Cat Appetizers
by Michael Schaffer

There’s a great story this week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Purina’s three and a half year quest to create its major 2009 product roll-out: An appetizer for cats. The story  describes the various trials and errors of the secret team that developed a product the firm is now willing to launch even in the teeth of a recession. And it dwells on a subject near and dear to my heart: The overlap between how humans think about our own food, and what we provide for our pets. Why, for instance, is the new line marketed as an “appetizer” rather than a treat?

Consumers who buy Fancy Feast are considered to be highly devoted to their cats. In the pet industry, they are called “pet parents.” Pets are part of the family.

As the line between pet and owner has blurred, the differences between their foods have faded, too. (Although that can go too far. One failed concept — not created by Purina — was a pet food that could be shared in a bowl by people and dogs.)

In early 2007, still unsure of what to name its nascent concept, Purina hosted a focus group in St. Louis. Project Trident — named for the three-pronged fishing spear because Purina, at this point, believed its new product would feature only seafood — was under way. Six consumers were given a description: pure seafood for cats, but not a full meal. They discussed ways to express the concept, to describe it.

Someone said, “An appetizer.”

Biroscak was struck as he watched the focus group from behind a one-way mirror.

“That was a ‘wow’ moment for us,” he recalled.

It seemed like a perfect fit. People have a positive connection to the word “appetizer,” Biroscak said. A sense of excitement. Appetizers taste good. And they have been growing in popularity, from tapas restaurants to boxed appetizers sold in supermarket freezer cases. There is an emotional attachment, too, a sense of celebration with appetizers.

Read the whole thing here.