"Wake Up Champ!"

Is the Pet Industry failing to deliver on the biggest consumer need of the decade?

"The more you love, the harder you fight."

I was watching the movie The Champ again the other day...little Ricky Schroder really got to us in that 1979 tearjerker. Remember it?

"Champ, wake up, Champ...hey, don't sleep now...we got to go home...got to go home, Champ...wake up!"

It's a story of a father (during the depression of the 1930s) who is determined to give his boy a better future...he's an ex-boxing champion, turned horse trainer, who barely makes enough money to raise his little boy T.J. T.J. worships his dad, The Champ, who is tragically killed in the ring while working on his boxing comeback which was intended to give his boy the best life possible and ensure that he wouldn't have to give him up.

It reminded me of another classic American story, of triumph over defeat, during the depression-era: Seabiscuit. Remember the part when Red Pollard is abandoned by his destitute father so he can be a jockey? Most of us can't even imagine the level of economic hardship back then (but some might be getting close to imagining it), let alone the desperation associated with such a lack of alternatives leading someone to make that kind of decision.

Today however, during a time when so many in the USA have suffered such economic devastation and loss, it is the family pet that is being given up/abandoned at unprecedented rates for the last three years in a row. "As families lose their homes to foreclosure, man's best friend and his fellow pets are being surrendered to shelters, abandoned on the streets or even left to starve in locked-up houses, according to animal welfare organizations around the country." (Source: FoxNews Jennifer Lawinski)

On the Shoulders and Minds of Giants?

Pets being surrendered is way up and pet adoption is way down. The moment when our pets are surrendered is so incredibly sad in most cases what seems like an act of "heroic renunciation by a loving parent" is, in fact, an act of abandonment...one that causes a negative ripple effect of increased cost to the community and societal issues...one that we believe could be mitigated considerably with innovation.

I'm sure PETSMART and HILLS PET NUTRITION, NESTLE PURINA PETCARE, P&G PETCARE, MARS PETCARE, DELMONTE PET PRODUCTS, AFFINITY PETCARE, NUTRO PRODUCTS, UNICHARM PETCARE CORP., and all the major pet industry leaders are conscious of the situation and are helping in very heartfelt ways: giving their time and energy to help their local shelters with donations, and putting up signs and websites to help with pet placement and rescue. But I'd rather they weren't so charitable. I wish, instead, that they would actually help come up with a business model to make money while solving the problem. Why do I say that? Because altruism isn't enough. It doesn't solve the problem. It only helps to minimize elements of the drama associated with the problem. Here's what I mean. I'd rather these companies, or just one of them (the most innovative) help in a "consciously capitalistic" way and figure out how to make money figuring this problem out.

It's how wicked problems like this get solved in our country: we figure out how to build a business around a real need. Said differently, conscious capitalists use innovation to leverage their entrepreneurial spirit and desire to create change in the world to find a way to do just that - create change and make money while doing it. They are known for "doing well by doing good."

How can the pet industry innovate, to do well and do good at the same time in this case?

Start the Innovation Hypotheses!

Here is one way that the innovation hypotheses conversations could get started (within the aforementioned forward-looking Pet companies):

IF:
(observational fact) The middle class is undergoing an unprecedented shift in consumption ability

Then:
(Hypothesis 1) Passing pets to friends and family during "hard times" will become more common

• Creating temporary pet owners and incidence of multipet households
• What innovations could support new pet households? multi-dog households? how will it affect businesses/services up and down the value chain? dog walking/watching business owners? What opportunities will there be in which to capitalize?
• Will there be opportunities for shared custody of pets? New pet ownership models?

(Hypothesis 2) Surrendering pets to shelters and/or abandoning pets altogether will put a strain on existing resources

• What do pet owners give up/skimp on before they give up Rover? Vet visits? Flea treatments? Grooming? Switch to lowest price food?
• What incentives/loyalty programs and services could brands mirror that relieve the financial pressure temporarily and delay/mitigate the abandonment rate? 12 months no payment/no interest?

(Hypothesis 3) Less expensive but well positioned store brands will shift more share away from manufacturers with new-value based alternatives

Treasure Hunters Will Always Find the Majority of the Treasures

Who's working on this right now? Who wants to work on it? Who is going to be the treasure hunter that finds this treasure first? Who is going to help save "Champ" (such a great name for a puppy), and make money doing it?

I recently read about PetSmart and GNC creating a new line of vitamins - brilliant example of consumer-driven business innovation to pursue and an example of how partnerships may be part of the solution. How else can these corporations create new partnerships that leverage a shared stakeholder model to capitalize on some of these hypothesis? Which hypothesis? Which insight? Which opportunity is the most important one to solve first? Which target audience presents the highest economic value for this opportunity?

There is no time to procrastinate. Speed to market matters - it always does.

"Wake up Champ...Wake up!"

Have you seen the new Maddock Douglas homepage?

Follow Maddock Douglas on Twitter