ZESTY PAWS

ZESTY PAWS | BRINGING SCIENCE AND SOCIAL TRUTHS TOGETHER FOR GROWTH

Research & Brand Strategy
Consumer Segmentation & Persona Development
Communication Platform Development
Creative Direction
Production
Omnichannel Activations
Shopper Marketing

Agency Squid partnered with Zesty Paws to build a deeper emotional connection with pet parents while boosting awareness of the benefits of pet supplements. Through the humor-driven Flipped Tails campaign, we combined educational storytelling with playful brand voice to make science-backed wellness feel approachable, lovable, and shareable. The result was a standout presence in the crowded pet supplement market, driving both engagement and trust.

Deliverables Marketing & Branding Strategy Branding/Art Direction Copywriting/Brand Voice Videography/Photography Omni-Channel Campaign Creation Digital Marketing Shopper Marketing Retail Activation Experiential

The Challenge

The pet supplement category was growing fast—but so was consumer skepticism. New brands entered daily, each shouting louder than the next about probiotics, joint health, and omega-3s. Most leaned on fear or overpromised scientific jargon, alienating the very people they were trying to reach.

Zesty Paws needed a way to:

Rebuild trust with pet parents
Break from the category tropes
Show that pet wellness can be joyful, not clinical

In short, they needed a brand that didn’t just work. They needed one that connected.

Major Truth

Center of every supplement decision is a person who talks to their pet like they’re human. Who gives them a nickname. Who tells them they’re a “good boy” 72 times a day.

In a category obsessed with function, Agency Squid found the emotional unlock:

Pet parents want results. But what they really crave is a supplement that feels as personal, goofy, and love-filled as their relationship with their pet.

We didn’t just build a campaign. We built a connection.

Research & Brand Strategy

Audience

Using syndicated and proprietary research, we built a psychographic profile of our most engaged audience:
The Pet Wellness Enthusiast.

Key Traits:

25–44, female-skewing, dual-income
Views pets as family and wellness as a lifestyle
Over-indexes on social media engagement and in-store research
Buys based on brand voice, trust, and social proof—not just ingredients

These insights drove content formats, influencer partnerships, and retail storytelling strategies from day one.

Social Truths

We started with a full brand and positioning audit, mapping the emotional whitespace in the category. While others leaned into solutions and symptoms, Zesty Paws had an opportunity to own daily pet joy—not just health outcomes.

The creative brief led us to a brand platform rooted in:

Celebrating pet personality
Infusing education with humor
Leading with emotional reward, not clinical fear

From there, we shaped a tone of voice that felt like the inner monologue of a dog mom who drinks green juice and runs her dog’s IG account like a full-time job.

The Work

Concept

The Flipped Tails campaign was built on a simple but potent cultural behavior:

We give our pets personalities. We talk through them. We post as them. We imagine their little thoughts.

So what if we flipped the story—and told it from their point of view?

Campaign Highlights:

TV + CTV spots featuring upside-down, tail-wagging dogs speaking directly to camera with witty, self-aware narration
Social-first video content mimicking TikTok trends, “barkfluencer” POVs, and meme culture
Shopper marketing tools that brought humor and relatability into the aisle—from shelf talkers to QR codes that “talked back”
Brand world expansion into retail activations, packaging extensions, and experiential moments

The tone was never clinical. It was confidence in a chewable form.

Omnichannel Campaign

We brought the campaign to life across every relevant touchpoint:

TV + CTV advertising with targeted buys on Hulu, YouTube, and Roku
Digital & social media strategy, including bite-sized content for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and influencer co-creation
Retail activations at PetSmart, Chewy, and Amazon—using eye-catching, emotionally led messaging to disrupt supplement fatigue
In-store sampling and pop-ups, where consumers could “get a feel” for the brand personality in real life
Photography + videography library to fuel evergreen storytelling across platforms

Everything was optimized for engagement, shareability, and shop-ability.

Shifting from “problem-solution” marketing to emotional connection drove significant brand recall and sales within weeks of launch

Results

SOCIAL TRUTH + EMOTIONAL CONNECTION = INSTANT SALES IMPACT

98% Approval in Pre-Market Testing

Through Kantar, the campaign outperformed CPG category benchmarks across persuasion, likability, and brand lift
Delivered above-average sales probability and brand recall across all demographics tested

In-Market Performance

Double-digit sales growth across Zesty Paws SKUs within 3 months of campaign launch
Significant uptick in brand affinity on social and in digital sentiment tracking
Campaign adoption across retailer-owned media and distributor channels due to high engagement

Long-Term Brand Impact

“Flipped Tails” became a platform, not a moment—used in recruitment, packaging, and new product storytelling
Zesty Paws shifted from a supplement brand to a trusted voice in pet wellness

Watch Video

View gallery

click & Drag

Close Video

View product

View event

View work

View video

Discover artist

Read post

Purchase

Click & Play

View Stores

Scroll