Four legged influencers are becoming pet care industry’s marketing mavericks

And who’s riding this gravy train but pet care brands, which are happy to shell out anything between ₹4,000 and ₹20,000 per post for the shenanigans of the adorable ‘influencers’ on popular social media platforms, strictly based on the number of followers they attract.

According to data from Qoruz, an influencer marketing tech platform, there are currently 1,205 active pet influencer accounts in India with more than 1,000 followers each. These accounts garner on average 12,000 likes and more than 130,000 views per post.

“It’s amazing to see how the world of pet influencers has grown; what started as just adorable photos of pets has turned into a powerful way to connect with people,” said Aditya Gurwara, co-founder and head of brand alliance at Qoruz. “For brands, especially in the pet care space, this is becoming an essential part of their strategy.” Mint reported earlier that India’s pet care market is valued at over $1 billion.

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It’s not all furry fun, though. Say you’re in the mood to shoot a lovely video of your dog on a train, only your pet is in the mood to slink underneath the seat and take a nap. Then you can only, well, wait. Plus, the ‘animal influencer’ phenomenon is more widespread in the West, the pace of growth is slow in India, content quality is still work in progress, and the money is way less than what human influencers with comparable followers rake in.

Who let the dogs out

Some animal influencers have impressive numbers of followers. Take Oscar, for instance. The five-year-old golden retriever has more than 249,000 followers on his Instagram handle @oscarwonderpup. Bangalore-based social media marketer Sushil Kumar, 31, who is Oscar’s pet ‘parent’, adopted him during the pandemic and created the Instagram handle in July 2020 to post fun and goofy videos online.

“When I created Oscar’s account, there wasn’t much content around dogs on Instagram in India. So, I posted regular stories and reels and some of them got viral, after which the media started covering him and brands started offering him collaborations for their promotional activities,” said Kumar. In May 2021, Hindustan Times reported on one of Oscar’s viral reels about him travelling on a train for the first time.

Kumar has since brought fame to two more dogs—Tingu, an indie, and Max, a Labrador. Tingu has more than 45,700 followers on his Instagram handle @tinguthefosterfail and Max, more than 11,000 followers on @maxthefoundlab. Kumar posts fun stuff with his dogs almost every day and collaborates with brands regularly.

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Ahmedabad-based homemaker Pooja Yadav, 39, and her family adopted Yana, a female Labrador, in February 2020. Yana now has 15,600 followers on her Instagram handle @yana_thelabrador. Yadav initially wanted to secure Yana’s pictures and videos as memories on social media, but when her posts started picking up, she began to buckle down on regularly creating content. She told Mint that her latest collaboration with a major pet care brand generated an income of ₹4,000 per collaboration, which could be a posted photo, reel, story, or a combination as per brand requirement.

Another pet influencer, five-year-old golden retriever Pablo, has more than 54,600 followers on his handle @golden_pabloescobark. His parent Parth Pratim, 35, a Hyderabad-based cyber security professional, told Mint that he’s invested in professional equipment to shoot content.

“We always upgrade to the latest iPhone and have bought an Insta360 and GoPro (action cameras) for outdoor shooting,” Pratim said. “We are also planning to purchase a drone soon.” Pratim said.

The brand angle

Brands are leveraging the passion for content of these pet parents, the pet lovers’ community spirit, and these pet influencers’ social media popularity through influencer marketing campaigns.

“Pet influencers are instrumental in fostering trust and engagement within our community. Their niche focus often leads to deeper connections with our target audience. While human influencers bring broader reach, pet influencers excel in creating authentic narratives that align with our holistic approach to pet care,” said Pankaj Poddar, group CEO of Cosmo First, which owns the pet care brand Zigly, in an emailed reply to queries shared by Mint.

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Nisheeth Kumar, co founder of pet food startup PetStrong, said pet influencers with less than 10,000 followers are generally only offered barter collaboration—free products against content instead of cash payment. Influencers with 15,000-50,000 followers charge around ₹10,000-15,000 for posting one reel and two stories. Beyond a following of 100,000, pet influencers generally charge ₹25,000-40,000.

Pet influencers with 15,000-50,000 followers charge around ₹10,000-15,000 for posting one reel and two stories. Beyond a following of 100,000, pet influencers generally charge ₹25,000-40,000.

“During and after the pandemic, pet adoptions escalated almost fivefold and people started posting their pet’s content on social media as a hobby. But soon they realised their following grew quickly and they became influencers,” Kumar said.

According to Kumar, being a new brand, PetStrong spends 25-30% of its marketing budget on influencers, which is higher than the industry average, as it seeks more exposure and visibility.

Challenges abound

Although the pet influencer industry is growing, it faces some serious challenges. Cost, for instance, is one. Yadav, whose children now go to college, said she sometimes has to hire a professional videographer to shoot the videos. “He charges around ₹3,000, as shooting pet videos is a very extensive job that requires a lot of patience,” she said, adding that video editors also charge around ₹300-500 to edit a reel.

There are other issues as well.

“The pet influencer industry is gradually gaining traction, but its growth is slow-paced. India has a limited number of pet influencers, and the field comes with unique challenges. These include constraints on content quality, posting frequency, return on investment, and the unpredictability of pets’ availability and mood,” highlighted the marketing lead of a large pet care brand.

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Moreover, she added, replicating the quirky, experimental content that works well in Western markets has been difficult in India, resulting in homogenous and monotonous content across accounts.

“In terms of earnings, pet influencers lag behind their human counterparts. While humans with similar follower bases can command ₹2-3 lakh per collaboration, pet influencers typically earn between ₹5,000-20,000. As a result, the pet influencer industry still has a long way to go to prove its mettle,” she pointed out.

Emails sent to other pet care brands that invest in influencer marketing including Heads up for Tails and Carniwel, did not receive a response.