Healthy Heart — Pawsitive Mornings  

Butcher’s launched its ‘Healthy Heart’ dog food range in late 2022 to help owners make a more proactive choice in the health of their dogs. The range became a bestseller and was named ‘Product of the Year’ in the dog food category of national awards in 2024.

However, as the market for pet foods took a hit from the rising cost of living and dog ownership tailed off post-Covid, Butcher’s needed to get more owners to make ‘Healthy Heart’ part of their dog’s daily routine. Limited budgets meant Butcher’s had to specially target their storytelling, speaking to owners’ emotions about how they can help their dogs be the best versions of themselves.   

Butcher’s decided to focus media activity on the most treasured moments of the day for owners: breakfast time and the first walk of the day. That’s when dogs and their parents have their strongest emotional bond and where they get active and ‘heart-healthy’ together. Targeting this treasured moment and embedding Butcher’s into daily routines was key. 

Content positioned Butcher’s ‘Healthy Heart’ as a leading new healthy range to help make dogs thrive. To get the scale, influence and cut-though at that critical time of the day, Butcher’s partnered with news brand Mail Metro Media.  

The ‘Healthy Heart – Pawsitive Mornings’ campaign was born, featuring a blend of strategically timed site and app takeovers. This made the brand unmissable between 6am and 12pm across all Mail Metro Media touchpoints. However, fundamentally, Butcher’s needed hearts as well as minds. To achieve that, the brand put peer group influence at the heart of its planning.  

Sponsored content ran in Metro featuring the real-life stories of how owners keep their dogs healthy with Butcher’s ‘Healthy Heart’. Singer Rihanna and her beloved rottweiler Axel had already worked with Butcher’s, so they returned for the social edit in MailOnline. The video highlighted Rihanna’s love for her dog and how she kept him healthy and active. The Mail Metro Media partnership was supported with TV across ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’.  

The ‘Healthy Heart’ campaign delivered a 54% increase in consideration and an 89% increase in recommending Butcher’s. Outstanding brand perception results included a 104% increase in understanding that Butcher’s is recommended by vets, plus an 87% increase in Butcher’s standing out from other dog foods. What’s more, the social video with Rihanna and Axel over-delivered by 9,077 completed views versus the plan.

This was a really great use of bringing together data and contextual targeting.

Emma Mahoney, marketing director, P&O Cruises