Naturo's dog food ad brags by listing everything dogs shouldn't eat

Naturo, the UK's number one natural wet dog food brand with over 52 years in the industry, wanted brand awareness in a highly contested category, targeting dog owners who already care about family nutrition but haven't considered a natural alternative at an affordable price.

Instead of bragging about ingredients, the campaign lists all the gross things dogs happily eat — socks, slippers, the TV remote — to prove Naturo is the picky one.

'Dogs don't care what they eat, Naturo do' ran across TV, BVOD, social and digital in the UK and ROI. The strategy was 'deliberately disruptive': the first work after VCCP Media and Girl&Bear won a competitive pitch in April, with Girl&Bear developing assets 'straight to making' for direct use by the media agency, and VCCP Media adding data-powered targeting across the funnel.

Naturo's biggest campaign yet, its first launch under the newly appointed agencies and a freshly launched brand look across the range.

The UK's number one natural wet dog food brand Naturo launched its biggest campaign yet — 'Dogs don't care what they eat, Naturo do' — by newly appointed agencies VCCP Media and global content creation studio Girl&Bear, spanning TV, BVOD, social and digital across the UK and ROI.

The strategy was to be 'deliberately disruptive': instead of talking about ingredients or health benefits, Naturo honed in on all the things dogs shouldn't eat to prove a cheeky point. While dogs are amazing, they aren't always as picky as Naturo — they'll happily eat socks, slippers or the TV remote — whereas Naturo takes meticulous care over pet nutrition.

'Dogs will eat almost anything edible, and sometimes even things that aren't. Because they don't care about what they eat, you can leave it to Naturo to provide delicious, balanced, natural meals instead,' said Claire Young, CEO at Girl&Bear, calling it a 'straight to making' proposition that developed assets in production for direct use by the media agency. Simon Jenkins, chief planning officer at VCCP Media: 'We wanted to rise above the canine clutter with a memorable, brave, challenger campaign.'

The negative framing flips the category script: every pet food brand praises its ingredients, so naming what dogs actually eat stands out instantly.

The humor targets the right people — owners who already read labels for their families recognize themselves in the dog's bad habits.

The 'straight to making' model cut a step out: content studio and media agency built assets together for use across the funnel.

In a category where every brand lists benefits, name the enemy's behavior instead: the dog's bad diet IS the pitch for yours.

The campaign was the first to launch after VCCP Media and Girl&Bear won a competitive pitch process in April 2024, running in the UK and ROI as Naturo's biggest campaign to date, supporting a new look across the Naturo Natural Pet Food range.