The ad industry has a new vertical: “animal influencers,” reserved for celebrity pets with millions of Instagram followers.
The market first came to prominence with the promotion of pet startups like Barkbox, and now companies from Google to Ralph Lauren are using pets to sell human brands — because as it turns out, animal influencers get more engagement than human bloggers.
People are raking in $1k per pup post
With 100k followers, Mochi, a 3-year-old “Maltipoo” has deals with Ralph Lauren, The Ritz-Carlton, Amex, Google, and Disney, and her owner (who works about 3-5 hours a week on Mochi’s brand) says advertisers pay around $100 for every 10k followers.
By those numbers, that means heavy-hitters like Marnie the dog (2.1m followers) and Tuna (1.9m followers) are bringing in $200k a pop.
There’s even a talent agency to manage them
The Dog Agency has 100 clients — all “influential animals,” including dogs, cats, pigs, and hedgehogs, with hundreds of thousands of followers.
And TDA’s brand doesn’t stop there: it also has its own arm of pet content called “Pet Insider,” as well as a line of high-fashion clothing items called “Chewsy,” designed “for the discerning pet.”
Among this season’s looks: a $55 “Catty Velour Pullover,” and a $42 “Sunday Brunch Long Sleeve.”
If these animals only knew…
