Reddy is a brand developed by Petco, stocked in Petco stores nationwide and creates fashionable dog clothing, gear and accessories. This was Reddy’s first leap into launching a stand-alone retail location and destination for pets, with their eyes set on New York and the fashionable shopping district of Soho.

The brief was to drive foot traffic to this new brick-and-mortar location and amplify its grand opening. The purpose was to create as much attention and awareness for the store, generating the buzz necessary to turn the heads of our audience and drive them directly to this retail destination.

In their daily lives, dogs don’t typically get to flex their amazing sense of smell - we tend to hurry them along for walks with the goal of exercise. But a dog navigates the world with their nose, much like humans do with their eyes. So we thought: what better way to alert the local neighborhood dogs (and their parents) to Reddy’s new store opening than appealing straight to the senses. Using fragrances attached to guerilla street postings, a specific scent trail was designed to activate a dog's tracking instincts and drive pets (and their parents) to this dog-friendly destination. Not only do dogs have hundreds of millions of scent receptors compared to our little six million, but by tapping into the full ability of their incredible noses, we could bypass people needing to remember an address and simply let dogs’ noses lead the way.

The strategic objective was to create an activation that drew the attention of NYC residents and tourists to the opening of the store. Specifically, our halo target was urban-dwelling millennial pet owners. They love to do everything with their dogs, and bonding with them is a big part of their everyday lives. They have a thirst for exploration and adventure—not just epic trips but around town every day with their pets. This cohort thrives on living everyday adventures with their pets. The overall ambition was to bring as much attention to the store’s opening in one of America’s most recognizable fashion districts and drive foot traffic directly to the new store.

To announce that the doggy doors were now open, we created a “scent-sory” tour through the streets of Soho, leading to the new store location. Using a formula of fragrances attached to guerilla pavement decals and wild postings, a specific scent trail was designed to activate a dog's tracking instincts and drive pets (and their parents) to this dog-friendly destination. Unique messaging along the route playfully poked fun at each dog's newfound fascination for these smells while teasing what awaited in store. The innovative scent execution taps into the fact that smell is at the very center of how our dogs behave. The act was all about disrupting the daily dog walk, using the science of smell as a call to action that amplified the store opening well beyond the confines of the physical store itself. Posters and pavement decals sprayed with this scent were up for two weeks.

Sales the day of the guerilla activation were 60% of all weekly sales, with the Reddy store having the highest sales of the district that week, nearly doubling Petco’s Union Square flagship store’s total weekly sales. The experience generated a massive amount of awareness and hype around the new retail location through earned media. Total impressions around the store opening totaled more than 588 million with coverage of the “Follow Your Nose” activation throughout.