Pet Projects

The pet category has long been an active one for licensing deals and collaborations in the U.S., and new agreements are still being announced regularly, despite the crowded landscape. Recently, there has been a burst of activity outside the U.S., with new partnerships coming to light in the last several months across the globe:

• In China, JNBY Home, the home furnishings extension of fashion label JNBY, paired with Pidan, a maker of pet products ranging from toys to litter boxes, for a limited-edition box set featuring matching human and pet items including pajamas, eye masks, and bow ties. The pet market in China is expected to expand to $66.8 billion by 2023, according to Frost & Sullivan, 10 times its value in 2013.
• In the U.K., agency Bulldog Licensing announced a deal with pet products marketer Fred & Ginger for a collection of Popeye pet treats, beds, toys, accessories, feeding mats, bowls, collars, and leads. King Features is the property’s global licensing agent. The U.K. pet market grew by 2.5% per year from 2011 to 2019, per a Mars Petcare survey published last year, compared to 1.9% for other packaged consumer goods (FMCG).
• In Italy, Giovanni Premoli and Dario Di Bella’s fashion label Premoli + Di Bella, represented by agency Maurizio Distefano Licensing, collaborated with Ferribiella on a high-end collection of fashion-forward pet products such as velvet pet beds and pet blankets. The products, in mostly black and white, incorporate prints, street art graphics, and images from Greek mythology. An expansion of the line is in development. Retail sales of pet food alone were up 1.5% in Italy in 2019, according to Assalco and Zoomark, again outperforming other FMCG categories.
• In Colombia, luxury pet product label Ferōz created a collection of wall-mounted wooden storage units for pet supplies in collaboration with Spanish design and architecture studio Noju. Each of the three units is designed for a specific accessory (leashes, rolls of plastic bags, and snacks). Ferōz has two boutiques in Bogotà as well as a global ecommerce operation. Statistics about this market are inconsistent, but one estimate says the value of pet products in 2020 in Colombia was 63% higher than in 2015.
• In Germany, Lidl paired with Simon’s Cat (via its German licensing agent Lizenzweft) on a range of pet products, including cat beds and scratchers, for its stores in 16 European markets, as well as its U.S. locations. Exclusive Simon’s Cat animation is being produced to back the program. Endemol Shine is the global master agent for Simon’s Cat. The European pet food market alone is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 4.8% from 2020 to 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence.
• In Mexico, ADM subsidiary Malta Texo de Mexico and its brand Ganador acquired the rights to Paw Patrol from Nickelodeon Latin America for branded dog food across the region. The range is backed by a series of YouTube content as well as displays in grocery and convenience stores in Mexico. Mordor projects a CAGR of 4.4% for pet products sold across South America from 2020 to 2025.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that properties fighting for space in U.S. pet aisles are already abundant, new licensed products and services in this sector keep coming. Among the agreements announced since last summer: Death Row Records paired with Fresh Pawz on accessories and pet apparel, The Dodo licensed Petco for a wellness destination, Debby Carman’s Bowzers & Meowzers characters teamed with Multipet International for pet toys, and home and lifestyle website The Spruce partnered with Lab-Clean for eco-responsible pet wash, stain removers, and odor removers.