SuperZoo Secrets: Paws, Press, and PR Power!
Join hosts Mary Tan and Alexane Ricard on The Whisker Report, a lively podcast that helps pet industry professionals—from animal welfare advocates to pet product businesses—get the buzz they need. Mary brings her PR expertise, while Alex, an international cat crusader, adds her global perspective. Together, they recap their recent whirlwind at the SuperZoo trade show, where they guided journalists and influencers to their clients' booths, ensuring their pet products stood out among hundreds. With the help of producer Mark Winter of Pet Life Radio, they share insights on making the most of trade shows, celebrity endorsements (like Katherine Heigl's Badlands Ranch dog food), and why great products matter more than famous faces. Tune in weekly for tips, tricks, and tales from the pet PR world!
Listen to Episode #12 Now:
Transcript:
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Mary Tan: Welcome to The Whisker Report.
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Mary Tan: We're a new podcast dedicated to helping anyone in the pet industry, whether you're in animal welfare or a for-profit pet company.
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Mary Tan: Get some PR and buzz for your non-profit or business.
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Mary Tan: Hello, everyone, I'm Mary Tan, one of the hosts of the show, along with my buddy, Alexane Ricard, who hails from France but travels the world in the hopes of catching, spaying, and neutering stray cats.
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Mary Tan: Right now, she's across the pond in France.
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Mary Tan: Bonjour, Alex.
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Alexane Ricard: Bonjour, Mary.
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Alexane Ricard: So yeah, I was actually just in Vegas a couple of weeks ago.
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Alexane Ricard: We just came back from the great SuperZoo trade show, which is the West Coast trade show that happens every August.
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Alexane Ricard: We talked to some amazing people that we're going to introduce you to.
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Alexane Ricard: But first, let me introduce you to our producer, Mark Winter of Pet Life Radio, the man who gets us to you each and every week.
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Mary Tan: Hey, Mark.
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Mark Winter: Hi, how's everyone doing?
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Alexane Ricard: Good.
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Mary Tan: We are good.
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Mark Winter: I was not in Vegas, so I'm really excited to hear.
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Mark Winter: Anything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but you're going to let the cat out of the bag for us.
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Alexane Ricard: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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Mark Winter: I want to know.
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Mary Tan: Oh, I think it would be Alex who has those stories.
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Mary Tan: I was like in bed by nine o'clock.
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Alexane Ricard: Well, I will just say I got married last year, didn't do it this year.
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Mary Tan: That's right.
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Mary Tan: You did get married.
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Alexane Ricard: Yes, I did.
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Alexane Ricard: The fun in Vegas, SuperZoo, a lot of cat crazy people.
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Mark Winter: The Chapel of Love with Elvis.
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Alexane Ricard: Exactly.
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Alexane Ricard: Fun times.
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Mary Tan: Who did you marry?
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Alexane Ricard: I married Nathan the Cat Lady and Tia, who was the assistant of the Surfer Cat.
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Alexane Ricard: It's not official, thank God, because it would have been a bit more difficult to get a divorce.
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Mary Tan: Oh, I know.
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Mary Tan: I hope the French laws are not like, French France doesn't consider it legal.
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Mark Winter: Nathan wearing his bathrobe at the ceremony.
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Mark Winter: I know he walks around in his bathrobe.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Alexane Ricard: No, he did wear.
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Alexane Ricard: Maybe it was in his bathrobe.
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Alexane Ricard: I can't really remember.
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Alexane Ricard: There was a lot of alcohol involved.
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Mary Tan: Well, we're so happy that Alex stayed safe and came out sane.
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Mary Tan: And we're also so happy to be so happy to be part of the Pet Life Radio Network, which Mark created 18 years ago, which is like amazing.
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Mark Winter: It is.
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Mark Winter: It is.
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Mark Winter: We have great hosts, great shows.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: Well, we're here because we want to let you know that you can do PR for yourself.
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Mary Tan: And Alex, Mark, and I show you each week, we give you tips and tricks.
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Alexane Ricard: And as we mentioned before, we were Mary and I, not Mark, at SuperZoo.
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Alexane Ricard: And for those of you who don't know what SuperZoo is, it's basically where retailers and buyers look for all the new and even old pet products that they want to carry in the stores.
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Alexane Ricard: So it's very, very important if you are a manufacturers or retailers, if you have a new pet product on the market, it's very important that you attend these shows because you'll meet great people that will help you.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, that's absolutely right.
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Mary Tan: It's a really, these trade shows are actually really, really cool.
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Mary Tan: It's like the one time of year everybody in the pet product industry gets together.
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Mary Tan: The one on the East Coast is Global Pet Expo.
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Mary Tan: That happens every March in Florida, which is Mark's area.
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Mary Tan: And that's where Alex and I get to see Mark every March.
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Mary Tan: And at SuperZoo, there's hundreds of booths at the event.
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Mary Tan: And what we do is we represent, gosh, we had like eight or nine clients this year at SuperZoo, which was quite a bit.
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Mary Tan: What we do is we get our clients' media coverage.
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Mary Tan: Hopefully, as you know, you can't guarantee anything in PR.
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Mary Tan: But we introduce our clients to the media attending the show, because if you don't reach out to the media and invite them to come on a tour with you, there's a very good chance that they'll miss your booth, because there's hundreds and hundreds of booths at the show, because it's like five foot ball field long.
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Mary Tan: I mean, it's amazing.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, I would say there's probably a thousand, though.
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Alexane Ricard: It's so big.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, so what we usually do is we get all of our clients, we write press releases about their new product, or if there's something cool happening at their booth, and then we send it to all of the media and the influencers, so we can make an appointment with them, and then we take them to all of our clients.
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Alexane Ricard: We usually have many tours a day, and it takes around an hour and a half per tour, so Mary and I are really, really busy, and we definitely walk our 20,000 steps a day.
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Alexane Ricard: At least.
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Alexane Ricard: At least.
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Alexane Ricard: And then like that, you know, our clients, they get the chance to give their elevator pitch to all the media, so yeah, I think they're great.
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Alexane Ricard: I love our Whisker Media's tour.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, and one of the people who have taken tours with me is Mark.
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Mary Tan: So, Mark, can you give us your impression of these tours?
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Mary Tan: Do you think, are they helpful to the journalists and media who attend?
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Mark Winter: I think, yeah, they're helpful because then we're just not like stopping blindly at a booth.
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Mark Winter: I mean, which we do too, it's fun.
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Mark Winter: But this way, you know, you lead us, you know, introduce us to the people, tell us about the product, and then we have a little more background when we stop at the booth.
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Mary Tan: Can you tell us about an incident where maybe a booth like kind of held you hostage?
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Mary Tan: I hear that happens a lot.
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Mark Winter: I haven't had that.
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Mark Winter: Usually, we're there for, we do a little sound bite for two or three minutes, and then we're on our way.
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Mark Winter: Yeah, we haven't been held hostage yet.
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Mary Tan: Okay.
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Mary Tan: I've had some reporters tell me that like, yeah, we couldn't get away from the booth.
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Mary Tan: They just kept talking to us and giving us like, we were there and it took us an hour to finish visiting with them.
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Mary Tan: So you don't want to do that.
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Mary Tan: You want to give them an elevator speech that's like 30 seconds or long.
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Mary Tan: And part of what Alex and I do before the show is we help coach them so that it's quick, you know, because everybody is, everybody's in a hurry at these shows.
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Mary Tan: I mean, there's so much to do, so much to see.
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Mary Tan: And so everybody wants to do everything as efficiently as possible.
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Mary Tan: So that's kind of what we hope to do.
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Mary Tan: But you know what?
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Mary Tan: We're going to take a quick break.
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Mary Tan: And when we come back, we're going to talk more about who we met at SuperZoo 2024.
00:07:31.490 --> 00:07:35.010
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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.
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Mary Tan: And we're back.
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Mary Tan: And there was actually some celebrities this year.
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Alexane Ricard: Like, they're usually there, you know, because they just launched a product or they are endorsing some brands.
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Mary Tan: And this year, we were really lucky because there was a person I really love, Katherine Heigl, you know, from Grey's Anatomy.
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Alexane Ricard: She recently started the Badlands Ranch Dog Food brand.
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Alexane Ricard: And, well, I wasn't lucky enough to get a picture with her, but I saw her from far away and she's still so pretty.
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Alexane Ricard: Her PR representative is Dana Lewis of Dana Lewis PR, and she works with a lot of celebrities and their products.
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Alexane Ricard: But she told Mary, a celebrity can only help you so much.
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Alexane Ricard: The product still has to be something consumers want.
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Mary Tan: Okay.
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Mary Tan: All right.
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Mary Tan: Dana, thank you so much for joining me.
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Mary Tan: And tell us a little bit about your PR firm.
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Dana Lewis: Well, I have been in media relations for a little over a decade now.
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Dana Lewis: I'm specializing mostly in health and wellness brands, working with celebrity founded brands and authors and experts.
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Dana Lewis: And I decided to go on my own about a year and a half ago.
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Dana Lewis: And I've been very fortunate to work with incredible brands like Badlands Ranch.
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Mary Tan: And tell us, what does it take to launch a pet food brand from a PR and media relations perspective?
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Dana Lewis: That's a great question.
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Dana Lewis: I mean, I think, and that's a loaded question.
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Dana Lewis: I think it takes a lot.
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Dana Lewis: I mean, I think it takes, first and foremost, a great product.
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Dana Lewis: I think at the end of the day, celebrity-dom and social media follower and marketing spend will only get you so far.
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Dana Lewis: Once people try the product or dogs try the product and realize it's just not sitting well with animals, it's going to go downhill very quickly.
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Dana Lewis: And I think that your consumers are the most important people when it comes to determining whether or not your brand is going to be successful.
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Dana Lewis: So for one, great product.
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Dana Lewis: I think that consumers are a lot smarter than they used to be.
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Dana Lewis: They're reading labels, they understand labels, they know what they want in their labels, and they're choosing healthier pet brands.
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Dana Lewis: So if you have a great product that has safe ingredients, that's humanely sourced, that have the vitamins, that have the qualities that consumers are looking for, start there, and start to just get it out to as many people as you can, you know, knock on doors, go to pet shelters, go to parks, go give out the food if you need to, like word of mouth is extremely important.
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Mary Tan: So what are some of your tips if you have no money?
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Dana Lewis: Well, I mean, again, if you have a product that you love, no matter what industry you work in, get out there and sell it.
00:11:34.821 --> 00:11:37.621
Dana Lewis: Go knock on doors, go find your consumers.
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Dana Lewis: You have to be your biggest advocate.
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Dana Lewis: Nobody's gonna advocate for your brand or your product as much as you do.
00:11:45.321 --> 00:11:49.301
Dana Lewis: Even if you have all the big bucks, they're never gonna care as much as you care.
00:11:49.301 --> 00:11:51.101
Dana Lewis: You have to care the most.
00:11:51.101 --> 00:11:56.461
Dana Lewis: You have to live it, eat it, breathe it, consume it every single day and push for it.
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Dana Lewis: And I think an avenue that should be explored more is social media.
00:12:01.061 --> 00:12:02.341
Dana Lewis: It's free.
00:12:02.341 --> 00:12:06.101
Dana Lewis: If you can learn how to do it yourself, there's something called YouTube University.
00:12:06.641 --> 00:12:11.601
Dana Lewis: The best of us have, you know, utilized that and anybody can learn anything nowadays.
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Dana Lewis: The internet is incredibly useful and helpful and, you know, use it to your advantage and try, you know, utilizing social media first and foremost.
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Mary Tan: Well, that's such great tips.
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Mary Tan: Thank you so much, Dana.
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Dana Lewis: All right, I survived.
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Dana Lewis: That was so cool.
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Mary Tan: Thank you.
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Mary Tan: It was so fun talking to Dana.
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Mary Tan: I also had the chance to talk to one of Whisker Media's favorite people, the Editor-in-Chief of Pet Product News.
00:12:39.501 --> 00:12:48.261
Mary Tan: She was one of the journalists we took on our tours, and she shared what her magazine needs from Pet Product Companies.
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Mary Tan: Joining us now is Jennifer Bonsey, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Pet Product News.
00:12:53.541 --> 00:12:55.341
Mary Tan: Thanks for coming on, Jennifer.
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Jennifer Bonsey: Thank you for having me.
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Announcer: This is exciting.
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Mary Tan: Jennifer, tell me, for people out there who can't afford to hire a PR firm or anything, do you get some tips or tricks for startup pet companies or animal rescues on how to get media coverage?
00:13:11.041 --> 00:13:12.501
Jennifer Bonsey: Absolutely.
00:13:12.501 --> 00:13:17.701
Jennifer Bonsey: I would say the best thing to do is, you need to just get your story out there.
00:13:17.701 --> 00:13:22.841
Jennifer Bonsey: You need to describe your product, what makes it special, what makes it different.
00:13:22.841 --> 00:13:29.541
Jennifer Bonsey: You need to put that on a piece of paper, digitally, and send that to us basically.
00:13:29.881 --> 00:13:38.041
Jennifer Bonsey: Give us a good subject line that says new product, and what that product is, and why you want to introduce it.
00:13:38.041 --> 00:13:42.161
Jennifer Bonsey: It's just a matter of getting that into our inbox.
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Jennifer Bonsey: We're always looking for new products.
00:13:44.201 --> 00:13:47.301
Jennifer Bonsey: Having high-res images also helps.
00:13:47.301 --> 00:14:10.041
Jennifer Bonsey: So if you can get some high-res images of your products and send that along with a product description, automatically we start looking at it and trying to figure out if this is a good fit for us, and you want to tell us if you're trying to get into the Pet Specialty retail brick and mortar channel, because that's the core of our audience.
00:14:10.041 --> 00:14:10.861
Mary Tan: Got it.
00:14:10.861 --> 00:14:12.841
Mary Tan: And tell us some of your pet peeves.
00:14:12.841 --> 00:14:16.381
Mary Tan: What are some of the horrible ways people have pitched you?
00:14:16.381 --> 00:14:19.321
Jennifer Bonsey: I don't think I have any particular pet peeves other than that.
00:14:20.221 --> 00:14:35.321
Jennifer Bonsey: It's always best to include, like I said, a good quality photo, maybe a good quality logo, and just some sort of description of the product, so we actually understand what you're trying to convey.
00:14:35.321 --> 00:14:37.801
Jennifer Bonsey: But I don't have any particular pet peeves.
00:14:37.861 --> 00:14:38.481
Mary Tan: Okay.
00:14:38.481 --> 00:14:39.741
Mary Tan: Thanks so much, Jennifer.
00:14:39.741 --> 00:14:41.081
Mary Tan: Thank you, Mary.
00:14:42.161 --> 00:14:47.421
Alexane Ricard: Jennifer is absolutely wonderful, and we love to spending some time with her at SuperZoo.
00:14:47.421 --> 00:14:52.501
Mary Tan: But we do have to pay the bills for this show, so let's take a quick break, and we'll be back.
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00:15:53.607 --> 00:15:54.627
Mary Tan: And we're back.
00:15:54.627 --> 00:16:10.147
Mary Tan: Every year when we go to these trade shows, one of the things I like to do is I like to go to the Hagen booth, which is one of my favorite cat companies because they have a line called Cat-It that is so well designed and cute.
00:16:10.147 --> 00:16:17.587
Mary Tan: And actually, the design has a muse named Pixie, who is a real rescue cat who lives over by you, Alex.
00:16:17.587 --> 00:16:20.107
Mary Tan: I think Pixie's over in Belgium.
00:16:20.987 --> 00:16:23.527
Alexane Ricard: Oh, yeah.
00:16:23.527 --> 00:16:26.187
Mary Tan: So, Pixie has his own social media.
00:16:26.187 --> 00:16:28.327
Mary Tan: He is just the cutest thing.
00:16:28.327 --> 00:16:30.187
Mary Tan: He lives in the office.
00:16:30.187 --> 00:16:32.787
Mary Tan: So you may be wondering, like, why am I going over to Cat-It?
00:16:32.787 --> 00:16:34.507
Mary Tan: We don't represent them.
00:16:34.507 --> 00:16:50.387
Mary Tan: But I not only go to these trade shows as a PR person, but I also go as a press person like Mark because I do a lot of freelance writing for pet magazines, a lot of groomer magazines, veterinarian magazines, and then general pet stuff.
00:16:50.387 --> 00:16:55.847
Mary Tan: So I go as a pet person because it's a way of keeping my writing chops up to date.
00:16:55.847 --> 00:17:01.967
Mary Tan: And you know, Alex, like such a key part of being a good PR person is having writing skills.
00:17:01.967 --> 00:17:04.627
Mary Tan: If you can't write, you're in trouble.
00:17:04.627 --> 00:17:10.427
Mary Tan: Even with AI and everything, press releases don't come across well when it's written by AI.
00:17:10.427 --> 00:17:12.987
Mary Tan: It's getting better, but don't you agree?
00:17:12.987 --> 00:17:16.787
Mary Tan: I mean, what have you seen when it comes to AI written press releases?
00:17:17.267 --> 00:17:23.507
Alexane Ricard: I can definitely spot them because I don't even know how I can spot it, but I can just spot it.
00:17:23.507 --> 00:17:27.807
Alexane Ricard: AI doesn't have the human touch that we've talked about before.
00:17:27.807 --> 00:17:37.547
Alexane Ricard: I think if you want help from AI, definitely use it and you can brainstorm with them, but you always have to change a lot because you can definitely see it.
00:17:37.547 --> 00:17:44.187
Alexane Ricard: The title, the headline, it needs to be very compelling and you're writing it for other humans and not for other robots.
00:17:44.467 --> 00:17:47.727
Alexane Ricard: So just think how a human thinks and not like AI.
00:17:47.727 --> 00:17:49.527
Mary Tan: Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:49.527 --> 00:17:51.007
Mary Tan: I know that's been a trend.
00:17:51.007 --> 00:18:00.727
Mary Tan: I was in the press room at SuperZoo and I couldn't believe the number of AI written press releases and everybody in the press room was like, this was written by AI.
00:18:00.727 --> 00:18:03.907
Mary Tan: You can spot it a mile away.
00:18:03.907 --> 00:18:09.747
Mary Tan: But one thing that is not written by robot is the Hagen Company's marketing and PR.
00:18:09.747 --> 00:18:17.247
Mary Tan: And so we talked to Damian Hall, who is head of marketing here in the US for this company.
00:18:17.247 --> 00:18:22.487
Mary Tan: So I got to talk to him and it was a really enlightening conversation.
00:18:22.487 --> 00:18:25.187
Mary Tan: I'm with Damian Hall with Cadet.
00:18:25.187 --> 00:18:28.147
Mary Tan: And he is so lovely to meet with me today.
00:18:28.147 --> 00:18:34.267
Mary Tan: And Damian, tell us a little bit about what you have here at SuperZoo and how the show is going.
00:18:34.267 --> 00:18:35.867
Damian Hall: Well, the show is going great.
00:18:36.427 --> 00:18:42.067
Damian Hall: And here at the Hagen booth with our Cadet brand, we have a lot of products.
00:18:42.067 --> 00:18:44.367
Damian Hall: We have all of our Pixie line.
00:18:44.367 --> 00:18:48.347
Damian Hall: We have our Smart Fountains, our Feeders, our Smart Feeders.
00:18:48.347 --> 00:18:52.547
Damian Hall: We also have our brand new Cat Litters that we have coming out.
00:18:52.547 --> 00:18:55.267
Damian Hall: We have some new Cat Treats that are coming out.
00:18:55.267 --> 00:19:00.787
Damian Hall: We're previewing some of our FreezeRide Raw Treats and Complete Balanced Diet.
00:19:00.827 --> 00:19:05.107
Damian Hall: We have our Census, of course, because you have to bring Census with you.
00:19:05.107 --> 00:19:07.607
Damian Hall: And we have some new treats in our Creamy Line.
00:19:07.607 --> 00:19:08.867
Mary Tan: How about dogs?
00:19:08.867 --> 00:19:09.867
Damian Hall: Dogs, we have a lot.
00:19:09.867 --> 00:19:11.447
Damian Hall: We have some new dog toys.
00:19:11.447 --> 00:19:23.287
Damian Hall: We're launching our Nitro Products, which is a EPTU rubber dog toy that's going to be coming out, hitting retail right around the end of November.
00:19:23.287 --> 00:19:25.787
Damian Hall: We have some new Zoe Licky Treats.
00:19:25.787 --> 00:19:28.167
Damian Hall: We have some Zeus Treat Chasers.
00:19:28.387 --> 00:19:34.487
Damian Hall: These are awesome little rubber toys that you can put treats in and play with your dog, interact with your dog.
00:19:34.487 --> 00:19:35.707
Damian Hall: And we have some other treats.
00:19:35.707 --> 00:19:37.307
Damian Hall: We have our Zeus Fountains.
00:19:37.307 --> 00:19:39.987
Damian Hall: We have our Zeus Vac Food Storage.
00:19:39.987 --> 00:19:42.807
Damian Hall: And we have some new Bionic Products as well.
00:19:42.807 --> 00:19:44.207
Damian Hall: Just a couple things.
00:19:44.207 --> 00:19:45.127
Mary Tan: Yeah.
00:19:45.127 --> 00:19:52.027
Mary Tan: Let me ask you, what's your advice to like startups that are starting out and exhibiting at shows?
00:19:52.027 --> 00:19:53.947
Mary Tan: Do you have any tips and tricks?
00:19:53.987 --> 00:20:00.067
Damian Hall: As an exhibitor coming to a show, the first thing I would tell you is you have to prepare, prepare, prepare.
00:20:00.067 --> 00:20:13.147
Damian Hall: If you're ever going to come to a show, from a first-time retailer coming to the show, absolutely find out where all your vendors are, find out what, look at this.
00:20:13.147 --> 00:20:14.187
Damian Hall: The SuperZoo show is great.
00:20:14.187 --> 00:20:16.847
Damian Hall: You can go online and you can check out all the new products.
00:20:16.847 --> 00:20:24.727
Damian Hall: So you can preview the new products, find out where those booths are, find out where those products are sold, and really plan your journey.
00:20:25.107 --> 00:20:27.747
Damian Hall: This is, you know, this is a huge trade show.
00:20:27.747 --> 00:20:30.527
Damian Hall: It's on, the place is only open for three days.
00:20:30.527 --> 00:20:35.807
Damian Hall: And I've seen people that have been in this industry for 25 years and they're like, I can't make it through the whole show.
00:20:35.807 --> 00:20:37.967
Damian Hall: So you really got to plan your trip.
00:20:37.967 --> 00:20:43.367
Mary Tan: Good advice and have a question when it comes to marketing dog versus cat.
00:20:43.367 --> 00:20:44.927
Mary Tan: Is one harder than the other?
00:20:45.007 --> 00:20:46.887
Mary Tan: It's pretty much the same.
00:20:46.887 --> 00:20:51.147
Damian Hall: They are, I would say that that's a tough question to answer.
00:20:51.147 --> 00:20:55.307
Damian Hall: Depending on the product, you know, they both have their strengths and their weaknesses and both are hard.
00:20:55.307 --> 00:20:58.587
Damian Hall: So for instance, marketing consumable products is very hard.
00:20:58.587 --> 00:20:59.547
Damian Hall: You know, it takes a lot.
00:20:59.547 --> 00:21:00.867
Damian Hall: It's a challenge.
00:21:00.867 --> 00:21:05.467
Damian Hall: The hard goods are a bit much easier because, you know, you can see them, you can feel them.
00:21:05.467 --> 00:21:06.527
Damian Hall: You're like, oh, this is great.
00:21:06.527 --> 00:21:08.167
Damian Hall: These are awesome waters.
00:21:08.167 --> 00:21:10.087
Damian Hall: So really, they're about the same.
00:21:10.087 --> 00:21:25.667
Damian Hall: It's really all about respecting the consumer and understanding the needs of that particular animal, knowing the needs of dogs and cats and really highlighting how your products fill those needs, whether it be for the pet parent or the pet themselves or both.
00:21:25.667 --> 00:21:27.027
Damian Hall: That's the best one.
00:21:27.027 --> 00:21:34.887
Mary Tan: I feel like you are known for your Pixie line, which is, if you don't know, is an adorable line of cat products.
00:21:34.887 --> 00:21:36.767
Mary Tan: I have almost all of them.
00:21:36.767 --> 00:21:40.767
Damian Hall: First of all, we have an awesome team that's based out of Belgium.
00:21:40.767 --> 00:21:47.127
Damian Hall: They're right outside of Brussels, Belgium, and the design that they put into it is phenomenal.
00:21:47.127 --> 00:21:47.927
Damian Hall: It's incredible.
00:21:47.927 --> 00:21:50.847
Damian Hall: Really how it started out, it started out with waters.
00:21:51.347 --> 00:21:55.007
Damian Hall: We've made dog waterers, cat waterers, for years.
00:21:55.007 --> 00:21:57.847
Damian Hall: We are really, really good at moving water.
00:21:57.847 --> 00:22:01.547
Damian Hall: I'm not sure if you're familiar with our Fluval brand, our AquaClear brand.
00:22:01.547 --> 00:22:06.447
Damian Hall: We make a ton of aquariums, and we've been making them for well over 50 years.
00:22:06.447 --> 00:22:16.167
Damian Hall: So we took those and we started making these, you know, really in the infancy of these product lines, where cat water is where you had constant running water.
00:22:16.207 --> 00:22:20.247
Damian Hall: We start out doing that because cats don't like stagnant water.
00:22:20.247 --> 00:22:26.727
Damian Hall: Our team said, hey, probably 25 years ago, 20 years ago, they were, let's make this, let's try this cat water.
00:22:26.727 --> 00:22:28.047
Damian Hall: We have the pump.
00:22:28.047 --> 00:22:29.687
Damian Hall: And then it really evolved from that.
00:22:29.687 --> 00:22:33.747
Damian Hall: This is probably the third generation of design.
00:22:33.747 --> 00:22:38.327
Damian Hall: And you'll see that there's the little cat ears that go through the design.
00:22:38.327 --> 00:22:40.747
Damian Hall: That's like the catted aesthetic.
00:22:40.747 --> 00:22:42.987
Damian Hall: And then, you know, really getting into the Pixie line.
00:22:43.027 --> 00:22:48.147
Damian Hall: The Pixie line is our technology-driven products within CATiP.
00:22:48.147 --> 00:22:56.147
Damian Hall: So that's going to be your smart fountains, your smart feeders, and your smart toys, our camera, our six-meal feeder, and whatnot.
00:22:56.147 --> 00:23:00.787
Damian Hall: So the awesome design team really came up with that.
00:23:00.787 --> 00:23:06.667
Damian Hall: And really, it's about industrial design, aesthetics, bringing in different design elements.
00:23:06.667 --> 00:23:12.967
Damian Hall: You'll see the different colors that we have, the indicators on the fountains, where you can see the water level.
00:23:12.967 --> 00:23:16.387
Damian Hall: You'll see that cute little cat whiskers and nose.
00:23:17.647 --> 00:23:25.107
Damian Hall: The designers say, let me bring in something practical and something interesting with a beautiful aesthetic.
00:23:25.107 --> 00:23:27.627
Mary Tan: God, and Pixie is a real cat.
00:23:27.627 --> 00:23:28.607
Damian Hall: Pixie is a real cat.
00:23:28.607 --> 00:23:31.907
Damian Hall: Pixie is the office cat that lives in Poot, Belgium.
00:23:33.107 --> 00:23:38.087
Damian Hall: I believe he just celebrated his 10th birthday, very recently, I think it was this year.
00:23:38.087 --> 00:23:39.547
Damian Hall: Yeah, so Pixie is the inspiration.
00:23:39.687 --> 00:23:42.967
Damian Hall: Pixie is in a lot of our advertisements.
00:23:42.967 --> 00:23:48.447
Damian Hall: Pixie and myself and my colleagues go and visit the office, the cat at office.
00:23:48.447 --> 00:23:51.107
Damian Hall: You get to hang out and play with Pixie.
00:23:51.107 --> 00:23:54.527
Damian Hall: I will say Pixie is a real person.
00:23:54.527 --> 00:23:57.447
Mary Tan: Pixie is probably really spoiled.
00:23:57.447 --> 00:23:58.147
Damian Hall: Yes.
00:23:58.147 --> 00:24:00.687
Damian Hall: Pixie really has a great life.
00:24:00.687 --> 00:24:08.187
Damian Hall: Pixie gets to play with all of the toys, gets to experience all of the design, the well-designed pieces.
00:24:08.627 --> 00:24:11.507
Damian Hall: She gets to test out all of the treats.
00:24:11.507 --> 00:24:13.387
Damian Hall: She tests out all of the products.
00:24:13.387 --> 00:24:14.187
Damian Hall: She's really the-
00:24:14.187 --> 00:24:15.527
Mary Tan: Does she get paid?
00:24:15.527 --> 00:24:18.887
Damian Hall: She gets paid in treats and love and, you know.
00:24:18.887 --> 00:24:20.267
Mary Tan: Okay, this is a question.
00:24:20.267 --> 00:24:24.807
Mary Tan: Like, you know, unfortunately, the only thing certain in life is death and taxes.
00:24:24.807 --> 00:24:31.027
Mary Tan: So, like, what happens when Pixie moves on to brighter pastures?
00:24:31.027 --> 00:24:33.327
Damian Hall: There is not a second Pixie in the works.
00:24:33.327 --> 00:24:35.567
Mary Tan: Maybe find a second Pixie.
00:24:35.567 --> 00:24:37.387
Damian Hall: I am sure, you know, Pixie was a rescue.
00:24:37.627 --> 00:24:47.167
Damian Hall: So, I'm sure if that unfortunate time comes, we'll go through the proper grieving process and there may be a new Pixie.
00:24:47.167 --> 00:24:52.407
Mary Tan: Now, Carl Lagerfeld of Chanel has, you know, he has a cat named Choupette.
00:24:52.407 --> 00:24:53.827
Mary Tan: Not sure if you knew that.
00:24:53.827 --> 00:24:56.307
Mary Tan: My bag that I'm carrying has Choupette.
00:24:56.307 --> 00:24:58.007
Mary Tan: Choupette has his own private jet.
00:24:58.007 --> 00:25:01.387
Mary Tan: He inherited Gob's amounts of money.
00:25:01.387 --> 00:25:04.667
Mary Tan: Will Pixie inherit any of the fortunes of...
00:25:04.967 --> 00:25:09.827
Damian Hall: I don't believe Pixie is in line for success, in the line of succession.
00:25:09.827 --> 00:25:15.947
Damian Hall: Pixie lives a very good life and she'll be well supported in her retirement.
00:25:15.947 --> 00:25:17.427
Mary Tan: She needs an agent.
00:25:17.427 --> 00:25:19.507
Damian Hall: She may, she may need an agent.
00:25:19.507 --> 00:25:21.927
Mary Tan: All right, thanks so much, Damien.
00:25:21.927 --> 00:25:25.627
Mary Tan: Okay, thank you so much, Damien.
00:25:25.627 --> 00:25:29.247
Mary Tan: We, meeting Alex and I, and Mark would join us.
00:25:29.247 --> 00:25:36.747
Mary Tan: So next March, when we're at Global Pet, Mark, you have to come party with Alex especially, because I'm a 9 p.m.
00:25:36.747 --> 00:25:38.307
Mary Tan: go to bed kind of gal.
00:25:38.307 --> 00:25:43.147
Mary Tan: But Alex is going to show you and your wife, Michelle, like a party.
00:25:43.147 --> 00:25:44.367
Mary Tan: She knows how to party.
00:25:44.367 --> 00:25:45.107
Mark Winter: Okay, we're ready.
00:25:45.107 --> 00:25:46.067
Mark Winter: We're up for that.
00:25:46.067 --> 00:25:47.027
Mary Tan: All right.
00:25:47.027 --> 00:25:48.527
Alexane Ricard: I'll take you, Mark.
00:25:48.527 --> 00:25:50.327
Mark Winter: We don't go to bed until like 1 usually.
00:25:50.327 --> 00:25:51.387
Mark Winter: We're late-nighters.
00:25:51.387 --> 00:25:54.007
Mark Winter: I'm still on the musician's hours.
00:25:54.007 --> 00:25:56.487
Mary Tan: Oh, that's true, because you're a former DJ.
00:25:56.487 --> 00:25:58.227
Mary Tan: Or are you still a DJ?
00:25:58.227 --> 00:25:59.147
Mark Winter: I don't DJ.
00:25:59.147 --> 00:26:02.547
Mark Winter: I'm a recording artist, keyboard player, musician.
00:26:02.547 --> 00:26:03.067
Mary Tan: Oh, my God.
00:26:03.067 --> 00:26:04.427
Mary Tan: I just downgraded you.
00:26:04.427 --> 00:26:05.847
Mary Tan: I so apologize.
00:26:05.847 --> 00:26:06.247
Mary Tan: That's right.
00:26:06.247 --> 00:26:08.927
Mary Tan: You need to check out Mark's music on Spotify.
00:26:08.927 --> 00:26:09.647
Alexane Ricard: So I just did.
00:26:09.647 --> 00:26:11.267
Alexane Ricard: I wanted to tell you, Mark, I did.
00:26:11.267 --> 00:26:13.247
Alexane Ricard: I really loved the one.
00:26:13.247 --> 00:26:17.147
Alexane Ricard: I can't remember the exact title, but it was about like, let's go party at a beach.
00:26:17.147 --> 00:26:18.627
Mark Winter: Party at the poolside.
00:26:18.627 --> 00:26:19.727
Alexane Ricard: Oh, yeah.
00:26:19.727 --> 00:26:20.727
Alexane Ricard: Loved it.
00:26:20.727 --> 00:26:26.567
Alexane Ricard: I was actually like, so when we were road trip in Italy, we put it in the car and we're really vibing to it.
00:26:26.567 --> 00:26:28.307
Alexane Ricard: It was actually really nice.
00:26:28.307 --> 00:26:29.247
Alexane Ricard: I really liked it.
00:26:29.247 --> 00:26:30.407
Alexane Ricard: It felt a bit like...
00:26:30.487 --> 00:26:32.947
Mark Winter: There are three versions of party at the poolside.
00:26:32.947 --> 00:26:41.127
Mark Winter: There's the tropical version, the dance version, and the country version, which is on my new album, The Next Big Thing, which just came out.
00:26:41.127 --> 00:26:43.547
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, we used to dance version.
00:26:43.547 --> 00:26:45.727
Mary Tan: That is so awesome.
00:26:45.727 --> 00:26:48.547
Mary Tan: Mark, you're a man of very many talents.
00:26:48.547 --> 00:26:50.227
Mark Winter: Thank you.
00:26:50.227 --> 00:26:56.187
Mary Tan: But Alex, tell them about, so we split up during SuperZoo because there's so many meetings.
00:26:56.247 --> 00:26:57.927
Mary Tan: I was going from 7 a.m.
00:26:57.927 --> 00:27:02.467
Mary Tan: breakfast meetings all the way to 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening.
00:27:02.467 --> 00:27:04.967
Mary Tan: Well, actually, no, more like 8.45 because I've been eating.
00:27:04.967 --> 00:27:07.067
Alexane Ricard: That's what I was going to say.
00:27:07.067 --> 00:27:10.247
Mary Tan: But tell everybody what you did during the week.
00:27:10.247 --> 00:27:18.647
Mary Tan: Because I sent Alex to most of them because she's like, you're half my age and have a lot of energy.
00:27:18.647 --> 00:27:19.387
Alexane Ricard: Yeah.
00:27:19.387 --> 00:27:27.587
Alexane Ricard: Well, we went to one together, which was one event organized by our amazing client, BossDog and BossCat Brands.
00:27:27.587 --> 00:27:42.787
Alexane Ricard: They hosted their Bossy Awards, which is where they award their best retailers, best manufacturers, and it was a really, really great event and Mary, you stayed for maybe an hour, which was amazing.
00:27:44.147 --> 00:28:05.327
Alexane Ricard: Then I got to hang out with some really, really great people from the brand, but also journalists, especially Glenn Polly from Pet Age, and it was amazing to meet him in person because we had been chatting for two years over e-mails and that night, we really bounded through Gin and Tonic, so that was really cool.
00:28:05.327 --> 00:28:09.547
Mary Tan: Yeah, and these events are so important because of things like that.
00:28:09.547 --> 00:28:13.167
Mary Tan: There's nothing better than an in-person relationship.
00:28:13.167 --> 00:28:23.567
Mary Tan: You can form relationships through e-mail and different things, but once you meet them in person and once you bond and converse with them, then you have a great relationship with them.
00:28:23.567 --> 00:28:29.567
Mary Tan: You can reach out to them for anything, and that's what we try to do, especially with members of the media.
00:28:29.567 --> 00:28:40.707
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, and then, well, I'm also trying to be a good part of the cat influencer community, the cat rescue world as I have my own cat rescue.
00:28:40.707 --> 00:28:45.787
Alexane Ricard: I got invited to the Two Crazy Cat Ladies party, which is just amazing.
00:28:45.867 --> 00:28:55.307
Alexane Ricard: You know, they invite a bunch of people who are in the rescue world, who are in the holistic world, and they put on a play.
00:28:55.307 --> 00:29:04.267
Alexane Ricard: So it was like a group of like actors who put on a play about the struggle of the vet care in the US at the minute.
00:29:04.267 --> 00:29:08.947
Alexane Ricard: And it was quite heavy because it was really sad, but it was also lighthearted.
00:29:08.947 --> 00:29:12.367
Alexane Ricard: So it was a really, really cool party and very interesting.
00:29:12.367 --> 00:29:20.027
Alexane Ricard: I did learn a lot about, you know, the vet world and, you know, the price and how much people are spending and all of that.
00:29:20.027 --> 00:29:21.587
Alexane Ricard: So yeah, it was very interesting.
00:29:21.587 --> 00:29:26.527
Alexane Ricard: And then it had good food and I could network with a lot of cool brands and cool people.
00:29:26.527 --> 00:29:29.067
Alexane Ricard: So that was a really, really good party as well.
00:29:29.067 --> 00:29:30.027
Mary Tan: That's so awesome.
00:29:30.027 --> 00:29:34.927
Mary Tan: And then of course, you know, there is the SuperZoo Beach parties that they have.
00:29:34.927 --> 00:29:36.647
Mary Tan: That's out by the pool.
00:29:36.647 --> 00:29:38.967
Mary Tan: It's so hot.
00:29:38.967 --> 00:29:44.727
Mary Tan: I mean, it's like 150 degrees, it feels like, at eight, nine o'clock.
00:29:44.727 --> 00:29:45.727
Mary Tan: So everybody's there.
00:29:45.727 --> 00:29:48.567
Mary Tan: There's like thousands and thousands of people.
00:29:48.567 --> 00:29:51.627
Mary Tan: But, you know, the venue is so huge, it can handle it.
00:29:51.627 --> 00:29:54.987
Mary Tan: That's another great place to meet people, to network.
00:29:54.987 --> 00:30:00.067
Mary Tan: If you're a small business owner looking for a distributor, there's plenty of distributors there.
00:30:00.067 --> 00:30:02.827
Mary Tan: You know, in order to sell your product, you got to get out there.
00:30:02.827 --> 00:30:08.887
Mary Tan: You can't be shy and you're going to be so exhausted at these shows, but you have to.
00:30:08.887 --> 00:30:17.727
Mary Tan: Like if you want to sell products, you got to do things that you're just so tired and you don't want to do it, but I would say force yourself to do it at these shows.
00:30:17.727 --> 00:30:18.727
Mary Tan: It's worth it.
00:30:18.727 --> 00:30:25.027
Mary Tan: You get out of the show what you put in, and so you need to take advantage of everything that's offered there.
00:30:25.027 --> 00:30:29.587
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, and you need to make connections, and sometimes that means going to bed at 2 a.m.
00:30:29.587 --> 00:30:33.567
Alexane Ricard: and meeting people for breakfast at 7, and you just got to fall through.
00:30:33.567 --> 00:30:36.387
Mary Tan: Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of coffee.
00:30:37.407 --> 00:30:40.187
Mary Tan: That's how we get through it.
00:30:40.187 --> 00:30:46.987
Mary Tan: Mark, do you have any closing thoughts on these trade shows and what you think people should take away from them?
00:30:46.987 --> 00:30:47.527
Mark Winter: 2 a.m.
00:30:47.527 --> 00:30:51.307
Mark Winter: for parties, that's good, but 7 o'clock for breakfast, no way.
00:30:52.827 --> 00:30:54.667
Mark Winter: I don't know, I'm sorry.
00:30:54.667 --> 00:30:55.507
Alexane Ricard: Yeah.
00:30:55.507 --> 00:31:01.107
Mary Tan: I honestly think going to these shows as a press person is the very best.
00:31:01.167 --> 00:31:01.747
Mark Winter: Of access.
00:31:01.747 --> 00:31:03.267
Mary Tan: You're actually in demand.
00:31:03.267 --> 00:31:07.247
Mary Tan: People want to meet you versus the other way around.
00:31:07.427 --> 00:31:26.747
Mary Tan: You get to experience all the cool things in the show because they try to make sure the PR people who run the show try to make sure that they put their best foot forward and show you all the cool things at the show because you have a lot of power because you have a lot of eyeballs or earlobes, as Mark would say.
00:31:27.427 --> 00:31:31.447
Mary Tan: So it's really important to do what you can at these shows.
00:31:31.447 --> 00:31:35.787
Mary Tan: So anyways, we've been doddling and talking.
00:31:35.787 --> 00:31:38.387
Mary Tan: I think that's a wrap for this show.
00:31:38.387 --> 00:31:42.127
Mary Tan: And we're so excited to be doing this for all of you.
00:31:42.127 --> 00:31:46.107
Mary Tan: We just love that you're all making life better for animals.
00:31:46.107 --> 00:31:55.627
Mary Tan: And if you have a question or you want to give us some feedback on something, reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook at The Whisker Report.
00:31:56.107 --> 00:31:59.507
Mary Tan: And we're going to try to answer it in a future podcast episode.
00:31:59.507 --> 00:32:04.347
Alexane Ricard: And as we always say, bark loud and purr smart.
00:32:04.347 --> 00:32:06.087
Mary Tan: See you, everyone.
00:32:06.087 --> 00:32:07.427
Announcer: Let's Talk Pets.
00:32:07.427 --> 00:32:09.447
Announcer: Every week on demand.
00:32:09.447 --> 00:32:11.167
Announcer: Only on petliferadio.com.