We are delighted to have been featured in the latest edition of Pet Product Marketing Magazine. We spoke with the PPM team about our early beginnings and our plans for the future. You can find a PDF of the article here or you can read on for the full article below.
With more than 30 years’ experience, what is the secret of Mark + Chappell’s success?
Innovation has always been the key driver of our success!
Throughout its history, Mark + Chappell has developed a reputation for being first-to-market with exciting, new product offerings that challenge the traditional way of treatment and the way remedies are administered.
Across the history of our business, our products have offered ground-breaking solutions. These have included an edible toothpaste that required no manual brushing; a non-sedating behavioural aid that calms your pet during periods of great stress and a solution to the dilemma faced by every lawn-loving pet owner, frustrated by lawn burn caused by their pet’s urine.
Our products are formulated and manufactured with both the pet owner and their pet in mind. We aim to provide the best solutions for managing their pet’s healthcare through their evolving life stages, ensuring that pets enjoy a healthy and happy life, and to provide functionality and ease-of-administration.
Who started it and why?
Mark + Chappell was founded 31 years ago, in 1987, by Frank Gannon, a young entrepreneur who saw a gap in the market to meet a growing demand for high-quality pet healthcare solutions without the need for veterinarian intervention.
What has been the single most successful product?
Our appreciation of the difficulties pet owners experience administering tablets and paste- based solutions lead us to develop a unique, and patented, delivery system in the form of a co-extruded treat that comprised of a dry outer shell with a cream- filled centre containing health-enhancing ingredients. Our crunchy cereal treats are formulated to offer the optimum solution for issues from dental care to hairballs, joint care, flea treatment and teething pains. This technology was developed back in the late 1990s and offered a bond-enhancing experience for both pets and their owners.
How important are the independent pet shops to the success of M&C?
Independent pet shops are vital to our business, as they offer the consumer a more personal service by advising consumers on the features and benefits that best suit each pet. Ensuring the pet shops stock our core range, and understand our product features and benefits, helps them to recommend our products.
What trends do you think we are likely to see in the pet industry in the near future?
One of the key trends we’re seeing is that pet owners are becoming more label literate and seeking the very best treatments for their pets. Information is also shared more and more online, in communities where keen animal lovers are discussing their experiences and sharing. For us, as a company, we must ensure that we are fully engaged in that discussion.
How has the last 30 years changed the way people treat their pets?
Pets are family and their lifestyle mirrors that of their families. Looking after their care needs is an extension of this. There has been advancement in understanding of the dietary requirements for pets, particularly as they age and the fact that supplementing their wellbeing will prolong and enhance the quality of their life. We, at Mark + Chappell, recognise the importance of supplements such as glucosamine, MSM and chondroitin from an early age to support joint health, as it may reduce the need for prescription medication in later years. Preventative healthcare is one of the key areas that has changed as pet owners are more health-conscious than ever.
If you had to recommend ve of your products that should be stocked by an independent shop, what would they be and why?
We, at Mark + Chappell, are immensely proud of our new Flea Guard range of products. Flea Guard is a natural ea and tick treatment which features a unique blend of ingredients to help to repel eas and ticks. Flea Guard is an edible product available in tablet, powder and treat format, using a combination of B-vitamins, yeast, zinc and garlic ingredients – which is great for your pet and for the environment. Flea Guard offers
pet owners the option to avoid chemical licensed products.
Do you have any office pets?
We are an office of animal lovers, but all our pets are within home environments. We’d love to bring them to work (of course!), as all our pets are our best customers – in that they get to try everything we make! Watch this space!
What values do M&C swear by?
After 31 years in the business, our core value is centred around our customers. The customers we had from the beginning are still with us today. We have listened, we have grown, but we couldn’t have done it without the feedback from pet shops and pet owners directly. Meeting the needs of both of these groups is at the heart of our core value and drives our innovation.
What does the future hold for the business?
Looking ahead today, the future is very bright, both for the pet industry and for us at Mark + Chappell. We have an exciting new range of products that we launched at the Interzoo trade show and rolled out across the UK in May.
