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Nestle ad first to pitch at canine customers

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ZURICH | Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:36am EDT

ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle, one of the world's biggest makers of pet food, said on Friday it had launched the first television commercial designed especially for dogs, using a high-frequency tone to grab their attention.

"Dogs' hearing is twice as sharp as humans. They can pick up frequencies which are beyond our range and they are better at differentiating sounds," said Georg Sanders, a nutrition expert at Nestle Purina PetCare in Germany.

Nestle asked experts in pet behavior in the United States to research what would appeal to dogs and used the results to create the 23-second commercial for its Beneful dog food brand.

The advert, to be screened on Austrian television this week, features a tone similar to a dog whistle, which humans can barely hear, as well as an audible "squeak" like the sound dogs' toys make and a high-pitched "ping."

"So delicious, so healthy, so happy," ends the commercial in German, which features a dog pricking up his ears.

"The television commercial aims to reach both the pet and the owner, supporting the special one-to-one relationship between them," said Xavier Perez, Brand Manager of Beneful for Europe.

Nestle said in a statement the commercial follows an award-winning campaign in Germany that featured "sniffable" posters to attract dogs.

Nestle's Petcare division reported first-half sales of 4.8 billion Swiss francs ($5.4 billion), accounting for almost 12 percent of revenue at the world's biggest food group. It competes with Mars, maker of the Pedigree dog food brand.

To view the ad, click on: here

To view the Nestle website, click on: here mmercial_capture_dogs_attention.aspx?WT.mc_id=adfordogs_alert_nf_3009201 826027841
Oddly Enough
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Comments (3)
Kozz wrote:
I’m not an audio engineer, but my guess is that most viewers’ television speakers would be incapable of producing these inaudible frequencies, being constructed primarily to generate sound within human hearing range.

On the other hand, it’s a silly stunt that has gotten Nestle this exact kind of news coverage it was hoping for.

Sep 30, 2011 12:42pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
kenradke11 wrote:
LOL…..I always connected Nestle with chocolate which is for most dogs a dangerous treat to eat…ironic :)

Oct 01, 2011 9:30pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Fatesrider wrote:
Most people hear in the 20-20,000 Hz range. Most audio speakers only work in the 40-18,000 Hz range as it takes quite a lot of engineering to go higher or lower, adding to the cost of the product. Tweeters CAN be made to go up to 65,000 Hz, but few at that range are installed on televisions and are reserved for ultra-high-end sound systems or specialty applications.

So the bottom line is they may TRY their little stunt with using ultra-high frequency sound to grab a dog’s attention, but it’s almost certain to not be able to be reproduced by a television’s sound system.

Oct 03, 2011 6:34pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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