Milk-Bone®

When thunder rolls in, the going can get tough — or should we say ruff — for dogs and their owners. As a matter of fact, 68% of pet owners say knowing the weather is important for planning their pet’s daily routine — with 93% specifically monitoring thunderstorms.¹ Since thunderstorms can make dogs feel anxious, pet parents need ways to ease their emotions when storms are in the forecast. So the ever-popular dog treat brand, Milk-Bone^®, looked to resonate with dog owners’ daily experiences by leveraging a weather strategy rooted in the connection between weather and pet care. With the goal of marketing to pet owners to increase awareness and sales inside a market full of treat options, their weather-powered creative led to tail-wagging results.

Comfort in the midst of thunder

Milk-Bone dug into the revealing insight: Pet owners keep a close eye on thunderstorms to manage their pet’s anxiety. Since the Comfort Chews product helps keep dogs calm, their strategy was rooted in the unique bond between humans, their furry friends, and weather to drive awareness and intent. They utilized Weather Targeting to reach dog owners when and where thunderstorms were present or forecasted with contextually relevant messages across The Weather Channel app and in-stream CTV ads. This omni-channel approach to weather-targeted ads dynamically optimized media at the most relevant moments for pet anxiety, improving efficiency and effectiveness.

Tapping into pet parents’ habitual daily planning routine, Milk-Bone leveraged the Integrated Marquee to capture attention on The Weather Channel app home screen, syncing their Comfort Chews ads with real-time weather conditions — serving up a perfect storm of contextual messaging that provided a relevant reminder to care for their dogs.

But dogs aren’t the only ones who are impacted by storms. When weather — like thunderstorms — keeps people indoors, the most common form of entertainment is watching TV and movies,⁴ so Milk-Bone met dog owners across in-stream CTV ads — prompting dog owners throughout stormy days that comfort chews can help ease their pet’s emotions.

Milk-Bone Integrated Marquee on The Weather Channel app

Bone-a-fide success

Empathizing with one of the biggest concerns of pet owners — how the weather impacts their animals — can lead to impactful results. Milk-Bone provided a timely solution to dog owners throughout their omnichannel customer journey, driving purchase intent and ad recall of their long-lasting treats across mobile and CTV. The campaign fetched a 2.8% lift in ad recall with CTV, 2.9% lift in ad recall from the Integrated Marquee, and 14% higher CTR via Integrated Marquee compared to benchmarks.

Speaking of winning results, Milk-Bone was also featured as a Rainmaker of Marketing at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, recognizing visionary brands that harness the power of a universal, scaled, and durable signal like weather to transform their business. The brand partnership activation was on display across digital out-of-home billboards throughout key locations at the festival.