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Robert Wheatley//October 1, 2025//
Robert Wheatley//October 1, 2025//
It was during a presentation on marketing best practices at the Pet Food Forum convention, and I played a bit of an unfair trick on the audience. On stage I put up a slide that revealed 10 pet brand claim phrases on one side and on the other was a list of 10 pet food brands. I challenged anyone in the audience who could match the phrase to the right brand.
Of course, it was a near impossible task, done with tongue firmly implanted in cheek to drive home a point. You could match any of the phrases to any of the brands shown and it would still work.
Why? Because of the extraordinary levels of sameness and similarity in premium pet brand communication – following a well-travelled messaging rule book that very few brands deviate from.
A handful of pet food product messaging conventions (you may know of others)
Note, for the consumer the shopping experience echoes this ‘sameness’ experience through aisle after aisle of similar packaging that showcases happy, active dogs and cats, while inside the bag or can, product forms are nearly identical in appearance thus brand names/equity become the only viable separator.
The unintended consequence of widespread sameness is uncertainty
What condition plagues consumers most often when confronted with making a purchase decision? (It’s an important one mind you, because the health and wellbeing of their pets is at stake). It’s uncertainty.
What do people long for above all things? Certainty. Of note, consumers’ 99999.9999 percent of the time want to avoid the risk of making a bad decision.
When pet food products brand to brand in their market segment share similarity to each other, the arguments for better are always in the margins. And as we’ve witnessed with any new novel pet product innovation that gets traction, other brands will quickly follow with their version – and like magic, premium segment competitors are running alongside each other in the minimal-processing fast lane.
Square one: different is better than ‘better than’
Humans are hard wired to recognize and pay attention to what’s different, unique and exceptional. All too often in pet food, the marketing rulebook pushes brands towards the middle with conventional storytelling that follows similar tropes. Those that claim to be truthful while asserting others are less honest, is not a defensible strategy. Dispensing with the pet category conventions is a stronger strategic path to follow — and demands courage to zig when everyone else zags.
Consumers need validation and verification from a respected source
When the distance between brand claims is narrow, people turn to credible advice and guidance to get past the uncertainty. Their goal to remove risk and get to a decision with confidence. Now the stage is set to favor emergence of the Agentic AI oracle, an impressive source of profound category understanding that has scoured the world’s vast knowledge sources on pet nutrition and is prepared to dispense guidance in a credible voice, backed with citations and reports. Except that voice isn’t your brand.
Read on, there’s a solution.
Will the AI oracle get traction as an advisor on pet nutrition? Most assuredly. This personal digital recommendation sidekick is available 24/7 and responds in seconds. It remembers every conversation you’ve ever had. It never sleeps. It will come to know details about your pets and their unique needs/issues. LLMs will know more than any pet brand could ever hope to about the consumer and their pet.
What’s the competitive advantage answer here for brands?
What’s the winning formula in the era of independent oracles asserting the trusted lead?
GEO – Generative Engine Optimization – is the center of a new emerging practice in pet brand marketing. This involves engaging new third-party platforms built specifically to assess what LLMs think they know and understand about your brand and product bona fides. It will mean optimizing brand communication, content and outreach strategies to double down and influence the knowledge that LLMs accumulate. Making sure the right story about your company, your nutrition, your processes, your supply chain and your unique twists and specialties is conveyed.
PR just got a boost in the mix
LLM crawlers scan editorial media as an authoritative source that is used to inform their opinions and recommendations. Earned media is already a powerful form of third-party endorsement, so vital in a truth-seeking marketing environment. Well placed stories in consumer facing and vertical industry media will drive two benefits: first as validation of what you want stakeholders to believe, and second as fodder that Agentic AI crawlers hoover up to inform their opinions and views.
Vertical and consumer media are equally important. Outside respected third party expert sources add value to the power of what’s conveyed in non-paid channels. Wire service distribution of press releases is now an automatic and not subject to judgment calls on whether or not a story idea offers potential for wider pick-up. LLM scanners look to reputable platforms like PR Newswire and BusinessWire to accumulate knowledge.
GEO and PR as an integrated asset is your best strategy to compete and manage the emergence of the AI oracle, while aiding the entire process by working to differentiate your brand in a sea of sameness. Don’t settle for marginal distinctions.
Most of all, remember that people are emotional creatures and decisions are made by the emotional centers in the brain. Fact-based arguments are less important to a purchase decision and come in later as justification for making the right choice.
Robert Wheatley is the CEO of Chicago-based Emergent, The Healthy Living Agency. Emergent can help pet brands erase ineffective self-promotion and replace it with clarity and deeper meaning in their pet parent relationships and brand communication.
