Pet Parents Opps: Freshpet picks up another media agency (Score 25)

Sales lead: This will affect the company's media strategy & could lead to more agency shifts. 

• Freshpet added another media agency to its roster, partnering with Empower in November 2023.
• This does not replace incumbent media AOR Cage Point.
• We told you about Freshpet's recent campaign in May. 

Target demographic: Millennial & Gen-X pet parents

The company will likely:

• Keep ramping up ad spend
• Revise media strategy
• Seek additional agency assistance

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Freshpet spent approximately $48.7m on national TV ads YTD, up 55% from $31.5m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 29% from $27.8m in 2021 to $36m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as NFL Football, The Voice, ABC World News Tonight With David Muir, NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt, and Good Morning America. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Freshpet spent nearly $2.4m on digital display ads YTD, a huge increase from $682.6k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022.
• YTD data: 292m impressions via Facebook (35%), Instagram (34%), and YouTube (31%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend fell by 25% from $1.1m in 2021 to $827.4k in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 100% of these ads directly onto facebook.com, instagram.com, and youtube.com.

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Freshpet also utilizes OOH and local broadcast.
• Top podcasts sponsored: Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class, Anatomy of Murder, Stuff To Blow Your Mind, and True Crime Garage. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Contact Freshpet's DMs to see if it plans on making any more agency changes. 
• Current roster:
  • Cage Point: media AOR
  • Empower: media
  • Digital Surgeons: digital AOR
  • Terri & Sandy: creative AOR