A few years ago, our pet teams realized an evolution was happening in the pet treats market.  

More and more pet parents were looking for ways to involve their furry family members when celebrating holidays, birthdays and other special occasions. After all, pets have officially become a part of the family – and they deserve the chance to celebrate just as much as we do! 

In response to this burgeoning trend, in the summer of 2019 our Company stood up the Treats Commercialization Team. The objective was to deliver for pet parents looking to share even more special moments with their pups by leveraging the trust and popularity of our dog treats. To do so, the team began ideating unique seasonal product concepts, moving forward with the most engaging ideas and then working internal to kickstart go-to market execution. 

Fast forward to today and the team, which has done tremendous work to tap into our consumer intelligence to promote these offerings, has helped us take a leadership position in this competitive segment. In fact, last fiscal year we became the leader, in terms of sales and share, in the seasonal dog treats category. 

Here are a few examples of seasonal hits from our pet snack brands:  

• In October 2021, our Milk-Bone^® brand overtook the #1 spot in Halloween seasonal sales, led by the popular Halloween themed orange MaroSnacks. In addition, Target-exclusive Milk-Bone Spooky Biscuits, featuring unique monster-shaped treats, were nearly sold out before the calendar even hit October. Due to its substantial success, Spooky Biscuits are available nationally for the first time this Halloween season with updated packaging artwork. 

• In the very competitive Holiday season, we were able to deliver growth by bringing new innovations to market, such as updating artwork on collectible tins with holiday themed biscuits and introducing an affordable smaller size option – the perfect stocking stuffer. 

• Following last year’s employee naming contest, two Valentine’s Day products – Milk-Bone Sweetheart Snacks and Valentine Pooch Pack (featuring Pup-Peroni^®, Milk-Bone and Rachael Ray^® Nutrish^® items) – resulted in the best sales of any season to date. In fact, Milk-Bone Sweetheart Snacks was our #1 selling seasonal product of any seasonal item.  

• Most recently at the beginning of FY23, the team partnered with basketball superstar Kevin Love to debut Milk-Bone Birthday Cake Artificially Flavored Biscuits, along with a new Birthday Club daily sweepstakes to help pet parents make birthdays and adoption anniversaries even more special. 

In addition to supporting brand growth, our seasonal product offerings have assisted our commitment to delivering for consumers and customers by growing opportunities in the category.  

“As proud as our team is of our success to date, we are just as motivated to continue pushing this category to even higher levels,” says Megan Ridenour, Senior Brand Manager. “As we approach the key Halloween, Fall and Holiday go-to-market time periods for FY23, we are motivated to continue delivering seasonal product innovations our consumers love.” 

With promising results to date, the future is bright for this area of the business. This year’s Halloween and Fall items are in stores now, and Holiday is right around the corner – see below for a sneak peek of some of these items and be sure to keep an eye out at your local retailer!