The Works Launch VitaPet’s Latest Dog Food Innovation, Food4Life

The range, making specialty-store-quality food available in grocery, caters to the nutritional needs of dogs from puppyhood through to their senior years. This addresses a gap in the market for pet parents because, despite wanting to do everything to give their dogs the best life, they don’t know they need to feed their dog differently at each age and life stage. 

The creative, developed by The Works, captures the many silhouettes and personalities our pets show at different ages, but a pet food that stays with them for life. 

To align with the creative and the emotive nature of the pet food category, Slingshot developed an integrated media approach building trust, awareness and connection across TV, BVOD, OOH, branded content and social media. The campaign demonstrates Slingshot’s signature UI (Unconventional Intelligence) by creating new moments of connection between pet parents and VitaPet through media, as well as meeting dogs and their owners in moments where they are connecting but no media formats exist. To achieve this, we sent out roaming billboards to key dog walking and play areas across the eastern seaboard. 

Slingshot and VitaPet partnered with Nine, who are creating and amplifying content across their entire network to build a relationship with pet parents. The centrepiece of the Nine campaign is a four-part TV series hosted by David Campbell, featuring celebrity guests and dog owners Paul Gallen, Stef and Gian (winners of the 2023 Block), Ruan Simms and Belinda Russel. The show sets out to uncover how dogs have this incredible ability to make us better humans. While everyone’s relationship with their dog is certainly unique, there’s a powerful emotional connection that’s seemingly universal. It’s a love that stays with you for life. Dogs4Life launched on Saturday 1st of June and will run across 9 and 9Now. 

Damien Pincus, creative partner and founder at The Works said, “VitaPet is a leader in natural treats and a brand loved by pets and their owners. Launching a high quality dog food in grocery was a natural next step. VitaPet Food4Life is a brilliant innovation in the category and we’re excited to approach the launch in a different way. Working with Nine has created a fruitful partnership for the brand.”

Simon Corbett, CIO and founder at Slingshot said, "We love working with clients who lead their category with innovative thinking and VitaPet’s Food4Life is a great example of that. We are extremely proud of the great collaborative effort behind the scenes to bring this campaign to life and are excited to share it with Australian dog owners.”