Issue #87 - Omni Pet Food on TikTok

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We are Simon Andrews and Anthony McGuire, two people who have been working in marketing, advertising, and media for decades.

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TikTok Case Study #87 = Omni Pet Food on TikTok

Simon’s Take:

A new advertiser on TikTok, Omni is on point with its vegan dog food.

This feels like a number of trends coalescing; Dogs are huge on TikTok - the hashtag #DogsofTikTok has 93 Billion views. #Vegan clocks up 20 Billion views and Plant Based has 3.5 Billion views.

And no doubt there are lots of dog owners who feel uncomfortable feeding their pets things like Pedigree Chum (which is 41% Meat and Animal derivatives - ugh).

So Omni is an interesting new brand and whilst they have been active on Instagram and search for a while, they are very new to TikTok. 

They have had 3 organic posts over the past couple of weeks - 2 featuring a cute talking dog and one a straight product pitch with 3 reasons to try plant based dog food. These have done pretty well - getting 190k views and earning 15k likes. 

The novel concept of plant based dog food drives lots of comments - largely arguing that dogs are carnivorous - and Omni have been actively responding to comments. This is an easy win many brands miss.

Their first ad is interesting too - working with influencer @elliemillar96 who has 93k followers and 9.7m likes. The brand spotted that she often has a cute dog in the background of many of her TikToks and this ad features her doing a straight product pitch as she feeds her dog Omni.

But she hardly appears in the video - letting her dog steal the show - and her two trademark moves - putting on the sunglasses and her Flip Flop dance - don’t feature at all. Recognition of influencers is integral to their appeal and I’d question how many people know who she is. And so far she hasn’t shared this TikTok on her profile.

There are a few other tricks missed too. The organic posts mention a 50% offer and have a shop now call to action - but no link in the profile. The ad has no mention of the offer and no call to action. And they use a generic hashtag #omni, which maps to other topics. Search for #OmniDogfood though and more organic content emerges.

Omni are early in their TikTok journey and I am sure we will see a more joined up approach as they experiment.

Anthony’s Take:

Vegan dog food? Sounds like a very 2022 product —something relevant for a modern TikTok audience. Here we have Omni Pet Food, a plant-based dog food brand that describes their product as healthier for dogs and better for the planet. Their website indicates that brand uses humour, a lighthearted tone, and a colourful visual aesthetic. This should all work well on TikTok.

The first video we examine features a creator explaining the product and the specific benefits of vegan dog food. Compared to other products, Omni’s initial challenge needs to focus on educating people about what vegan dog food means. They could create dozens of videos on this for an extended period of time, so long as vegan pet food has not yet become mainstream. In this initial video, we see intentionally low production quality, with the creator likely filming the content from their own camera without any serious editing. Omni has chosen a creator @elliemillar96 with relatively modest reach. This might indicate the brand is dipping their toes into the partnership and still needs more data before committing to larger budgets and campaigns. And by picking Ellie Millar, they are clearly going after a younger audience.

In the comments, people are asking plenty of questions about the merits of vegan pet food. The majority of comments are surprisingly skeptical or making jokes about the curiosity of vegan dog food. In scenarios like this, many brands default to being defensive but in the case of Omni, their replies are generally upbeat, positive, and informative. And when some of the comments seem borderline rude, Omni continues to reply with humour. Maintaining this idea of not taking themselves too seriously is going to help the brand. And the amount of comments indicates that Omni’s product seems to be so notable of a novelty that people are truly interested.

The featured #omni hashtag is a miss. It links to irrelevant videos and doesn’t really help Omni. Theoretically, the brand could build up its attachment to #omni as the brand grows and more people make videos about the company. Considering the product’s supposed health benefits and positive environmental impact, Omni could create more content and specific hashtags outlining these value propositions.

If you go to Omni’s TikTok profile, you’ll see a tiny profile with barely any followers and three organic videos with relatively low reach. The videos themselves, however, are good attempts at making the most of TikTok. The first video is an educational piece with someone explaining the product and mentioning a 50% off introductory offer. The next two videos are funny skits with someone having a conversation with their dog about the benefits of Omni. These skits seem inspired by TikTok trends.

For a smaller brand like Omni, which has a unique product, TikTok is the way to go. Their organic reach has not been massive but it’s worth the brand focusing their energy on TikTok vs. other media channels. As a brand with lower budgets than their well established competitors, TikTok becomes a lower cost way to educate large groups of people about the product and build emotional appeal. They are at the beginning of their TikTok journey but as we have seen in the past with other examples like Little Moons, startup food brands can find success on TikTok.

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