Creating demand and connecting the business behind it.
Our work with Pets in the City spans the Westgate launch campaign, a new customer-facing website and Connect, a separate internal management system. Each addresses a different part of the same challenge: helping a growing business attract customers and support the work that follows.
The project at a glance
Client: Pets in the City. Work: launch marketing, website development and an internal management platform.
The Westgate launch campaign recorded more than 70 dog registrations before opening. The website and Connect projects followed separately and support customer decisions, performance visibility and growth planning.
The Westgate launch: a campaign the community could join
- Pre-opening registrations
- 70+
- YoY direct traffic surge
- 162.8%
- OOH value delivered
- 2,300%+
- Total impressions
- 1M+
Westgate launch campaign, September to November 2025. Total impressions and views reached 1,054,603. Out-of-home (OOH) value compares media value delivered with campaign investment, not financial return.
Give Westgate a reason to notice, before the doors opened
Pets in the City was entering a competitive West Auckland pet-care market. The launch needed more than awareness: it needed enough pre-opening registrations to give the new branch a strong start.
- Stand out in a crowded local market.
- Build a base of registrations ahead of opening.
- Make a constrained marketing budget work across channels.
- Create a recognisable idea people would remember and share.
Not another opening announcement. A local election.
We created the K9 Mayor election to turn a business opening into a community event. People could enter their dogs, rally support and vote for their favourite candidate. The fun gave people a reason to participate; the connected campaign introduced them to Pets in the City.
An emotional connection
For many owners, dogs are part of the family. Giving them a place on the ballot made the campaign personal, playful and worth sharing.
A community with a role to play
Rather than simply announce a new daycare, we invited West Auckland to choose its K9 Mayor. Local dogs became the candidates and their owners became campaign supporters.
Content people wanted to make
Owners could campaign for their own dogs, giving them a reason to create and share content. Every nomination and vote created another opportunity for the new branch to be discovered.
The RIPPLE framework
Reason, Identify, Position, Propagate, Listen and Evangelise connected the commercial objective with a participatory idea, a clear identity and activity across digital, outdoor and local channels.
The activity behind the results
The competition hub
The K9 Mayor election turned local interest into community participation, with 194 entrants and 1,600+ votes.
Hyper-local OOH
A high-frequency digital billboard campaign concentrated on the Henderson area, keeping the new location visible close to home.
Targeted digital (Meta)
Facebook and Instagram campaigns amplified the competition and encouraged registrations. Cost per click was 50% below the industry average used in the campaign.
Grassroots activations
Photo Days at local dog parks and the “Sniff-ari” scavenger hunt brought the campaign into the community across three locations.
Organic social
A Reels-first content strategy helped new audiences discover the Westgate location.
Give a new location a reason to be noticed
The launch films show how the campaign introduced the new Westgate location to local dog owners.
The K9 Mayor creative carried the election identity across the campaign.
Connect the idea with the registration journey
Campaign activity led back to the competition hub and the opportunity to register.
The competition attracted 194 entrants and more than 1,600 votes. More than 70 dogs were registered before opening, giving the new facility an initial customer base.
The campaign ran from September to November 2025.
These are the results of the Westgate launch campaign, September to November 2025. The website and Connect projects followed separately.
- 70+ dogs registered before opening, with 194 competition entrants and 1,600+ votes.
- Direct website traffic increased by 162.8% year on year, and new website users increased by 27.1% year on year. Total impressions and views reached 1,054,603.
- Out-of-home media value delivered was 2,300%+ of the investment. Outdoor frequency reached 7.68 times, compared with the campaign’s benchmark of 4 to 6 times.
- Cost per click was 50% below the industry average used in the campaign. Cost per thousand impressions was 65% below the New Zealand average used in the campaign.
- Click-through rate was 2.8 times the campaign’s 1.64% industry benchmark, with a peak click-through rate of 4.64%.
- Organic discovery reached 92.5%. Local activations took place across three locations.
A website that helps customers take the next step
We built the Pets in the City website to help new customers choose care and give regular customers a useful place to return. Branch pages bring services, local pricing, team introductions, directions and tour options together, with clear routes to enquiries, grooming appointments, training and puppy classes.
Applications connect to the existing Gingr system, while Owner Portal and Pet Passport links support returning customers. Practical guides explain booking requests and everyday account tasks.
Beyond care, the breed and rescue matcher helps future owners explore their options. The dog-name Matchmaker, searchable collection and Popularity Playground make community knowledge useful and engaging. Kurī Club, the partner marketplace and Best Mate Shop extend the relationship into membership, benefits and retail, supported by FAQs and pet-care advice.
Pets in the City website highlights
Pets in the City Connect: connecting performance, marketing and expansion
Growing a multi-location business means keeping the day-to-day operation and the next stage of growth in view. Performance measures, marketing activity and location decisions each matter, but they are more useful when considered together.
We designed and built Pets in the City Connect as a bespoke internal platform for that work. It brings KPI management, marketing projects and franchise-location analysis into one system, connecting the team's operational priorities with its plans for growth.
Built around the business, not just the website
The public website helps customers find a service and choose a branch. Connect supports the people running and growing the business. Together, they address both sides of the operation: attracting customers and giving the team the information it needs to manage what comes next.
- Business performance: Connect manages the business's KPIs, giving the team a place to track the measures that matter to its operation. The purpose is to make performance part of everyday management, not a separate reporting exercise.
- Marketing delivery: Marketing projects sit alongside performance management. This brings the work of building demand into the same internal workspace as the business priorities it is intended to support.
- Franchise-location analysis: Connect draws on a wide range of data points, including traffic data, to help identify and compare potential new locations. It gives expansion decisions a broader evidence base than the appeal of a site alone.
McBark and the race for Paw Minister
For the Albert-Eden opening, the K9 Paw Minister campaign gives the neighbourhood something to join before the doors open. McBark, the suited canine campaign mascot, introduces a playful political world where local dogs can stand for office and owners can rally support.
The character gives the campaign a recognisable face, while nominations, candidate profiles, sharing and voting turn the idea into participation. Owners can frame their dog's photo in a social card or personalise lawn signs and flyers, taking the campaign from the website into feeds and the neighbourhood.
Opening updates and an opening-date competition provide other ways to get involved. It connects distinctive creative with practical digital tools, giving people something to make, share and come back to.
What the work demonstrates
The campaign gave people a reason to engage. The website helps them find the right service and take action. Connect supports the team managing performance and expansion.
That connection between demand, customer experience and operations is central to our approach. A useful marketing decision takes account of the business that must deliver the promise.
Related
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