Creative agency Paper + Spark has launched an earned-first campaign for Boehringer Ingelheim Australia’s NexGard SPECTRA for Cats.
Rather than beginning with a traditional product message, the campaign started with an insight: cats experience the world through scent, and a cat’s sense of smell plays an important role in their wellbeing and daily interactions.
Supported by independent research demonstrating NexGard SPECTRA for Cats’ low-odour formulation, this understanding provided a foundation for the campaign. Paper + Spark was then tasked with transforming these insights into a creative platform that would capture the attention of media, influencers and cat owners alike.
That foundation became the idea of Cat No. 9, a limited-edition perfume created by Paper and Spark with artisan perfumer Jocelyn Fullerton (Founder, Cult of Scent) and television personality and lifelong cat lover Jessica Rowe. Designed to spark conversation around cats’ remarkable sense of smell, the campaign used an unexpected cultural idea to bring attention back to the product truth.
Parasite prevention is a mature, crowded category. Pet owners know they should protect their cats, but giving parasite protection is often stressful for both the cat and their owner. Without a launch moment to hang a story on, Paper + Spark’s challenge was to translate a meaningful but often overlooked product benefit into a story that would resonate with media, influencers and cat owners alike.
The agency’s strategy team developed a creative platform that translated a product into a broader cultural conversation. By bringing cats’ extraordinary sense of smell to the forefront, the team created an engaging and memorable way to highlight one of NexGard SPECTRA for Cats’ key points of difference: its low-odour formulation, developed with cats’ sensitivity to scent in mind.
Rather than open with the product, Paper + Spark opened with the fact, and let the brand truth follow.
The result was Cat No.9, a limited-edition fragrance built around scents cats are naturally drawn to.
Paper + Spark built the campaign as a fully integrated earned-media play, spanning broadcast, influencer partnerships, social content and live media experiences, designed to show what’s possible when a single insight is given room to lead.
“This campaign shows what happens when you stop asking ‘how do we promote the product?’ and start asking ‘what would genuinely interest people?’” said Paul Everson, director, Paper + Spark.
“We knew media weren’t going to run another parasite treatment story. Our job was finding a cultural insight nobody had heard before, and making sure it stayed connected to a real product truth. Cats’ sense of smell gave us both.”
For Boehringer Ingelheim, the campaign reinforces the power of insight-led communications.
“Parasite prevention is a crowded, familiar category, and pet owners can be fatigued by traditional product messaging. We wanted a way into the conversation that didn’t start with the product,” added Jordana Busenshut, group marketing director, Boehringer Ingelheim Australia.
“It started with something true about cats that owners already sense but rarely hear articulated: that scent matters to them. Cat No. 9 gave us a credible, cultural way to make that point, and it led naturally back to a real product truth that NexGard SPECTRA for Cats is low-odour by design. That’s the kind of communication we want more of: insight first, product truth close behind.”
Credits:
Agency: Paper & Spark
Client: Boehringer Ingelheim
Campaign: NexGard SPECTRA
Creative director: Vanessa Lam
Photographer: Vanessa Lam
Talent: Jessica Rowe
Cat models: Daisy, Diana, and Freddy (owned by Jessica Rowe)
