Puppy Love Leads to a Walk Down the Aisle: How Two Canine Companions Inspired One Creative Marketing Campaign

Former Hounds Town USA client-turned-owner Teri Brogden adopted her Jack Russell, Jackie, from a shelter in 2015. The rest, as they say, as history.

“She was a terrified little rescue dog who needed a lot of training, and I got her into K9 Good Citizen Training,” Brogden said. “In fact, she’s the whole reason I opened a Hounds Town USA franchise.”

Brogden opened the doors to her Commack Road location, located in Deer Park, New York, in March 2016. Surrounded by other dogs and nurtured by Brogden, formerly timid terrier Jackie began to come out of her shell. Brogden had signed her up for training classes (at a location outside of Hounds Town but nearby) in the hopes that the stimulation and focused attention would help her overall temperament.

Jackie immediately made a name for herself as a standout student. The pooch quickly rose through the ranks of her K9 training class, passing her Good Citizen test—even with a crop of advanced pupils—before excelling in a trick class.

As Jackie earned advanced AKC trick titles, Brogden became friends with some of the owners of other dogs in the training class, letting her pup Jackie play with their “fur children.” Jackie took to one dog in particular, an unlikely companion, given her size: a lanky Doberman named Damien.

Walks, hikes and play dates followed. After training classes ended, Damen and Jackie continued their courtship at Brogden’s Hounds Town USA location. It became clear to even the casual observer that Jackie “wore the pants in the relationship,” according to Brogden.

“She would lunge at him and he would back away...but they liked playing together.”

The pair developed such a companionship that Brogden and other members of the Commack Road team decided to make it official: Deer Park is now preparing for some impending, ahem, puptials.

After releasing “engagement” photos from New Year’s Eve and announcing the dogs’ “wedding”, Brogden’s team began distributing marketing material, primarily via Facebook, to prepare Jackie and Damien’s legion of two- and four-legged fans for forthcoming special events.

Damien’s Bachelor “Pawty” took place on January 16 at the Commack Road location, with Jackie’s Bachelorette “Pawty” following on January 23. Four-legged friends can celebrate the bride- and groom-to-be by attending daycare and/or boarding overnight, dressing up and posing for photo opportunities in front of themed backdrops. Since there’s no good soiree without snacks, party-going pups can also enjoy a quick chomp on felt beer bottles or toy wedding rings.

The guests’ two-legged parents will enjoy discounts on boarding for the bachelor/bachelorette events, as well as for the wedding on Valentine’s Day. The wedding will feature similar offerings to the “pawties.”

When asked why this creative campaign is a good fit for both the business model and her location, Brogden explained that it’s all about tapping into the love owners have for their dogs.

“You want to always have something new for your current customers so they don’t lose interest,” Brogden said. “For people who own dogs, their whole lives can revolve around their dog...they like to dress their dogs up, like for their dogs to have a social life or go to parties. So this appeals to so many kinds of dog owners that are customers.”

Brogden added that additional benefits to the “wedding” initiative include opportunities for both dogs and owners to socialize, the potential to reach clients that may not have known about the location before and finally, a means of driving online engagement.

“This showcases us more than the traditional ‘oh we do boarding and daycare’ posts,” Brogden said. “It gets people involved. There are people that follow our Facebook page, but maybe their dog is too old for daycare, let’s say. So they might not use us but they follow the page, they know the dogs, know their personalities and who they play with, they still leave comments...they like getting involved in that dog community.”

Finally, an event that celebrates four-legged friends serves as franchise validation, both to clients and to prospective franchisees: clients can rest assured that their furry friends aren’t neglected or undervalued, and prospective franchisees—drawn to the joys of both owning their own business and caring for animals—see that Hounds Town really does “walk the walk” when it comes to celebrating Man’s Best Friend.

“This event sparks interest with people that have maybe never tried us before. It shows we really do love dogs in this industry, we don’t just take your money and put them in a kennel,” Brogden said.

The crowd-pleasing “wedding” and corresponding promo discounts have another ingenious effect: they draw boarding clients.

“That’s important, because we make most of our money from boarding, so we’re offering each individual event as an opportunity for guests to board their dogs and really celebrate the happy couple,” said Brogden.

While there won’t be an official ceremony the day of the wedding, guests of all species will be entertained to see the Dog of Honor bound down the aisle.

“Her name is Paisley,” Brogden said, “she’s a Golden Retriever who has been in [trick] class with Jackie. They make dog forts together.”

It’s safe to say all attendees will look fetching.