At the Start
Feline Pine came to Concentric already the leader in their segment, natural cat litter. But that segment represented just 3% of the entire litter category. Their growth had flattened, too, and even millions in TV ad spending wasn’t moving the needle. With a longer term plan to sell the company, they needed to initiate and sustain a growth trend and build value. They needed to enter and win in the mainstream clay category.
Business & Consumer Insight
We learned that the industry as a whole sold cat litter like a chemical, promoting active ingredients and their related benefits. No litter brand was using an emotional appeal. As far as consumers, we learned that the more indulgent cat owner thought their cats had a dark side, even to the extent of plotting revenge. This insight would later prove to be useful in our strategy and concept.
Key Growth Driver
To grow, Feline Pine needed to improve efficiency. This requires gaining deeper insights to better understand your current or a modified target (segment, category, market) to be more impactful with resources.
Strategic Solve
Our strategy was to migrate from the natural segment niche to win share from the large clay litter brands in the mainstream category. Since we couldn’t win on attribute claims alone, we embraced our small size to be agile and disruptive—to do things the big brands couldn’t do. We planned to push out the idea that “clay and chemicals aren’t good, natural is better.”
Creative Solve
Tapping into the quirky side of the indulgent cat lover, we gave cats an actual voice through a grassroots “movement” called “Cats Against Clay” to rally and revolt against unhealthy clay litters. In an unbranded teaser campaign through PR, social and guerrilla, cats everywhere were voicing their displeasure at horrible, unhealthy clay. When Feline Pine made branded claims against clay, they got cease and desist orders from the big brands, but the brands’ attorneys were powerless against the cats’ claims on their own social accounts. Meanwhile, people and media began noticing the Cats Against Clay movement and supporting them. After piquing everyone’s curiosity and gaining a following, Feline Pine revealed themselves as the brand behind the campaign.
Outcomes
Concentric’s Cats Against Clay helped Feline Pine achieve double digit growth for five years and become the category’s largest Facebook following. Feline Pine was eventually able to sell itself meeting the company’s long term objective.
