PetSmart is the largest specialty pet retailer in North America, offering pet food, supplies, services, and veterinary care for millions of pet parents. The brand serves pet owners across retail locations and eCommerce platforms with products and experiences designed to support every stage of a pet’s life.
PetSmart
Industry
Maximizing reach, capture peak shopping intent, and align the PetSmart brand with premium content environments
Services Provided
- Cross-Channel Media Planning and Buying
- Linear and Streaming Television Strategy
- High-Impact Digital Takeovers
- Custom Content Integrations
- Negotiation and Media Investment Optimization
- Performance Measurement and Optimization
01 Challenges
DRIVING HOLIDAY GROWTH WITH A FULL-FUNNEL MEDIA STRATEGY
The holiday season represents one of the most competitive windows in retail media. Consumers are exposed to a surge of advertising across every screen, creating intense competition for attention during the most important shopping period of the year.
PetSmart needed a strategy that could break through this crowded environment while reaching pet parents at multiple moments in their holiday journey—from awareness and inspiration to high-intent shopping periods like Black Friday and Cyber Week.
The challenge was to build a media strategy that delivered both scale and relevance across platforms, ensuring PetSmart remained visible and compelling throughout the entire holiday season.
02 Approach
Empower Media developed a full-funnel holiday media strategy designed to maximize reach, capture peak shopping intent, and align the PetSmart brand with premium content environments.
The strategy combined high-impact television placements with streaming integrations, digital takeovers, and custom content experiences that embedded PetSmart within holiday programming and cultural moments.
What we did
- Anchored the campaign in premium linear television, delivering broad reach and contextual relevance during high-viewership programming.
- Executed Roku YouTube masthead takeovers during Black Friday, capturing peak shopping intent and maintaining visibility through Cyber Week and the broader holiday window.
- Activated streaming sponsorships through Disney’s “Hot” package across Disney+ and Hulu, aligning PetSmart with some of the most watched content during the season.
- Partnered with iHeartMedia to launch custom podcast integrations supported by social content from DJs and creators documenting visits to local JD Sports stores.
- Integrated custom content placements, including a Hallmark virtual product placement that embedded PetSmart into holiday movie programming without disrupting the viewer experience.
- Negotiated media investments designed to maximize value while maintaining premium placements across platforms.