5 Ways Sustainable Pet Brands Can Build Consumer Trust

Hello. Hello. Welcome everyone to another PSC webinar. Um, this is like my

0:11

11 secondsfavorite part of my job. I love doing these webinars and I’m so happy to see you all joining today. Um, our title is

0:18

18 secondsclosing the sustainability communication gap. How pet brands can build consumer trust and distinction.

0:25

25 secondsUm, what is this gap that we’re talking about? Well, we’ll learn a lot more about that soon. Um, but essentially pet owners are overindexing on healthy and

0:34

34 secondssustainable living aspirations. But even as more brands continue, more sustainable brands grow in the marketplace, there is a missed

0:42

42 secondsopportunity here about how they are or are not telling their sustainability story. So, we are joined by a bunch of experts today and I’m very excited to

0:51

51 secondsget into that. Um, a little bit about PSC if you are new here. First off, this webinar series is sponsored by WPA, the

1:00

1 minuteWorld Pet Association, plus BBMG. So, we’re really excited to work with awesome companies like those to bring this kind of thing to life. And if you

1:09

1 minute, 9 secondsare new to PSC, we are a nonprofit with a vision to make a sustainable future where every single choice for pets supports a thriving planet. We have our

1:17

1 minute, 17 secondswork cut out for us because there are a lot of choices out there that aren’t so great for the planet. And the way that we work towards that vision is by

1:25

1 minute, 25 secondscollaboration, education, and innovation.

1:28

1 minute, 28 secondsOn the next slide here, you will see kind of where the magic happens with our model. We are we have a bunch of members. They are all over the world.

1:36

1 minute, 36 secondsThey are all over across the supply chain. And we are really working together to solve some of the stickiest sustainability issues in our industry.

1:44

1 minute, 44 secondsSo ingredients and packaging and governance and how do we talk about all of that, which is what we’re going to get into more today. So, if you are not

1:52

1 minute, 52 secondsalready a member with us and this sounds interesting to you, definitely follow up with us afterwards. I also forgot to introduce myself. I am Allison

2:00

2 minutesHamburger. I’m the director of sustainability and innovation here at the Pet Sustainability Coalition.

2:06

2 minutes, 6 secondsOne very exciting announcement. We are counting down the days until we host Impact Unleashed. If you don’t already have your tickets, definitely get them.

2:14

2 minutes, 14 secondsUm, we are building up our audience list and really excited about the agenda.

2:18

2 minutes, 18 secondsThis is our signature event in Boulder, Colorado, where a PSC is based. Um, and I think it’s going to be a really inspirational and fun event to get to

2:27

2 minutes, 27 secondsknow everybody. So, we’d love to see you there.

2:32

2 minutes, 32 secondsAnd finally, before we really get into it, just in our Zoom world that we are operating in right now, a few things to note. Um, you should see a chat button.

2:41

2 minutes, 41 secondsUm, if you are joining us, feel free to say hello, introduce yourselves. Um, whenever you send something there, everybody will see it. You’re also

2:50

2 minutes, 50 secondswelcome to use this react button. It’s a little heart. Um, if you can take a second to find that now and send some thumbs up or hearts. If you do that

2:58

2 minutes, 58 secondsthroughout the presentation, um, we can see it. And as a speaker, it’s nice to know that you are out there listening to whatever is being said. Gh, I see the

3:06

3 minutes, 6 secondsreactions coming. It feels great. Um, and then the Q&A feature. You might have to press the more button to find it, but

3:13

3 minutes, 13 secondswe will have a Q&A at the end of today’s session. So, if you would like any of the speakers today to answer a question, please drop it there and not the chat because we’ll see it better.

3:25

3 minutes, 25 secondsOkay. Um, without further ado, I’m excited to talk through who all is speaking here today. First, we have

3:32

3 minutes, 32 secondsRaphael Bemperad, who is the founding partner of BBMG, a brand consultancy helping organizations connect their brand strategy with sustainability and

3:41

3 minutes, 41 secondssocial impact. Amazing work. We also have James Morris, director at Globe Scan, which is an insight and advisory

3:48

3 minutes, 48 secondsfirm focused on sustainability, trust, and stakeholder engagement.

3:53

3 minutes, 53 secondsUm, we’ll first hear a presentation from those two. There are some very hot offthe- press data that they will be presenting. I’m very excited about. Um

4:00

4 minutesand after their presentation we have a few case studies. So the first case study is um by Gabe Puerto Delpino

4:08

4 minutes, 8 secondsfounder and CEO of Archway which is a pet food company known for using alternative proteins like invasive fish.

4:15

4 minutes, 15 secondsAnd then another case study will be by Stephie Vololo who is the chief impact officer at Earth Animal which offers a whole host of pet products including

4:24

4 minutes, 24 secondsfood treat and chew and supplements. um all with some really great sustainable qualities. So I think without further ado, I’m going to pass it to you Raphael.

4:34

4 minutes, 34 secondsGreat. Thank you so much Allison and welcome everyone and uh for our fellow panelists feel free to turn your video on and welcome to the conversation.

4:44

4 minutes, 44 secondsBefore we dive in um we wanted to frame a little bit about what we’ll be sharing and um we’ll ask a question to see how

4:52

4 minutes, 52 secondsthe community is doing. The headline for today is like we really want to share some good news and an exciting

4:59

4 minutes, 59 secondsopportunity um as Allison shared to close the gap between education and communication and how sustainability can

5:07

5 minutes, 7 secondssupport our brands, our mission, our impact and ultimately uh the pets and animals in our lives that mean so much

5:13

5 minutes, 13 secondsto us. Um, as Allison shared, um, James and I are going to share, um, a combination of, uh, new polling, which

5:22

5 minutes, 22 secondsJames will give you the details of, that was literally in the field in the last few weeks. So this is as fresh as it gets about um what are the different

5:31

5 minutes, 31 secondskinds of um attitudes and values and preferences and priorities of pet parents versus non-pet parents and and

5:39

5 minutes, 39 secondsnon-pet owners to understand where is the market today the consumer mindset and where there might be opportunities

5:46

5 minutes, 46 secondsto create more connection more trust more loyalty more value I’m going to complement the polling that James shares

5:54

5 minutes, 54 secondswith shopper data from the um New York University Center for Sustainable Business, which works with Circana to

6:02

6 minutes, 2 secondsactually look at purchase data and the actual products and SKs that are moving in the market with an a really

6:09

6 minutes, 9 secondsinteresting insight and a growth opportunity for pet products in particular. And then, thank you Stephie, thank you Gabe. We’re going to hear some

6:17

6 minutes, 17 secondsreally interesting cases that can show us the way for product innovation, for marketing, for packaging, and how sustainability can play a role not only

6:25

6 minutes, 25 secondsin um our business and our brands, but also the impact that we create. And then the Q&A all along, feel free to drop anything in the Q&A as we go, and we’ll

6:34

6 minutes, 34 secondsbring those up at the end. To begin, however, we’d like to hear from you and that is uh around the role that

6:42

6 minutes, 42 secondssustainability plays today for your business and your brand in particular.

6:47

6 minutes, 47 secondsSo, there’s a poll that’s going to be on your screen. You can see it. Please take the poll and and from the perspective of

6:54

6 minutes, 54 secondsyour brand, is sustainability a core differentiator, one of many benefits that you try to celebrate or offer or

7:03

7 minutes, 3 secondsnot yet a marketing driver as you would hope it potentially to be. We’ll take a moment here for you to respond. Allison

7:11

7 minutes, 11 secondswill give a quick voice over of what we’re seeing and then we’re going to dive in.

7:18

7 minutes, 18 secondsCool. So, you should see a poll on your screen.

7:23

7 minutes, 23 secondsI don’t see that anyone has answered it yet. So, I’m wondering if I’m the only one who can see it. [laughter]

7:29

7 minutes, 29 seconds[gasps]

7:30

7 minutes, 30 secondsUm, I think let’s pivot and why don’t you you type your answer into the chat instead because I know the chat is

7:39

7 minutes, 39 secondsworking. We see people there. Sorry about the functionality of our poll system.

7:44

7 minutes, 44 secondsOh, good. So, in the chat, please drop A, B, or C, and we’ll see kind of where the experience of the audience is.

7:56

7 minutes, 56 secondsOh, okay. And [laughter] wow, interesting. New new challenges all the time. Um, my colleague Alex, who’s behind the scene, can see the results

8:04

8 minutes, 4 secondscoming in. Um, and she said that 25% are at core, 53% are at key benefits, and

8:11

8 minutes, 11 seconds24% not yet so far. So amazing. Great. Well, congrats to those who are core. Um well done to those who

8:20

8 minutes, 20 secondsare making it one of many and welcome to those who see it as an opportunity.

8:24

8 minutes, 24 secondsYou’re in the perfect place and we’re delighted that you’re here. Um give me one second.

8:40

8 minutes, 40 secondsOkay. Do you see sustainability communications gap? Yes, we do.

8:45

8 minutes, 45 secondsOkay, great. Fabulous. All right. So, um, as Allison shared, I’m Raphael from BBMG. BBMG is a branding and marketing

8:54

8 minutes, 54 secondsconsultancy. We were born 23 years ago explicitly at the intersection of brand sustainability and social impact. And

9:02

9 minutes, 2 secondsum, our belief has always been that brands of course are a message and image and experience. That’s the core of who

9:09

9 minutes, 9 secondswe are. But even more than that, branding and brand can be a driver of change and impact. When we see brand as

9:18

9 minutes, 18 secondsthe systems we design and the stories that we tell. And when you think about brands as the systems we design, it’s

9:26

9 minutes, 26 secondsevery choice from where it comes from, what’s inside, who makes it, how do we use it, what happens after we use it.

9:33

9 minutes, 33 secondsAll of those relationships and design choices are ultimately manifest as brand value. But also as we know and this is

9:42

9 minutes, 42 secondsthe story today with communications, brands are the stories that we tell.

9:46

9 minutes, 46 secondsThey represent our sense of belief, belonging, identity, aspiration, a sense of community. And so when you think

9:53

9 minutes, 53 secondsabout brand and the opportunity for communications, this is a perfect opportunity to think how might we

10:00

10 minutesredesign the systems and retell the stories so that brand can be regenerative for our lives, our pets,

10:07

10 minutes, 7 secondsand for our communities. Um, with that in mind, what matters as we think about systems and stories is how do we bring

10:15

10 minutes, 15 secondsthose in an authentic way to our audiences and to consumers in particular to meet them where they are to honor

10:22

10 minutes, 22 secondstheir values, their priorities, their needs, their struggles, the barriers and motivations, and how can we create the virtuous relationship between product,

10:32

10 minutes, 32 secondspurpose, and experience. And so with that in mind, we’re going to highlight today a communications gap between

10:39

10 minutes, 39 secondsdesire and momentum among pet parents um and sustainability and what’s happening in the market. And so we’re going to

10:47

10 minutes, 47 secondsexplore what matters to pet parents, how does sustainability fit in their lives, and how might marketing and how might storytelling help us break through. With

10:56

10 minutes, 56 secondsthat, I’m going to turn it over to James um Morris who is a director at Globcan to share a little bit about the data.

11:04

11 minutes, 4 secondsAnd before we get to the specific numbers, perhaps James, could you give us just a little bit of insight into um the healthy and sustainable living

11:11

11 minutes, 11 secondsreport and the study and then we’ll dive into the content. Over to you. You got it.

11:17

11 minutes, 17 secondsUm and sorry, I was just getting up and down there because my cat wanted to get out. So, you know, um and if you hear her choing in the background, I

11:26

11 minutes, 26 secondsapologize. She’s being very noisy this morning. Um so, this results that you’re going to see here is from um our 2026 version of

11:35

11 minutes, 35 secondsthe healthy and sustainable living survey. It’s a survey that Globes Scan um puts on with the backing of a number

11:42

11 minutes, 42 secondsof uh corporate uh clients and friends of Globe Scan. Every year um we we have our designed design partner circle. um a

11:52

11 minutes, 52 secondscore set of of companies who each year come in and support uh this research. Um they get a lot of benefit out of it um individually and access to all the data.

12:02

12 minutes, 2 secondsUm but it’s with the providers that this is a public good that we put that we’ve put this research on and we have been

12:10

12 minutes, 10 secondsdoing since about 2001. So lots of tracking data around how people feel about sustainability and increasingly

12:18

12 minutes, 18 secondsabout the connection between um health and sustainability as well. It’s a global study in about 30 countries um

12:26

12 minutes, 26 secondsplus I think this year um a thousand respondents in each of the countries and the results you’re going to see today

12:33

12 minutes, 33 secondsare is the is the global uh comparison of that. We do ask a question in the survey do you have a pet? Um, so that’s

12:40

12 minutes, 40 secondswhy we’re able to identify pet parents within our pet owners within this survey and to be able to look at the differences in their perceptions across

12:47

12 minutes, 47 secondsa number of uh different elements. I will say there’s it’s as hot off the press as it can. Nobody else has seen this. So sh Okay,

12:56

12 minutes, 56 secondsliterally got some data tables out the other day. We were able to get the the new data in which confirms what we found

13:03

13 minutes, 3 secondslast year. So we had a number of perceptions that we found last year in 2025. Um, and we’re able to kind of uh mirror that with 2026.

13:13

13 minutes, 13 secondsNot much has changed, which is great for us to be able to see when we’re tracking this stuff, but that this wasn’t a flash in the pan last year of the differences

13:21

13 minutes, 21 secondsthat we’re seeing. It’s been reconfirmed this year of this difference between pet owners um and the rest of the general public. One important thing to say

13:29

13 minutes, 29 secondsbefore I get into this is we haven’t proven causality of this. you are a pet parent, you believe this, but there’s

13:37

13 minutes, 37 secondsthis strong association between being a pet owner and having these views um differentiated views around

13:44

13 minutes, 44 secondssustainability and your approach to sustainable living. Okay, so the first thing we want to say is is really pet

13:51

13 minutes, 51 secondsparents really are wanting to live more sustainably and actually want to find out more ways to do it. So there’s a first there’s a more than the general than the rest of the general public.

14:01

14 minutes, 1 secondThere’s a desire to learn more um to be more. We’ve got four questions on here.

14:07

14 minutes, 7 secondsThey obviously want to reduce the impact themselves. So there’s a seven-point difference between pet owners compared to non-pet owners in terms of the desire

14:15

14 minutes, 15 secondsto just live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle.

14:20

14 minutes, 20 secondsUm they tr they’re more trusting that environmentally uh preferable products really are better. Yeah. So there’s a

14:27

14 minutes, 27 secondsbelief, there’s less of a cynicism around, oh, how much is this actually doing? 73% compared to 62% of non-pet

14:36

14 minutes, 36 secondsowners really do believe in in they’re buying this product um or sustainable sustainable products, they are actually making an impact within there. And in

14:44

14 minutes, 44 secondsthis world right now of, you know, misinformation and greenwashing and various different things, it’s great to see that this isn’t having a dampening

14:52

14 minutes, 52 secondseffect on people saying, “Yeah, I’m trusting that brands that are trying to do this are actually trying to make a difference.” Um, they’re interested in

15:00

15 minuteschoosing products made from recyclable materials more. So, there’s a connection to the materials and we’ll see um that reflected in the result later on as

15:09

15 minutes, 9 secondswell. 10% difference, the 10 percentage point difference there. So, in looking at the product and it’s not just the marketing around it and the actual

15:16

15 minutes, 16 secondsproduct itself, they’re interested in the attributes of the product more and perhaps the packaging as well that we’ll see later. Um, and they’re seeking out

15:24

15 minutes, 24 secondsmore information. So, 50% compared to 41% of non-pet owners are, you know, are actually saying, “Hey, I I’ve got an

15:33

15 minutes, 33 secondsinterest in learning more here.” So if there is a gap and they’re not being marketed to, this is when we start talking about the gap that that Raphael will be going through much more later.

15:44

15 minutes, 44 secondsIt’s not only interest though, right? So it’s not only interest and feeling and this sense of attitude around I want to be more sustainable. They’re actually

15:52

15 minutes, 52 secondsacting on it. So we got a 17 percentage point difference between pet owners and non-pet owners of actually buying a more

16:00

16 minutessustainable product. And it’s selfidentified what the sustainable product is. We don’t give them a list or anything. It’s it’s the selfidentification. Have you bought a

16:08

16 minutes, 8 secondsproduct that you believe is more sustainable in the past month? It’s a huge gap between the two groups there.

16:14

16 minutes, 14 secondsSo those with a pet, not only are they interested, not only do they want to live sustainably, they’re actually trying to act on it. And those pet

16:22

16 minutes, 22 secondsowners that haven’t bought a sustainable product in the last um 12 months, a whopping 81% saying, “I wish I could. I

16:30

16 minutes, 30 secondswish I had done. I wish I had the opportunity to do so. So again, when we’re talking about this gap, you know, we often have this uh challenge within

16:39

16 minutes, 39 secondsmarketing and sustainable products of well, we put the product out there. Are people actually, you know, buying it?

16:45

16 minutes, 45 secondsAre we seeing it? And a difference between there. We know it takes a lot of time and communications to get through to people, but there’s still that desire

16:53

16 minutes, 53 secondsthere to actually buy it even if they’re not seeing it right now. So the ability to see it and then have that desire to

17:00

17 minutesturn it into a sustainable purchase is there.

17:04

17 minutes, 4 secondsFor the next one, this is always the one that’s controversial. Would you be willing to pay more for a sustainable product? And we have different reactions to this question when we when we do it.

17:14

17 minutes, 14 secondsI don’t take it absolutely literally in the sense of I going out and I’m seeing this in Paymore because we know

17:21

17 minutes, 21 secondsconsumers have so many different things that are going in their lives. We’ve got inflationary pressures now. We’ve got the cost of living. We’ve got

17:28

17 minutes, 28 secondsaffordability challenges all around the world. The important thing for this one is that consumers generally kind of do

17:37

17 minutes, 37 secondstend to say, “Yeah, I would be willing to pay a bit more for a sustainable product.” Pet owners are 10 percentage points higher than that. Yeah. So, there’s this sense of I want to do it.

17:48

17 minutes, 48 secondsGive me the opportunity to do it. It might not be my perfect opportunity at my perfect price point and doing whatever. That’s our job as marketeers,

17:57

17 minutes, 57 secondsas product developers, as brands to find that, but there’s the desire from consumers there to say, I know there’s

18:04

18 minutes, 4 secondssomething important around this. I’ve got a desire to do so. And yes, I recognize that there may be a price premium here. We’ve got our job to find

18:12

18 minutes, 12 secondsout what that is, how we do it, and how we factor that into everything else that consumers are dealing with. So again, there’s a desire there. And finally, I

18:21

18 minutes, 21 secondsmentioned this two more questions. Uh I mentioned this earlier on. Not only is it the desire to buy products that are

18:29

18 minutes, 29 secondsmade from recycled products that we sort of own. So the product attributes, there’s a sense of around waste here as

18:35

18 minutes, 35 secondswell. So plastic packaging for all consumers is a pro is a problem. When we talk about to consumers, hey, what are you trying to do to reduce your impact?

18:47

18 minutes, 47 secondstrying to avoid plastic packaging is a universal um attribute that consumers are trying to do. And we see here again,

18:55

18 minutes, 55 secondsunsurprisingly, that pet parents are even trying to do that even more. So, they’re really interested when they’re doing this. It’s not only the products

19:03

19 minutes, 3 secondsthey’re buying for themselves, but for their pets, they’re trying to uh or would like to avoid plastic packaging or

19:10

19 minutes, 10 secondscome from packaging that’s more sustainable if they can. And finally, we set this almost in in context. This could have been the first finding um

19:19

19 minutes, 19 secondsthat we look at here, but we’re sitting this in an overall context of concern about uh sustainability issues and particularly something around climate

19:27

19 minutes, 27 secondschange. Yeah. So, globally 57% of pet parents say that climate change is a very serious problem. We ask this

19:35

19 minutes, 35 secondsquestion, is it very serious or is it serious? The vast majority of people see climate change as a serious problem. 57%

19:42

19 minutes, 42 secondsof pet parents see as a very serious problem. So, we’ve got this inherent concern about what’s going on. And not

19:50

19 minutes, 50 secondsonly the concern for us and our children, yeah, we’re seeing the challenges around climate change and the

19:57

19 minutes, 57 secondsimpacts of it, whether it’s extreme heat, air, uh, air pollution, and other issues affecting ourselves. And I know

20:04

20 minutes, 4 secondsthis year with temperatures, I’ve had to get a, you know, a a a towel in the freezer to freeze it down so my cat can lie in it because she’s been so hot.

20:14

20 minutes, 14 secondsIt’s going to affect our pets as well.

20:16

20 minutes, 16 secondsWe’re thinking about this not only for ourselves and our families, but how these extremes are going to impact our our pets as well.

20:25

20 minutes, 25 secondsAnd finally, the strength of this, I would just say on that last one, Raphael, the strength of this is translating into thinking we must do

20:33

20 minutes, 33 secondssomething about this. And from uh support for laws that will require companies to take more responsible

20:40

20 minutes, 40 secondsactions, that’s starting to see that and pet owners are leaning into that more to say something’s got to be done about it.

20:49

20 minutes, 49 secondsI’m trying to do my own part around this and trying to do it. others have got to step up to the plate and be able to do something about it.

20:58

20 minutes, 58 secondsThank you, James. Amazing. And um one question on the uh those who have purchased verse those who didn’t but

21:06

21 minutes, 6 secondswould have liked to. The 81% who would have liked to. Um what are the top barriers that they identify as the

21:14

21 minutes, 14 secondschallenges that they’re facing when they’re would have liked to but weren’t able to?

21:19

21 minutes, 19 secondsYeah. So we asked this in different ways over over many different year many different ways um over the years and

21:27

21 minutes, 27 secondsconsumers tend to number one unfortunately is cost right and we’ve got this challenge with sustainability

21:33

21 minutes, 33 secondsthat inherently um sustainable products are seen as um uh more expensive and

21:41

21 minutes, 41 secondsit’s it’s been exacerbated with our cost of living crisis that there’s a sensitivity around there but that isn’t everybody it’s plur it’s the plurality

21:50

21 minutes, 50 secondsit’s not a majority of people saying that and there’s a whole range of other barriers including I don’t know where to go I haven’t seen anything accessible to

21:59

21 minutes, 59 secondsme how much information do I have can I trust it yeah and where I’m I’m coming from so there’s all these other barriers

22:08

22 minutes, 8 secondsthat are in there around one do I even see it I always use the analogy of the uh of the cereal aisle coming from the

22:16

22 minutes, 16 secondsUK you had like three choices right, of cereal in the cereal aisle. You come to the US, there’s a bazillion choices in the cereal aisle. And then I’m looking

22:24

22 minutes, 24 secondsfor those things myself of, well, where what’s what are the sustainable products? Where where are they? How can I do that? And if you’ve walking around

22:32

22 minutes, 32 secondsthere with kids in the supermarket, you’re like, okay, well, let’s just pick that one. You know, the time and effort to be able to do it. So, just that sense

22:40

22 minutes, 40 secondsof, can I find them? Are they accessible to me? What am I looking at? What are the attributes that I want to take away from here? And can I see this quickly?

22:49

22 minutes, 49 secondsAre the other are the other barriers, Raphael, around um obviously price, which is one that we we do need to

22:56

22 minutes, 56 secondstackle because it can be a misconception, right, around um that that these products are inherently more expensive.

23:05

23 minutes, 5 secondsThank you, James. And I [clears throat] want to reinforce here on the final slide about climate. For a long time, climate used to be maybe something that

23:13

23 minutes, 13 secondshappened in the future, something that happened in some other place. It’s now happening right now in our own daily life and in our own backyard. And it’s

23:22

23 minutes, 22 secondsno longer a scientific story about, you know, 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s a story

23:29

23 minutes, 29 secondsabout protecting what you love. And that is protecting your family of which our pets feel part of absolutely our family.

23:37

23 minutes, 37 secondsThis is a love story, not just a science story. And it’s also about protecting the places that we love. And so climate

23:44

23 minutes, 44 secondshas moved from a science story alone to a love story. And this will make it even more important for pet companies um and

23:53

23 minutes, 53 secondspet parents to see that the brands that they choose are helping to protect the pets, the people, and the places that

24:00

24 minutesthey love. And so I think this is a really powerful moment for leadership in ways that make sense, that meet consumers where they are, and as you’ll

24:09

24 minutes, 9 secondssee, create more value, more benefits, and better alternatives. Um, and that’s the path to helping to close the gap.

24:17

24 minutes, 17 secondsThank you, James. That was awesome.

24:18

24 minutes, 18 secondsWe’ll be right back with Q&A in a minute. I want to very quickly just share work that the NYU Center for

24:25

24 minutes, 25 secondsSustainable Business at the Stern Business School here in New York um has been doing recently since 2013 to

24:33

24 minutes, 33 secondsactually track shopper data. It’s called the sustainable market share index and since 2013

24:41

24 minutes, 41 secondsum NYU has partnered with Circana used to be called IRI. It is shopping basket data looking at SKUs, volume, velocity.

24:49

24 minutes, 49 secondsUm the study looks at um point of sale data in 36 categories. Um and this data

24:56

24 minutes, 56 secondswas through December of 2025. The raw data is back from 2026 and it is a very

25:03

25 minutes, 3 secondssimilar story and it reviewed over 250,000 products. It also is explicitly looking

25:11

25 minutes, 11 secondsat um marketing messages on pack. So you get a sense of um those brands that are

25:19

25 minutes, 19 secondsmarketing sustainability benefits versus kind of category um generic category

25:26

25 minutes, 26 secondsclaims. And what’s interesting is um today 2025 of December 2025 sustainably

25:34

25 minutes, 34 secondsmarketed products were 25% share of the overall CPG marketplace. However, and

25:42

25 minutes, 42 secondsthis is the headline, they were 44.9% share of the growth in the category. So

25:49

25 minutes, 49 secondswe’re about a quarter of the product mix but nearly half of the growth. And that is a huge opportunity for sustainability

25:58

25 minutes, 58 secondsto become a growth driver. And if you look um over the last five years, those that are marketed as sustainable

26:06

26 minutes, 6 secondsproducts with clear claims are growing it five times faster than the total or the conventional. And the conventional

26:14

26 minutes, 14 secondsis pretty slow at 2.2 but 11%. Um so this is a significant not only where the

26:22

26 minutes, 22 secondsshare of growth is happening but the growth rate in terms of a five-year um combined annual growth rate. But here’s the gap and this is really interesting.

26:35

26 minutes, 35 secondsUm NYU looked at the category and the categories that have the most share of

26:41

26 minutes, 41 secondsgrowth are in green and you see um bread, vitamin soup, some coffee, um laundry detergent, cheese, skincare,

26:50

26 minutes, 50 secondsetc. Um those that are 5 to 20% of that share are in the middle. But pet food

26:57

26 minutes, 57 secondsand pet treats are lagards. This is an opportunity for our pet brands to

27:03

27 minutes, 3 secondsrealize that this is not an investment and a cost center for um just meeting

27:11

27 minutes, 11 secondsregulatory requirements. This is an investment opportunity for growth. And so we wanted to not only share that

27:20

27 minutes, 20 secondsattitudinally um we’re hearing from 30 plus countries around the world a real differentiator for sustainability for consumers. That’s what James shared.

27:29

27 minutes, 29 secondsThis is demonstrated um by shopper data and there is a big gap in terms of leadership between multiple other

27:38

27 minutes, 38 secondscategories and pet. This is our growth opportunity and the communications gap is ours to close. Um so the headlines

27:46

27 minutes, 46 secondsfrom NYU despite the political swirl and all the headwinds and greenwashing and green hashing um at 25.4% 4% share of

27:56

27 minutes, 56 secondsthe market. It is up 1.6 points year-over-year. It’s growing 4.6 times faster year-over-year than

28:05

28 minutes, 5 secondsconventionally. And then it’s accounted for 45% of category growth. So this is a important business story as well as a

28:13

28 minutes, 13 secondsmarketing opportunity. So what we see in the totality here is that brand and marketing has an opportunity to close

28:22

28 minutes, 22 secondsthe gap. James shared, I think, a very s significant and consistent delta between uh pet parents [clears throat] and

28:30

28 minutes, 30 secondsnon-pet parents as it relates to sustainability, priorities, values, and behaviors. And the shopping data proves

28:36

28 minutes, 36 secondsit. So now we’re excited to turn from the data context to the real world case studies and understanding the

28:44

28 minutes, 44 secondsopportunity um through product innovation and marketing and packaging packaging innovation and marketing. We

28:51

28 minutes, 51 secondshave two superheroes in the pet sustainability space. Um, and as Allison

28:58

28 minutes, 58 secondsshared up top, we have Gabe and Stephie joining us. Um, Gabe is from Archway.

29:04

29 minutes, 4 secondsHe’s the CEO and founder of Archway. I was very impressed, Gabe, to learn that your background in your studies is philosophy and then a law degree

29:12

29 minutes, 12 seconds[clears throat] and then an MBA. Um, and so we have one of the most learned leaders here, but you’re here because of your beloved Pat Milo. Um, and we want

29:22

29 minutes, 22 secondsto hear more about that story and how that led you to a journey uh to innovate new ways of thinking about um pet food

29:29

29 minutes, 29 secondsand your ingredient mix and a really interesting innovation um on alternative proteins. And then Stephie, a very

29:37

29 minutes, 37 secondslongtime pioneer in the pet industry who has served as CEO, CMO, and now chief impact officer at Earth Animal. Um,

29:46

29 minutes, 46 secondsStephie also has been a pioneering board member and leader of the pet sustainability coalition and helped to design and then ultimately sign um the

29:56

29 minutes, 56 secondsum PSC’s packaging pledge. And you’re going to hear a story about how um Stephie and the work at Earth Animal has

30:03

30 minutes, 3 secondsreinvented packaging as a better alternative, not as a sacrifice, but as a benefit. So, I’m going to turn the mic over to these two incredible leaders.

30:13

30 minutes, 13 secondsUm, and we will start with Stephie and the Earth animal story. So, over to you.

30:19

30 minutes, 19 secondsThank you, Raphael. Thank you, everybody. Gosh, you made us sound amazing, although um I’m a little less

30:27

30 minutes, 27 secondssmart than my friend Gabe. But anyway, so happy to be here. Thank you. The data is amazing and it’s just so interesting and fascinating all at the same time.

30:37

30 minutes, 37 secondsSo, really quickly, I think most of you on the call know about Earth Animal.

30:42

30 minutes, 42 secondsbeen around since 1979, but didn’t really, I guess, um, uh, weren’t really

30:50

30 minutes, 50 secondsout there until about 2014 when Dr. Bob Goldstein, our co-founder, created the

30:57

30 minutes, 57 secondsfirst rawhide alternative. Um, he was seeing a lot of of his patients coming in with some some yucky things going on

31:04

31 minutes, 4 secondsand it was becoming pretty epidemic and realized he needed to create something else.

31:10

31 minutes, 10 secondsFast forward a year or two and No Hide was launched. Um, but in terms of Earth

31:17

31 minutes, 17 secondsAnimal as a certified BC Corp and a public benefit company and a company on

31:24

31 minutes, 24 secondsa mission to really preserve and enhance quality of life for everybody we were just talking about, for animals, for

31:32

31 minutes, 32 secondspeople, and the planet that we all share. really everything we do has an impact and it’s our responsibility to

31:40

31 minutes, 40 secondsmake it a positive one right and we’re really fortunate in that impact is integrated into our overall company

31:47

31 minutes, 47 secondsstrategy and always has been since day one um and also as Raphael mentioned really briefly

31:56

31 minutes, 56 secondsplastics um and packaging as a CPG company has really been one of our biggest goals and we made a deliberate

32:05

32 minutes, 5 secondscommitment through the PSC packaging pledge as a founding signatory and donor to actually change that, right? To

32:14

32 minutes, 14 secondschange and make um our packaging a very intentional part of our overall product.

32:23

32 minutes, 23 secondsAnd we wanted to look at it through the eyes of pet parents and not only what are they caring about um but also what

32:31

32 minutes, 31 secondsare their barriers to getting the best products that they possibly can. So we wanted to give pet parents a reason to

32:39

32 minutes, 39 secondschoose plastic free packaging again through what they cared about their values and of course what we just saw is

32:46

32 minutes, 46 secondstruly ones that align with our company but also show them value.

32:52

32 minutes, 52 secondsSo what we did is we spent quite a long time looking at um our packaging and

32:59

32 minutes, 59 secondslooking at [snorts] the packaging of um the industry. We know as an industry how

33:06

33 minutes, 6 secondsmuch packaging we unfortunately leave behind. It’s um something that is changing. The innovation and technology

33:14

33 minutes, 14 secondsis changing every day. So, I think we are on a good track, but we still have a lot of work to do. As we can see,

33:21

33 minutes, 21 secondsplastic bags absolutely dominate the chew and treat aisle, and we know that

33:28

33 minutes, 28 secondsmany retailers prefer bags, right? And we also sell them. Um, but we also saw

33:35

33 minutes, 35 secondsan opportunity to use sustainability and impact as a major differentiator for pet

33:42

33 minutes, 42 secondsparents. Um, and in addition to adding um value, we wanted to add choice,

33:51

33 minutes, 51 secondsright? So, it wasn’t like we were going to get away get away from the bags. Not right away anyway, and I’ll talk about

33:58

33 minutes, 58 secondsthat in a minute, but to offer choice and also offer value. So, at the beginning, you can go ahead.

34:06

34 minutes, 6 secondsThank you. So, at the beginning of 2025, we launched our Nohide value packs. And

34:13

34 minutes, 13 secondswhat we did is we completely removed plastic from this entire line of

34:21

34 minutes, 21 secondsproducts and actually gave our pet parents um a value proposition because

34:28

34 minutes, 28 secondsif they purchased them, they actually ended up saving 10%. So again, we didn’t give away the choice, but we gave them

34:37

34 minutes, 37 secondsmore of what we heard that they wanted and what we knew would be a point of differentiation.

34:44

34 minutes, 44 seconds[snorts and clears throat] And we’re really excited to say, if you skip to the next slide, um, that plastic free now account for 66% of our nohide sales.

34:55

34 minutes, 55 secondsAnd I broke that down for you guys, but still 66%. So, we have 36% with our

35:02

35 minutes, 2 secondspaper belly bands and we have 30% already in just over a year of our paper

35:10

35 minutes, 10 secondsboard value packs. So, where plastic bags used to be gosh like I want to say 86%

35:18

35 minutes, 18 secondsof total sales prior to this, we’ve now gone to 66%. So, they’re our fastest

35:25

35 minutes, 25 secondsgrowing format. Very exciting. But we’ve also reduced our plastic packaging by 53%.

35:33

35 minutes, 33 secondsAnd we um have taken that one step further. So this is all across of North

35:39

35 minutes, 39 secondsAmerica, but in the EU we have gone plastic free in all formats. And I just wanted to show you and show the

35:47

35 minutes, 47 secondsretailers on the call the opportunity of really being able to highlight this for

35:54

35 minutes, 54 secondsconsumers. Right? We heard that um some of the 81% of people that wanted to buy

36:02

36 minutes, 2 secondssustainable products didn’t get a chance to and there’s all these reasons for that but one of them was accessibility and I didn’t know and I just couldn’t

36:11

36 minutes, 11 secondstell which is which like the cereal aisle or the whole aisle of you know treats and bags. Well, this is a point

36:18

36 minutes, 18 secondsof differentiation for retailers to highlight this these important products and then consumers can find them much more easily.

36:28

36 minutes, 28 secondsAnd this is what I wanted to show you guys about the communication what we did

36:35

36 minutes, 35 secondswhen we launched and you can see just the incredible comments we got from pet parents. Um, but this is a little video

36:44

36 minutes, 44 secondsthat we did on social media that was one of our very best videos. We got incredible amounts of engagement and

36:52

36 minutes, 52 secondsshares. Um, but essentially you can see here that pet parents definitely shared their support for our plastic free. Um,

37:00

37 minutesI’ve got a little video clip here and you can go ahead and play that raffle.

37:07

37 minutes, 7 seconds[music]

37:15

37 minutes, 15 seconds[music]

37:18

37 minutes, 18 secondsThank you. Thank you so much. So, you can see the positive remarks here. I love this. Amazing. I love this. This is honestly so amazing. Love to see this.

37:29

37 minutes, 29 secondsI’ll keep a lookout for this new packaging for sure. So again, you know, it’s not always easy to use

37:38

37 minutes, 38 secondssustainability as a point of differentiation when yes, people believe or inherently believe that it costs

37:46

37 minutes, 46 secondsmore. But there are also lots that can be done in an innovative way um like

37:52

37 minutes, 52 secondsthis. and um you know by sort of aligning your values or our values with

37:59

37 minutes, 59 secondsthe pet parents and then also showing them value. And this is one of those ways that we we’d like to um bridge that

38:09

38 minutes, 9 secondscommunications gap and it was very successful for us and continues to be especially with regulatory

38:15

38 minutes, 15 secondsum APRs. Uh it’s definitely um uh it was it’s definitely a great case study and I’m happy to answer questions moving forward.

38:26

38 minutes, 26 secondsI think yes. Oh, repurpose. Yes. How could I forget my amazing partners at repurpose? So again, lots lots more work

38:35

38 minutes, 35 secondsto have to be done. I mean absolutely we know that we still are in plastic and we still use packaging as a consumer

38:42

38 minutes, 42 secondspackage goods company. Um but in the meantime, one thing that we felt very strongly with is what can we do? You

38:50

38 minutes, 50 secondsknow, how can we um continue to mitigate that uh negative impact? And we

38:59

38 minutes, 59 secondspartnered early on with Repurpose Global, this incredible organization that really helps um those most

39:06

39 minutes, 6 secondsmarginalized and um areas across the world that can have pollution and plastic issues. And so since 2020, we

39:15

39 minutes, 15 secondshave been able to fund the recovery of almost 645,000 pounds of plastic um with their

39:23

39 minutes, 23 secondspartnership. So that means that for every piece of plastic we put into this world, we are recovering one outside of

39:32

39 minutes, 32 secondsof naturebound plastic. And um again, happy to talk about that, but we’ll still continue to do that. And they are

39:41

39 minutes, 41 secondsabsolutely one of our best partners. Um and I they’re incredible to work with.

39:47

39 minutes, 47 secondsSo and I love our social impact work with them. um as well as our environmental impact work.

39:55

39 minutes, 55 secondsAmazing, Stephie. That is uh phenomenal.

39:58

39 minutes, 58 secondsThank you. And of course, thank you for showing us the way.

40:02

40 minutes, 2 secondsSo deep, so thoughtful, um so holistically imagined. And what I appreciate above all is that you’re not

40:09

40 minutes, 9 secondsabout sacrifice. you’re about designing better alternatives and meeting people where they are and giving them a choice, moving the awareness, moving the

40:17

40 minutes, 17 secondsbehavior while mitigating um for kind of the plastic packaging that exists. It’s

40:24

40 minutes, 24 secondsreally showing a path to offering better and making sure the benefits are clear and leading with new benefits. That is a

40:33

40 minutes, 33 secondssuperb example, Stephie, and congratulations. Um, Gabe, we’re delighted to hear your story. And so often, as it happens, the innovations

40:41

40 minutes, 41 secondsthat our companies start to represent come from personal experiences. They come from a love story in our own lives

40:49

40 minutes, 49 secondsand caring for a pet or, you know, a family member or a community member or a place. Um, and that’s the case for you.

40:57

40 minutes, 57 secondsAnd so we’d love just to hear like the inspiration for um not only why Archway but why in particular your journey to

41:05

41 minutes, 5 secondsreinventing the supply chain around ingredients that has so many positive impacts holistically. Gabe over to you.

41:14

41 minutes, 14 secondsThanks Raphael. Uh yeah I’ll start quickly on uh how the brand was formed.

41:18

41 minutes, 18 secondsIt was it was around my own fosters. Uh I ran into a poultry allergy. I was so surprised around the alternative proteins that were on the market. there

41:26

41 minutes, 26 secondswas alligator water buffalo kangaroo and I thought maybe maybe there was an opportunity to to bring in some sustainability in addition to premium

41:34

41 minutes, 34 secondsquality proteins and uh before I jump into the presentation I’ll say quick thanks PSC BBMG globcan I took so many

41:41

41 minutes, 41 secondsscreenshots these last 40 minutes hope that’s okay I’d love to talk about them after um okay so for the brand it was

41:49

41 minutes, 49 secondsaround trying to find these better products um we’re attempting to resolve one of the [snorts] most pressing issues in uh the Midwest ecologically, which is the arrival of the invasive Asian carp.

42:02

42 minutes, 2 secondsIf you’re unfamiliar with the fish, they’re sizable, so 25 to 40 lbs, but also a huge population, millions of them

42:10

42 minutes, 10 secondsin the Mississippi River basin. And um the the big fear is that they were going to arrive to the Great Lakes. Um just

42:18

42 minutes, 18 secondsrecently, uh funding was unfrozen to stop the great uh the Asian carpals.

42:24

42 minutes, 24 secondsIt’s in the billions of dollars in the last year that are going to stopping these fish. And uh the risk is that they’ll destroy um domestic and

42:32

42 minutes, 32 secondscommercial fishing in the Great Lakes, which is also billions of dollars of industry. Um it’s a huge problem, but the fish itself is wonderfully

42:40

42 minutes, 40 secondsnutritious, has omega fats similar to salmon, so threes and sixes. It’s a nice wonderful lean protein, and it’s just

42:48

42 minutes, 48 secondsreadily abundant and needs a use. So uh we launched our products and company back in 22 and then we can go to the

42:57

42 minutes, 57 secondsnext slide. Uh we launched our carp based products in 2024.

43:03

43 minutes, 3 secondsSo when we first started it was around single ingredient invasive fish products that we now use it also as an

43:10

43 minutes, 10 secondsingredient. So you can we have it in biscuits and in our food product. And what we’re working on hopefully to launch by the end of the year is a cat line. So cats are obligate carnivores.

43:21

43 minutes, 21 secondsuh we’re looking to offer a sustainable uh alternative for folks who are looking to have a slightly lower footprint on their pets diet while also keeping that human grade product in in house.

43:32

43 minutes, 32 secondsSo uh yes, we did a a partnership with Northwestern this year to uh talk to

43:39

43 minutes, 39 secondsover 200 industry professionals, retailers, distributors, other brands around invasive species. And we found

43:47

43 minutes, 47 secondsmixed results. Uh when folks are familiar with invasive species, they tend to know the species that’s local to

43:55

43 minutes, 55 secondsthem. So if you’re in the Northeast, you might know about lantern flies. In the Midwest, you’ll know invasive fish. I am I’m currently I’m from the Southeast. I always grew up with kudzu, the plant.

44:05

44 minutes, 5 secondsAnd if you’re on um the Gulf, you might know of the lion fish. So um if you are if you are aware of those issues then

44:14

44 minutes, 14 secondsthere’s also a notion of like how like what is your connotation around it and again a bit inconclusive. Uh some folks

44:22

44 minutes, 22 secondshad negative connotations. So they think of these product uh the animals as um lower quality despite having great nutritional qualities to them. Um and it

44:32

44 minutes, 32 secondsit became obvious to us that education is essential for the success of the brand. So, we need to communicate on the nutritional and climate benefits so that

44:41

44 minutes, 41 secondsfolks knew that it was good and wonderful for their pet.

44:45

44 minutes, 45 secondsSo, with that, we uh we did a couple things uh around what our learnings were. One is that we’re keeping our SKUs as regional as we can. Uh, our invasive

44:54

44 minutes, 54 secondscarpus are available nationwide and our bests sellers, but we are working on a lionfish skew for Florida, California

45:02

45 minutes, 2 secondsregions that know the fish so that it makes sense for the populations that know it. We’ve also been so lucky to work with wonderful partners like PSC.

45:11

45 minutes, 11 secondsWe did a case study with them where we highlighted the use of the protein. And we’ve worked with numerous universities

45:18

45 minutes, 18 secondsto do an LCA of how much our uh our protein is actually taking like gas energy use so that we have a genuine

45:27

45 minutes, 27 secondsmeasure of whether this product is better. And uh I get we got the results last week. They were really really good.

45:33

45 minutes, 33 secondsUm and it seems as though that silver carp is the best protein even more so than meals which are there’s a whole separate thing for that. it. So far the results are wonderful and we’re putting

45:42

45 minutes, 42 secondsthese educ um these education materials on our website. We have an academy for our retailers. All things that we can

45:49

45 minutes, 49 secondsbreak down those walls of transparency and offer folks um educational materials.

45:55

45 minutes, 55 secondsSo that has yielded some success for us.

45:58

45 minutes, 58 secondsThis is something of a breakout year for us. We’re in 1,600 new doors this year.

46:04

46 minutes, 4 secondsum Art Chewy and Amazon have been succeeding organically and we’re having a 3 to 4x year. So, it’s been wonderful.

46:11

46 minutes, 11 secondsUm it’s we we were lucky enough to get the innovation award from Perina a couple years ago and we just won the sustainability prize at Superzu um and

46:20

46 minutes, 20 secondsuh a shelfie from startup CPG on the brand and I honestly I I think the audience and PSC everyone who’s given

46:28

46 minutes, 28 secondsthe platform for the brand because without these audiences we we wouldn’t be the brand that we are today. So uh I guess that’s the that’s a quick and

46:36

46 minutes, 36 secondsbrief on the brand and what we’ve done to be successful on our communication strategy. Can we give it up in the chat for Stephie and Gabe for these

46:43

46 minutes, 43 secondsincredible stories of packaging innovation and product innovation? It’s absolutely so cool. Um Allison, I have

46:50

46 minutes, 50 secondstwo questions and then I’m going to pass it over to you in a second to go to the Q&A. But before I I pass the mic real

46:57

46 minutes, 57 secondsquick, I wanted to uplift um a couple notes. Um the the first is you know at

47:06

47 minutes, 6 secondsBBMG we’ve had the opportunity to work with missiondriven pet companies like Bark and Co. but a lot as well with the

47:14

47 minutes, 14 secondsnonprofit community like ASPCA to fight puppy mills um Ocean X to raise awareness of ocean conservation marine

47:21

47 minutes, 21 secondsstewardship council to help people find and choose um more sustainable seafood.

47:28

47 minutes, 28 secondsAnd in each of those examples, um, we’ve always tried to understand the emotional truth of the consumer, like

47:37

47 minutes, 37 secondsthe deepest reason why. And as y’all are thinking about packaging innovation and product and ingredient innovation, um,

47:46

47 minutes, 46 secondsyou know, in many cases, it starts with the animal and the love story and what you care for. Um, and I’m curious, um,

47:55

47 minutes, 55 secondsin each of your cases, how do you think about the role that sustainability plays in a holistic value proposition? When

48:03

48 minutes, 3 secondsdoes sustainability lead and where does sustainability perhaps follow or reinforce? Um, you know, Gabe, you have

48:11

48 minutes, 11 secondsan interesting dynamic of highlighting an invasive species story, but also a really healthy protein story. Um Stephie, you have a better alternative

48:20

48 minutes, 20 secondson packaging story, but people are buying those treats for lots of reasons like health and affordability or pricing

48:28

48 minutes, 28 secondsand packaging. So, how do you think about the role sustainability plays in the mix of the benefits you’re trying to

48:36

48 minutes, 36 secondsshare? When might it lead? When might it reinforce? And what are some lessons that you’ve been learning?

48:47

48 minutes, 47 secondsGabe, do you want to go?

48:48

48 minutes, 48 secondsSure, I can start. So, I I say sustainability is table stakes for us.

48:53

48 minutes, 53 secondsUm, but I will say that when we when we are on shelves and when we don’t have the opportunity to educate uh we speak about solving a problem for our

49:01

49 minutes, 1 secondconsumers. So, making sure that um the first thing that they see is around uh the quality of the product itself. The

49:09

49 minutes, 9 secondssustainability uh is comes inherently with the product. But we um the problem that I was solving for myself was around

49:17

49 minutes, 17 secondsuh hyperallergenic proteins. Looking for uh proteins that were less likely to create problems. So we make sure that we

49:25

49 minutes, 25 secondshave uh a transparent sourcing story and uh no funny stuff gets into the product.

49:31

49 minutes, 31 secondsSo uh keeping the ingredient deck simple and making sure that we have that alternative protein story as a solution for folks who are looking for other

49:38

49 minutes, 38 secondsthings. So, uh, it’s a say a way to say that we can have our cake and eat it too is the dream.

49:45

49 minutes, 45 secondsRight on, Stephie. Over to you. How do you navigate balancing the sustainability benefits? As someone who’s been sort of doing this for a long

49:55

49 minutes, 55 secondstime, I think this is um an interesting question and one that um sustainability

50:01

50 minutes, 1 secondleaders think about a lot, especially um those that do work with all of the

50:08

50 minutes, 8 secondsdifferent departments um within their CPG company. Um, I would say now more

50:15

50 minutes, 15 secondsthan ever as someone um, again who’s been in it, I’m seeing success,

50:23

50 minutes, 23 secondsmarketing and communication success um, and product sales when sustainability is

50:31

50 minutes, 31 secondscombined or connected to another um, benefit that pet parents care about

50:40

50 minutes, 40 secondsprimarily. I would say health [snorts] like Gabe has been talking about um

50:47

50 minutes, 47 secondsquality uh integrity transparency um for us it’s very similar to Gabe you

50:54

50 minutes, 54 secondsknow sustainability is table stakes it’s something that is again is completely integrated into every part of our

51:01

51 minutes, 1 secondcompany strategy um but there still is sometimes a disconnect um I internally

51:08

51 minutes, 8 secondsand externally with pet parents and retailers primarily. I think um that is

51:15

51 minutes, 15 secondsa gap. So when you combine it or connect it to some something else, whether you call it

51:23

51 minutes, 23 secondsa solution, a benefit or something else, I think it elevates both that benefit

51:30

51 minutes, 30 secondsand sustainability. And that’s when if you’re getting their attention, that’s when you can educate and tell them the

51:37

51 minutes, 37 secondsstory. But I do believe like it’s a I think you can’t just say it. You have to back it up. You have to have third party verification, certification.

51:48

51 minutes, 48 secondsUm pet parents are much savvier than they’ve ever been. And I think you need to connect it with another benefit that

51:56

51 minutes, 56 secondsthat um they are very um you know aligned uh with that product is aligned with. Yeah.

52:04

52 minutes, 4 secondsYeah. Very interestingly along with what you’re both saying um the center for sustainability at um or for sustainable

52:12

52 minutes, 12 secondsbusiness at NYU also did a um messaging study and in the about nine categories

52:19

52 minutes, 19 secondsthat they studied they revealed exactly what you just said Stephy which is if it was a direct when you’re able to stack

52:26

52 minutes, 26 secondsbenefits you can significantly increase the reach of your brand to multiple kinds of consumers. So what the headline

52:35

52 minutes, 35 secondswas was that in food for example and we’ll say for pets too um that if you

52:42

52 minutes, 42 secondsonly have one claim to make you should make the core category claim driver. So if it’s in cleaning products it’s

52:50

52 minutes, 50 secondsefficacy. If it’s um in pets it can be health. So it could be really the you have to do that. However, when you add a

52:58

52 minutes, 58 secondssecondary one about ingredients and a third about packaging, you actually increase the reach from like a 30% core

53:06

53 minutes, 6 secondsreach, second claim, 50% reach, third claim, 70% reach. You add consumers to your mix when you can stack the claims.

53:16

53 minutes, 16 secondsBut if you have one to make, you start with the category core. Um, one last question then over to you Allison. 81%

53:24

53 minutes, 24 secondsfrom Globe Globe Scans data of those who did not purchase a product that was sustainability oriented in the last

53:31

53 minutes, 31 secondsmonth, 81% would have liked to. They said price, they said didn’t know that it existed or access. And so as you

53:40

53 minutes, 40 secondsthink about how we help to close those gaps, whether it’s messaging on shelf,

53:47

53 minutes, 47 secondswhether it’s partnering with retailers like you did in Europe, um whether it’s thinking about the supply chain, um

53:54

53 minutes, 54 secondswhere are you finding the most friction to that gap and where’s the unlock? So

54:01

54 minutes, 1 secondif you were in partnership uh with your retail partners, if you’re thinking about your own brand team, where do you

54:08

54 minutes, 8 secondsfind the opportunity to take that 81% who would have liked to and meet them where they are? What moves can we make?

54:22

54 minutes, 22 secondsGo for it, Gabe. Why don’t you start this time and then we’ll go to Stephie.

54:25

54 minutes, 25 secondsUh I I’d say first it’s about finding true partners. So it it is um it’s easy I I think and I I find myself doing this

54:34

54 minutes, 34 secondsall the time which is to to be happy with the transaction and then simply let it go onto shelf without thinking too much about the throughput or the education or the velocities that are at

54:42

54 minutes, 42 secondsstake. And I um when you have like we we’re doing a partnership here with a Midwestern um food drug mass store and they’ve been talking about putting up

54:50

54 minutes, 50 secondsmonitors about showing the invasive fish um jumping out of the water so people could have a a true connection to what

54:58

54 minutes, 58 secondsthese proteins are. Um that type of partnership is uh essentially it would be incredible for the brand. So, um,

55:06

55 minutes, 6 secondsbeing able to work with folks who want to tell your story, I think, is half the battle as opposed to simply just letting your products go on a shelf. Um, so

55:14

55 minutes, 14 secondsfinding your finding people who are willing to support you and and tell these stories is I think maybe one of the best ways you can go about it. Even if it’s small, if it’s your local mom

55:21

55 minutes, 21 secondsand pop stores, I think it’s it’s really important.

55:24

55 minutes, 24 secondsFabulous. Stephie, what comes to mind for you?

55:27

55 minutes, 27 secondsYeah, I it’s funny. I mean, this is something we’ve been talking about forever and ever. It’s constantly a battle. Um, and we are literally in the middle of talking about this right now.

55:37

55 minutes, 37 secondsBut yes, I think one of our biggest opportunities isn’t necessarily um just

55:44

55 minutes, 44 secondscommunicating directly with pet parents, but it’s got to be a multi-pronged approach of education. And we because

55:54

55 minutes, 54 secondswe’re primarily B2B, we have to um educate the retailers more and get them to understand

56:03

56 minutes, 3 secondsum the pet parents that are going to their store or going on their website um that this is really important to them.

56:10

56 minutes, 10 secondsAnd I think there’s a huge opportunity to um you know continue to um work on

56:20

56 minutes, 20 secondsdifferent displays or signage, but also getting in front and doing trainings with those retailers is something that’s

56:28

56 minutes, 28 secondsessential. A lot of the pet industry uses distributors um to sell products for them. And if you

56:35

56 minutes, 35 secondsdo that, then connecting with your distributors quarterly and doing trainings on all of the benefits,

56:43

56 minutes, 43 secondsincluding the sustainability and the impact and giving them the statistic like we can grow and here’s 81% of pet

56:51

56 minutes, 51 secondsparents that didn’t buy one of our, you know, I’m not saying our products, but didn’t buy a sustainable product, and here are the reasons why. Let’s change

56:59

56 minutes, 59 secondsthat. Let’s let’s try to do something different in your store. Right on. Thank you. Allison, you’ve been monitoring the

57:07

57 minutes, 7 secondsQ&A. Um, could you uplift a question for us as we wrap up? What’s on the mind of the audience?

57:13

57 minutes, 13 secondsWell, I guess we got the most questions just about the data that James had presented, like where was it? How many people? So, I guess James was busy

57:21

57 minutes, 21 secondstyping answers to the chat. Um, so I think in the interest of time, I’ll just highlight that the research was in over 30 countries. Each country had about a

57:30

57 minutes, 30 secondsthousand online surveys. um it was for adults and 65%ish was pet owners. And I will say that if you have more questions

57:37

57 minutes, 37 secondsabout that or want to see more data, I would say contact James and Globe Scan.

57:42

57 minutes, 42 secondsUm I don’t think we have time to really dive into some of the other questions that we got. We have one minute left.

57:49

57 minutes, 49 secondsUm, but maybe as a rapid fire one, one of the things on my mind is about the operational work that has to happen at a

57:58

57 minutes, 58 secondscompany before there is a marketing story to tell. So, I’m just curious um Stephie and Gabe if you have advice

58:05

58 minutes, 5 secondsabout like how do you balance those two things and what advice do you have for companies?

58:13

58 minutes, 13 seconds[snorts]

58:13

58 minutes, 13 secondsI I’m fortunate to say that we only started recently. So as we were building the company, we were able to evaluate these things piece by piece. So um when

58:21

58 minutes, 21 secondsit comes to say like our our proteins speak for themselves, but when it came to manufacturing, it was like can we find someone who uses solar energy? Can we find people who use green practices?

58:32

58 minutes, 32 secondsAnd same goes for our packaging. So we were able to use this piece by piece um very um cognizant of what we were trying to do. But I know we’re at time. So I’m going to I’ll say that we we’re lucky.

58:42

58 minutes, 42 secondsWe’re lucky that we’re we’re newish.

58:46

58 minutes, 46 secondsI would say um contact PSC. They can they can help you, right? Uh wherever you are in your sustainability journey, everyone um they can help you road map.

58:57

58 minutes, 57 secondsThey can help you look into logistics and operations. Be patient. You know, it’s not one-sizefits-all. Um and

59:05

59 minutes, 5 secondsthere’s all kinds of people, me and Gabe and Reer and Raphael and everybody.

59:11

59 minutes, 11 secondsJames, a whole community of people that would happily support you. Um, please feel free to reach out, but call PSC.

59:21

59 minutes, 21 secondsAbsolutely. Please call PSSC. And just what I hope is as we try to close this gap and actually see it as an opportunity, the polling data that you

59:29

59 minutes, 29 secondssaw today, the shopping basket data you saw today, the incredible case studies as proof on packaging innovation, on

59:37

59 minutes, 37 secondsproduct innovation, and how these things work together. Ultimately, we grow by offering better alternatives and not

59:45

59 minutes, 45 secondsasking for sacrifices, but providing more value. And that is the path. And today, I think you see the building blocks. And for Allison and the team at

59:53

59 minutes, 53 secondsPSC, doing this in community with peers and sharing insights and supports is how we get there together. So, thank you

1:00:01

1 hour, 1 secondeveryone. We will be sharing the recording in the future. We’re delighted to keep the conversation going. Watch out at globescan.com for the report um

1:00:10

1 hour, 10 secondsuh from the healthy and sustainable living study. We’ll be sharing more at bbmg.com. Thank you, Gabe. Thank you, Stephie.

1:00:17

1 hour, 17 secondsThank you, Allison, Alex, and the PSC team. This was awesome. Um, and keep rocking everybody. We appreciate it. Thank you everybody. Take care. Bye.

1:00:25

1 hour, 25 secondsThank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thanks everybody.