Company: Kent Nutrition Group, Muscatine, IA
Nomination Submitted by: Nelson Schmidt
Company Description: Kent Nutrition Group is a division of Kent Corporation, a family-owned American company with a history of innovation in animal nutrition. KNG is dedicated to commercial producers, farming communities and animal lovers. The people behind the Kent and Blue Seal brands are proud of their role in animal nutrition, and work every day to enrich the lives of those who raise and care for animals.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Pet Care
 Nomination Title: Sentinel Feeds "You Know I Know" Campaign
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated campaign or program, OR written answers to the questions for this category? CHOOSE ONE:
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
June 5, 2023
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 108 words used.
The premium horse feed market is crowded with competitors that are all clamoring to claim the same product benefits. It’s difficult for a horse owner to decipher a difference between one brand and the next in this category. Rather than drowning in this sea-of-marketing-sameness, we broke through the clutter by crafting a distinguishable and memorable voice for the Sentinelhorse feed brand: the voice of the horse. Which just so happens to be the most important perspective a horse owner listens to. In fact, our research showed that horse owners share a secret language with their horses, and that they make purchase decisions based on these imperceptible conversations.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 227 words used.
The “You Know I Know” campaign was born from a simple audience insight: nobody knows a horse better than its owner. While the competitive feed brands were all touting their product features, we pivoted to focus on our audience’s deep connection with their horse’s inherent quirks, and just as importantly, their horse’s individual needs.
The creative idea was hilariously clever in its execution and highly brilliant in its strategy, positioning Sentinel as the brand that truly understands and meets the unique needs of its customers. Focusing on listening to the horse rather than talking about ourselves helped horse owners see a meaningful difference in the Sentinel brand compared to the competition in this intensely crowded category.
Because horse owners see their animals as an always-on lifestyle, not a hobby, we surrounded their lives with this message by using horse industry-related publications, websites, podcasts, events, etc. and highly targeted programmatic media, including digital display, retargeting display, paid social, streaming radio and more. We also strategically deployed a higher-than-usual rotation frequency, randomizing the images so every time a horse owner saw an ad, it was as if they were seeing an entirely new horse speaking to them.
The awareness portion of the campaign launched in June 2023 and was followed by a full-funnel lead generation and nurture marketing automation program in August.
See the next section for campaign goals.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2022. Even if your initiative started before 2022, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2022 only (up to 250 words):
Total 217 words used.
The campaign consists of a broad range of endemic and programmatic media (see the case study PDF for specific examples) favored by horse owners. All advertising drives the target audience to a custom feed finder website we built that enables them to find the specific Sentinel product that perfectly matches their horse’s needs. The feed finder is also built for lead capture, allowing us to bring prospects into our robust marketing automation nurture program.
The success of the campaign is being measured in two primary ways: 1) Engagement with a custom feed finder application we built onto the Sentinel website, which is the primary conversion tool in the campaign; 2) Increase in year-over-year revenue.
- [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
- The entire campaign has been so successful at driving horse owners to our custom feed finder website, that our overall conversion rate is 1,414% higher than industry average.
“The agency perfectly captured the authentic relationship between horse owners and their horses, and cleverly positioned the Sentinel brand as a catalyst for that connection. Most importantly, this new campaign differentiates the Sentinel brand in a crowded category and is already positively impacting our business.”
– Doug Marquardt, Director of Marketing Communications, Kent Nutrition Group
- You have the option to reference here any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 13 words used.
See the full story and campaign examples in the attached PDF case study.
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