which specialist, health-led or values-led propositions feel more natural. Audio works particularly well when the brand has a simple, memorable benefit or a distinctive story. It can also complement television, outdoor and digital activity by reinforcing the same message across different moments of the day.
Outdoor and location-based advertising
Outdoor advertising can make a young brand feel more established and visible in the physical world. It can also be planned around specific geographical locations – for example, a pet brand could target areas surrounding major stockists, shopping centres, transport routes, parks or other locations regularly visited by its priority audience.
Digital out-of-home adds further flexibility through scheduling, geographical selection and programmatic buying. It can support a specific product launch or concentrate investment around locations where the brand is actually available. The value does not lie simply in putting a dog photo on a billboard – it lies in combining audience insight, location, availability and message so that the advertising supports a clear commercial objective.
Pet marketing in retail
Securing a significant retail listing is an important milestone, but distribution does not automatically create demand. A product can be available in hundreds of stores and still fail if shoppers do not recognise it, understand it or know where to find it. Challenger brands therefore need to align their advertising with their retail footprint. A useful starting point is to map the stores and identify the catchments with the greatest potential. Media can then be concentrated in supported areas through geographically targeted video, audio, programmatic advertising and outdoor placements.
Calls to action should also reflect local availability – someone living near a stockist may be directed to purchase in-store, while an owner outside the retail area might be offered home delivery or a subscription. Retail media can help capture customers already browsing the retailer’s website or app, while broader brand activity ensures the product is familiar when the customer reaches the shelf. An independent media plan which looks at the whole marketplace can be built around the brand’s real distribution and growth priorities, rather than focusing solely on the inventory one media owner is trying to sell.
Building a pet food brand that lasts
The UK pet food market offers enormous potential, but brands cannot assume that widespread pet ownership will translate automatically into attention or sales. Pet food marketing must resolve a more complicated problem – it must reach an owner with a relevant need, make an unfamiliar product understandable, provide sufficient reassurance and remain visible until that person is ready to act.
At MEERKATworks we relish working with brands that enrich the lives of our furry friends, and we are proud to stand up for pets’ rights and welfare whenever possible – see our ongoing work for Edinburgh Dog & Cat Home. As expert media planners and buyers, we are renowned for helping ambitious brands turn audience insight into media strategies that build trust, create demand and support sustainable growth across digital, television, audio, outdoor, and print. If you’re preparing to move beyond paid social, launch into retail or test a new advertising format, we can show you how to squeeze the most out of your media investment and achieve greatest impact. Why not talk to the MEERKAT team today?