Every month, Nobull interviews an innovative voice from the world of pets for leading trade mag, Pet Product Marketing. We got chatting to the team at PAWD drinks, who are changing the way that canines get their daily vits…
CELEBRATING INNOVATION
PAWD Drinks have brought innovative new gentle natural liquid supplements to the canine market; Nobull Communications, the pet specialist marketing agency, chatted to Rory Hanna, co-founder of PAWD Drinks to find out more about how the brand was founded, and about working with scientists to make a difference to dog health outcomes and owners’ stress levels.
Tell us how you and your co-founder Archie came to launch PAWD Drinks, and more about the co-founding family dogs – Scrumpy & Pickle?
Scrumpy was the starting point for the PAWD Drinks concept. He was the best dog ever, lived to seventeen and a half, and was half Jack Russell and half Patterdale. He loved life and was very active but as he got older, he started to suffer from arthritis, anxiety and weight loss, but hated taking pills. Watching my mum & dad every day, wrapping up the pills in ham and cheese only for Scrumpy to eat the treat and spit the medication out, led me to think about this pain point. My co-founder Archie had exactly the same problem with his dog Pickle, so we teamed up to find a solution. Having been friends since school and played on numerous sports teams together PAWD Drinks was a new journey.
What was PAWD drinks development timeline?
First, we wanted to understand the scale of the problem and our initial research with 200 of our family and friends showed that 87% of their dogs struggled taking pills and their owners were stressed with limited options. We humans get so much functionality out of liquids, whether it be coffee, vitamins, protein shakes, smoothies, but we identified a big category not being filled for dogs: drinks. It took two years for us to develop our first two functional products which we launched four months ago: one for joints and one for anxiety which solve the pain point for owners.
Tell us more about the scientific basis for your products?
Over the two years of development, we worked with our scientific partners in Germany to test and sample the products across many iterations. The two products for Calm and Joints are easy to give to your dog and you can give the same quantity to any size or breed so there is no complicated measuring and diluting, plus rapid absorption was really important. Our liquid extracts are assimilated by the dog in 1-4 minutes and 98% of the nutrients are utilised. Whereas with pills it takes 30-40minutes just to break down the casing and only 40% of the nutrients are utilised. Vets highlight the bioavailability of liquid supplements and how easy they are to administer.
How do you help owners and their dogs?
Over two million dogs were bought in the UK during C-19 and they missed out on socialising with other dogs and other humans, and many experience anxiety as well as others who struggle with separation from their owners, noises and travel. Our Calming product was launched to help owners tackle these issues, and the Joint supplement helps dogs to live active lives tackling arthritis and joint issues and mobility support in older dogs. The products are for two of the biggest issues that dogs face and both are functional and preventative.
Where can your products be purchased?
While are in this early phase, customers can buy our products direct from our website including a subscription offer. We want to be really close to the dogs and owners using our products but will look at other distribution options in the future.
You have a new product launching later this year –can you give us some teasers on what this does and how it helps dogs’ health?
Our third product is another liquid supplement and will be for everyday use, a little bit like humans take multi-vitamins, and again in liquid form with our focus on functional ingredients and prevention, 100% natural ingredients and daily all-round wellness for dogs. Look out for it coming soon.
Are you attending any events over the coming months?
After the scientific basis of our products and efficacy, the most important thing is that our brand is about having fun – with healthier and happier dogs and trying to take away a pain point. So, we have lots of fun events coming up: with over forty small markets, pop ups and activities planned this summer. Community is really important to dogs and their owners, and we really like the opportunity to meet people and tell our story. We had a free walking event recently in Battersea Park, part of our summer series, with an hour’s meet up for dogs to socialise and meet new people, and their owners to do the same: we even had non-dog owners wanting to join in!
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