Petbarn ‘Petsonifies’ Mascots In New Branded Entertainment Approach Via Howatson+Company

In an effort to further advance the brand’s deep emotional connection with pet parents, Petbarn is reinvigorating its marketing strategy, pursuing a branded entertainment approach.

The move is the first work from CCO Kate Blythe, whose previous roles include CMO at Mecca, Matches Fashion, and Net-a-Porter.

“Brands that attract loyalty participate in culture, rather than interrupt it. We have a loved brand, and deeply recognisable characters. So we’ve built on that equity by creating the world we all imagine our pets live in,” Blythe said.

“By ‘petsonifying’ our brand characters – Petey and Barnadette (derived from Petbarn) – we give voice to longing eyes, playful barks and sleepy cuddles. That’s where the magic is for Petbarn – to play an even more trusted, more present role, in the lives of pet parents.

Developed alongside Howatson+Company, the launch itself took a very different shape to traditional brand comms, setting the branded entertainment intent.
Howatson+Company chief executive Chris Howatson said: “For many years, a brand’s feed is where you scroll to feel and understand a brand.

“Yet as marketers we often bias paid channels when seeking customer connection. Like many brands, Petbarn’s feed was a blend of products, offers, and advice. So to reset the expectation we deleted the entire feed.

“But entertainingly, it wasn’t us in the social team, but Petey, the over-enthusiastic, if not a little rash, brand ambassador; ‘Uh oh. I think I might have accidentally deleted Petbarn’s entire Instagram account. Is this bad? I think this might be bad.’”

The playful social-first stunt sparked immediate, unprecedented engagement from both existing brand fans and new followers. Blythe says “that first post had over 3,600 likes and organic reach of 6m. It was immediate evidence the strategy would work”.

What followed was a series of candid videos, bad mirror selfies, and unscripted character moments – establishing Petey and Barnadette not as static mascots, but as active creators.

“The job then was to build this new universe everywhere. When we’re competing against entertainment, publishing is a daily endeavour with no room for inconsistency,” Bylthe said.

“We started internally across social, ecommerce, emails – emails now come from Petey and Barnadette – and stores. Our retail media was reshaped into Petey and Barnadette’s world. Then we prolifically integrated into campaigns.”

Howatson added: “The OOH holds some of my favourite executions. If a cat were creating an ad, how would she frame a shot? If a dog was the creative director, would he chew on the billboard before dispatching it? Kate has pushed the world at every step of the creative process. I deeply admire her craft of brand story telling – honed from decades in fashion, an industry when at its best, is unrivalled in brand management”.

The production approach was critical to enabling the new world.

Howatson said: “we built a custom technical pipeline using 3D modelling, 2D animation, VFX, and custom generative AI tools. We’ve resourced it permanently to enable continuous, high-speed asset generation. And importantly, for a similar budget to previous years, we’ve created hundreds of bespoke assets rather than one or two”.