# Why are animals used in marketing & advertising?
- Published: 2022-08-31 (updated 2022-11-29)
- Author: [Connectively](https://blog.connectively.us/author/terkel.md)
- Topics: [Content Marketing](https://blog.connectively.us/category/content-marketing.md), [Public Relations](https://blog.connectively.us/category/public-relations.md)
- Source: https://blog.connectively.us/using-cute-animals-and-pets-for-marketing-advertising/
- Publication: Connectively
- Publisher: Connectively (Terkel, Inc.)
- Editorial policy: https://blog.connectively.us/editorial-policy/
## Why does the entertainment industry find success using cute pets and animals in marketing initiatives?
To help you recognize the power of using cute animals and pets in marketing campaigns, we asked marketing experts and business leaders this question for their best insights. There are several insights that explain the unique appeal of marketing ads that feature cute animals and pets.
### Here are nine reasons these leaders give for why using cute animals and pet for marketing and ads proves successful:
- Ads With Animals Get People’s Attention
- People Love Animals
- Animal Videos Add Humor to Marketing Campaigns
- Animals Stir Nostalgia in Marketing Campaigns
- People Relate to Pets as Family
- Animals Create an Emotional Connection With People
- Ads With Animals Create the Impression of Friendliness
- Animals in Ads Symbolize The Campaign Message Better
- Ads With Animals Seek to Appeal to the Emotions and Not Logic
### **Ads With Animals Get People’s Attention**
Animals get people’s attention. We manufacture dental retainers and it’s very common for dogs to want to chew on the retainers and ruin them.
> We created a video for Facebook that showed dogs stealing retainers off tables. It was the most successful campaign that we have ever run. Random people would tag friends that had dogs that looked similar to dogs.
They would comment on the video if their dogs have eaten their retainers in the past. Ads with animals get people’s attention and it is pretty universal that most people enjoy animals.
### **People Love Animals**
The entertainment industry learned early during the digital age that people gravitate toward videos that feature animals. Cat and dog videos have been and will always be popular. One of the first famous animal videos was the “dramatic chipmunk” that turned around while suspenseful music was played. (The animal in the video is actually a prairie dog.) The entertainment industry took its cues from the “black market” of entertainment – the internet. The entertainment industry finds success using this model because it learned that it was a surefire way to attain marketing success. People love animals, especially the furry kind. It’s a very effective device for promotion.
### **Animal Videos Add Humor to Marketing Campaigns**
People are constantly searching for funny animal videos hoping to smile. When brands add them to campaigns, it produces the same result and makes them memorable. Animals can be part of campaigns to add a lighthearted comedic angle that will pull at the heartstrings of consumers.
### **Animals Stir Nostalgia in Marketing Campaigns**
Marketing teams like using adorable animals as part of their roll out because of the feelings of nostalgia that they can induce.The goal of using nostalgia as a marketing tool is to ensure that consumers relate feelings of security and comfort with a brand.
> We tend to remember things with rose-colored-glasses, which is to say we remember old times in a positive light, especially old pets that we loved dearly. When we use nostalgia as a tool, we are using old emotions from the past to create a positive experience with a new company.
This established emotional connection is often enough to get your company noticed in an oversaturated market, as studies show that nostalgia is a very persuasive marketing tool and produces a higher volume of customer interactions. The key to using nostalgia effectively is to figure out which emotions you are trying to trigger in your customers, to align with your overall messaging.
### **People Relate to Pets as Family**
Folks love their furry friends. Pets are a huge part of family life and something that almost everyone has or can have in common. It’s comforting and familial to see animals in a commercial, advertisement, etc., so why not feature them in marketing initiatives and let the consumers decide subconsciously? Pets sell, and other than commonplace allergies there’s nothing exclusive or triggering about showcasing animals. Our furry friends are all-inclusive and a great consumer attractor.
### **Animals Create an Emotional Connection With People**
Animals are a great way of creating an emotional connection between the audience and the marketing piece being showcased. They are eye-catching and tend to be more appealing to people because they form an almost instantaneous emotional bond. They are also constantly used for their symbolism, which is already established in American culture. For example, dogs represent loyalty or lions represent bravery and strength. The imagination can go wild when using animals in marketing without alienating the audience because that bond that the animal created remains there.
### **Ads With Animals Create the Impression of Friendliness**
Cute animals are approachable. Using cute pets in marketing initiatives can indirectly condition a customer’s mindset that a brand is easy to deal with and friendly. This marketing strategy moves the brand closer to broader and more diverse audiences. Businesses can benefit from the domino effect, generating more sales.
### **Animals in Ads Symbolize The Campaign Message Better**
Not all animal marketing and commercials include adorable puppies and kittens just for the sake of their adorableness, they go beyond it. A firm may employ a number of animals to symbolize their message depending on the good or service it is marketing.
> The lion represents bravery and strength, the wolf denotes leadership, and the horse stands for freedom. Dogs are symbolic of loyalty, human interaction, and family.
In order to reach a specific demographic, businesses and organizations conduct study on the kind of animal to employ in their commercials. But first, they acknowledge the values that their product represents.
### **Ads With Animals Seek to Appeal to the Emotions and Not Logic**
The entertainment industry finds success using cute pets/animals in marketing initiatives because it appeals to people’s emotions. People love animals, find them adorable, and seeing other animals can remind them of their own pets. So using pets in marketing campaigns is a way to evoke an emotional response from consumers. People rarely use logic to make a purchase but oftentimes use emotion. That’s why impulse purchases are so effective.
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