In 1896, a grieving woman showed up at a veterinarian's office in New York, USA, because her pet dog had died not long ago and she wanted to bury it like a member of her family.

Her idea was understood by the veterinarian, who offered the deceased dog a place in his apple orchard north of the city. Unexpectedly, once the news spread, the veterinarian was surrounded by similar requests.

His original country retreat eventually became the first pet cemetery in the United States, the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery.

Today, more than a hundred years later, stories of burying pets have become commonplace. Even in China, we are accustomed to calling our pets "children" and "baby", and calling ourselves "Dad", "Mom". Japanese sociologist Yamada Masahiro defined this social phenomenon as "pet familyization".

The changes in the relationship between humans and pets have not only brought about the rapid growth of emerging service industries such as pet funerals and pet grooming, but also the most basic but most influential field of pet food, which has the greatest impact on the quality of pet life. It also ushered in a new round of changes.

According to the "China Pet Industry Development and Consumer Survey Research Report 2022-2023" released by iiMedia Consulting, the increasingly deepening concept of scientific pet raising has promoted attention to the scientific cause of pet nutrition both inside and outside the industry. Pet food is also gradually developing in the direction of refinement and diversification.

In the field of pet science, Nestlé Purina’s high-end flagship brand PRO PLAN is an industry promoter that cannot be ignored.

Since its birth in 1986, GN has relied on Nestlé Purina’s strong basic pet research capabilities, taking scientific research as an important driving force for product research and development, and is committed to providing evidence-based scientific nutrition for pets and improving Pet quality of life.

At present, based on the brand concept of "scientific nutrition, lifelong immunity", GN has established a comprehensive and scientific product matrix based on the different life stages and nutritional needs of cats and dogs.

Looking back at GN's growth over the past thirty years and exploring its current business strategies may help us find the reason why its brand remains popular and give us a glimpse of the future trend of the pet food industry.

There is no doubt that in the past few years, China has been one of the most active pet markets in the world.

According to the "2021 China Pet Industry White Paper", the number of pet owners will increase from 56.48 million in 2018 to 68.44 million in 2021, with a compound growth rate of 6.6%. There are recent graduates, married people starting a family, and the silver-haired people.

Although their identities are different, the motivations of different people for raising pets are highly consistent - companionship. Single people in urban areas expect pets to cope with anxiety and loneliness, married people expect pets to grow up with their children and warm the family atmosphere, while senior citizens expect pets to become close companions.

In this sense, pets becoming family members is almost an irreversible trend. Relevant survey data shows that in 2021, as many as 93.6% of Chinese pet owners believe that pets play humanistic roles such as family members and friends.

Since pets are family members, pet owners will naturally expect their pets to have a higher level of health and thus gain a longer life.

But obviously, the interaction between people and pets is very important in the process of raising pets, so just extending the life span itself is not enough. Extending "quality life" is the ultimate goal.

In order to avoid such a situation, pet owners will pay more attention to the basis of pet health - pet food.

This is fully reflected in market data: According to the "2023 China Pet Industry Trend Insights White Paper" released by JD.com, consumers are more pursuing pet food containing healthy ingredients, and the transaction volume of related dry food has increased year-on-year. 113%. On the other hand, they also pay more attention to the source of pet food raw materials. For example, the transaction volume of cat strips without food attractants increased by 325% year-on-year.

To this end, GN’s solution is to provide pets with high-quality nutrition through scientific evidence-based formulas, high-standard raw materials and strict production processes, and ultimately extend the “quality life” of pets.

First of all, GN tailors its products to meet the unique health and nutritional needs of pets at each life stage.

A large amount of scientific evidence shows that, like people, dogs and cats have specific nutritional needs at different life stages.

Take cats as an example. From 0 to 6 months after leaving the protection of breast milk, kittens need to supplement comprehensive and balanced nutrition to build their own immunity; from 6 to 12 months, enhancing intestinal immunity is the guarantee for the development of the overall immune system. Pets The owner needs to pay attention to the cat’s intestinal health;

In the immune maturity period of 1-6 years old, the immune barrier established by cats can help them cope with external health challenges; while in the middle-aged and elderly years of 7 years and above, cats need Supplement comprehensive and balanced nutrition to delay immune decline in older cats and increase their healthy life span.

Based on this insight, GN has put forward a new concept of "scientific nutrition, lifelong immunity", and proposed the immune construction period and immune maturity period according to the different life stages of dogs and cats and the different immune needs of each individual. , The concept of immune anti-aging period reminds the specific immunity care focus of each life stage of dogs and cats. For example, the 1-stage milk cat food for cats from 0 to 6 months can increase the immune effect by more than 50%, and the immunity effect for cats from 6 to 12 months. Stage 2 kitten food for 1-month-old cats can improve the stability of intestinal flora by more than 40%.

Secondly, GN has launched product upgrades focusing on the three cornerstones of healthy and nutritious pet food: "formula, raw materials and technology".

High-quality and strictly inspected raw materials, scientific formulas supported by evidence, and cutting-edge scientific manufacturing processes are the cornerstones of high-quality nutrition.

It is understood that GN has followed Nestlé Group’s strict global raw material standards and conducted more than 5,100 end-to-end monitoring of pet food raw materials based on human food safety levels; in terms of technology, GN relies on Purina’s more than 100 With years of production and manufacturing experience, it can accurately control the fluctuation rate of formula nutritional value to 1/1000000.

In May 2023, GN also carried out a comprehensive upgrade focusing on the three major aspects of "formula, raw materials, and technology" - adopting the revolutionary OMN raw meat nutritional freshness locking process and the original 10⁹LIVE probiotic solid. The live formula uses raw meat, and uses GN OLT raw meat low-temperature aging technology and Purina's independently developed MVF mimic vacuum locking technology to ensure that the nutrients of the raw meat are well absorbed and the nutrients are comprehensive and balanced.

Data shows that only intestinal health can revitalize immunity. Through GN’s original 10⁹LIVE probiotic solid formula, the active probiotics contained in the final product reaches 10^9CFU/kg, which can effectively Support the immunity of dogs and cats, get immunized early and spend more time with them.

These efforts are meaningful. Experiments have shown that Guanneng's life stage cat food series products can help cats extend their healthy lives by 1.3 years, allowing pets to accompany their owners for longer.

In the field of pet food, the realization of any functional results is behind experiments again and again and sets of data. As the flagship brand, GN has brought together Purina's most cutting-edge and latest research technologies, and genetically speaking, the GN brand was born from the persistence of a group of scientists in nutritional science.

In fact, GN was initially just a project launched by some Purina scientists called PRO PLAN (Expert Plan). They hoped to create better solutions for users through the exploration of cutting-edge technology. Professional pet food.

Because of this original intention, Purina and GN later witnessed so many firsts in the history of pet food: the first production of pellet pet food, the first use of extrusion technology Producing cat food and dog food, the first animal food made with soft pellet technology (wet food)...

"There is a golden upward arrow on the newly upgraded logo of Guanneng. The meaning of this arrow is continuous Going upward, maintaining awe of science, continuing to pursue the unknown, and exploring cutting-edge science, this is the spirit of the GN brand."

This spirit of continuous upward pursuit of GN can perhaps be achieved through this. A vivid story perfectly interpreted.

Dr. Ebenezer Satyaraj is an immunologist at Nestlé Purina.

His daughter once broke out in a rash after visiting a friend who owned cats, which inspired him to think about the root cause of cat allergies. In the past, academic circles generally believed that cat hair was the source of allergies. Scholars have tried their best but were unable to solve this problem. Is this because there are other causes of cat allergies?

So the immunologist and his team began to search for allergens and ways to neutralize them. In the end, the research team found that the main allergen that cats are allergic to is called Fel d 1, which is a protein naturally produced by cats in their saliva, not cat hair.

According to statistics, about one fifth of cat owners in the world suffer from allergies every day, and 95% of them are caused by Fel d 1, and all All cats develop Fel d 1, regardless of breed, age, coat length, sex or weight. As long as a person is close to the cat, it will be touched, which can trigger an allergic reaction.

This seemingly unsolvable problem, after more than ten years of research by Purina's R&D team, finally found a solution: extracting natural anti-Fel d 1 from eggs IgY antibodies, when added to pet food, will reduce the amount of active Fel d 1 in the cat's saliva when the cat chews it, and will not have any negative effects on the cat.

This pet food is the world’s first cat food that can solve the problem of cat allergies - PRO PLAN LiveClear.

The energy burst out by science has once again narrowed the distance between humans and pets.

Relevant information shows that Nestlé Purina has 8 R&D centers around the world, more than 500 scientists and more than 1,700 patents. They have built a solid scientific foundation for Purina and Crown Energy. This gives Guanneng a stronger confidence when facing the market.

In August 2022, based on a large number of scientific research, GN proposed a new concept of "GN Pagoda Nutrition".

This concept is aimed at the maintenance needs of pets for comprehensive and balanced nutrition and full life cycle health management. It is the first to propose that comprehensive and balanced nutrition for pets should consist of different types of macronutrients, minerals, and vitamins in a ratio of 3:2:2 It is composed of proportioning patterns to meet comprehensive and balanced nutritional needs.

By advocating this concept, GN can amplify the influence of its own scientific research, help more Chinese pet owners form a more scientific view of feeding, and point out the direction of the industry's efforts.

It is worth noting that GN’s scientific gene ultimately formed its unique product research and development attitude: it does not blindly chase hot topics, nor only obtain product insights from the market, but is more driven by research and development. Floor-to-ceiling products.

It is understood that Purina, including GN, respects the scientific research attitude of scientists very much. They also have a greater say in the direction of product development and will put forward product development suggestions based on the results of scientific research. They will also judge industry trends and consumer needs from a scientific perspective, and would rather abandon things that are not in line with science.

Only when you give up can you gain, and when you give up can you focus, and time ultimately proves the value of doing so: it is precisely thanks to Purina’s continuous exploration of pet health science over the past hundred years that Crown Energy Only then can we establish strong product barriers and ultimately form a huge competitive advantage in this era of pet familyization, pet food quality and segmentation.

When expertise and science are truly integrated into the blood of a brand, their impact will no longer be just on products and their research and development, but will penetrate into all aspects of brand development.

It is worth noting that when communicating with users, GN will not blindly cater to the market, but insists on outputting content from a scientific perspective, only talking about things that have been verified, and even A scientific team joins to ensure the professionalism of marketing content.

From the perspective of channels, Guanneng is also taking a professional route, including pet hospitals, pet stores, breeding channels, etc.

So we see that GN has established a consumer value system centered on science:

First of all, product research and development is based on scientific research results to ensure that product formulas can Effectively solve the pain points pet owners encounter when raising pets;

Secondly, improve raw materials and processes to ensure product quality and stability; then, use professional content marketing to effectively convey scientific research results and product value To consumers, it will not only help users raise pets scientifically, but the Guanneng brand will also win the trust of users;

Finally, complete sales and realize the goal of completing sales in places where professional consumers or consumers with pain points are most accessible. product value.

Of course, although professionalism represents high-end in a certain sense, it does not mean arrogance.

One detail is that when the Guanneng brand was first born, the images of cats and dogs on the packaging bags all had firm eyes and chins in the sky, which symbolized their championship temperament and outstanding performance. But now the pets on GN packaging bags have changed from the "arrogance" in the past and adopted a way of looking straight up.

From the perspective of pet-raising concepts, Guanneng’s adjustment has two implications:

First, not only champion cats and dogs are good pets, nor are only champion cats and dogs good pets. It is worth eating a good product like GN;

Secondly, under the brand concept of "scientific nutrition, lifelong immunity", GN hopes that pets can have long-lasting health and provide pet owners with long-term health. accompany. From a brand perspective, such adjustments undoubtedly demonstrate Guanneng’s willingness and determination to make friends with users.

Facing the future, on the basis of a relatively complete product matrix that has been established now, GN will focus on exploring and shaping hot products based on market demand, using hot products to promote the realization of economies of scale, and further improve refinement. level.

With the continuous iteration of the relationship between humans and pets, pet owners will definitely put forward more segmented and more professional requirements for pet food, but this will not scare Purina Crown.

Dan Smith, Nestlé Purina Global R&D Chairman, once said: "We will never stop exploring. In boundless science, what we have to do will never end, and we will keep working hard. Let pets live a healthy and happy life. ”

It is conceivable that in the future, more and more pets will have a longer, high-quality life and truly enjoy the dignity of life.