Mypetstop: creating real loyalty

Strong value-added features increase word-of-mouth promotion.

The Site

Mypetstop is a portal run by Mars Inc, available in 11 national versions– it is designed to create brand awareness for petfoods that include Whiskas and Pedigree.

One of the many interactive feature is Select-a-dog. This is a questionnaire with 17 multiple choice questions covering the factual (What size is your garden? Do elderly people stay with you?) and the subjective (What size of dog would you prefer? Do you want a dog who will protect your property?). You are then given a choice of dogs drawn from a database of 162 breeds, with a picture of each. Click to get a useful profile, with breed history, the dog’s characteristics and contact details for relevant clubs.

The Takeaway

Select-a-dog is not linked to a specific marketing or sales effort: it is just one of the features available on Mypetstop. Why is it worthwhile? Because it is sufficiently intriguing to make visitors tell their friends about the site.

Select-a-dog is almost a game: it is, for example, fun to work out what answers you should give to get the dog you really want, and the tidbits on different breeds are great for collectors of trivia. So the site will become known not through affiliate marketing, search engine optimisation or other clever online tricks, but through people talking to each other at dinner, in the pub, at work. Informal offline promotion is the most powerful form of viral marketing, and really strong added-value features such as this are the best way to make sure your site gets it.

First published on 28 August, 2003