Originally published July 18 2005
Purina now podcasts
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Nestle Purina PetCare's latest interactive initiative is to podcast pet care tips to customers.
That "meow" you hear coming from your neighbor's office may be a part of Nestle Purina PetCare's latest interactive initiative.
Barks, meows, jingles and audio pet care tips are front-and-center on the new Purina.com Web site, unveiled this week.
But these content bites aren't meant to be accessed via the Web.
They're podcasts, ringtones, wallpapers, and SMS alerts, created with the help of Purina interactive agency of record Arc Worldwide, a Publicis company.
"They [pet owners] tend to be as adoptive of new technologies as the population at large.
Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular and some even might say ubiquitous in the U.S.," explained Michael Moore, director of interactive marketing at Purina.
The company is making available five ringtones -- with cat and dog noises, along with jingles and sounds from its offline advertising.
Wallpapers consist of pictures of cats and dogs.
Users can also sign up to receive pet care tips via SMS.
While Moore admits there's not a compelling reason to offer such pet care content to people on the go, he says the company already had the content and felt there was no harm in testing whether users were interested.
As for the podcasting, Moore said the initiative was born of the enthusiasm of the interactive marketing team, as well as the availability of audio content -- an "Ask the Vet" program the company had long produced for a local St. Louis radio station.
It will get the word out about the new offerings via online advertising on its network of partner Web sites: Yahoo!, America Online and PetFinder.com.
The company also has plans for search marketing but wouldn't divulge details.
Adding wireless content and podcasts aren't the only forays Purina has made into cutting edge digital distribution methods.
Earlier this year, the CPG firm began publishing RSS feeds.
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