SURVEY SAYS PET PARASITE ACTION CAMPAIGN WAS A SUCCESS

Harlow, United Kingdom – August 2017 – Merial’s Pet Parasite Action campaign concluded at the end of July and has been hailed as a great success. Lynda Maris, NexGard™ Spectra and Broadline^® Product Manager says the campaign has created over 50 million ‘opportunities to see’ and an online survey shows that those who experienced the campaign are more likely to visit their vet practice for advice on parasite control and more likely to treat their pets more regularly.

The post-campaign survey was carried out online*, capturing an audience that experienced the campaign in one form or another. It found that 69% of respondents bought parasite control products from their vet before the campaign but 75% intended to buy from their vet after experiencing the campaign. A substantial 65% said they will treat more regularly than before as a result of the campaign, while 79% feel better informed about parasites.

The majority (92%) thought the campaign was informative and 89% rated their experience as positive or very positive. It seems as if the message to act was well understood too, as 79% said they felt more confident about protecting their pets and their families against parasites.

One respondent said, “Loved the radio ad!! It was great to hear it when I had already seen the campaign online and at the vets. I liked the fun style of campaign but it was also very informative at the same time. A very good balance of fun and education!”

The campaign could be experienced on radio, in national and regional newspapers and online – including social media, blogs and the campaign website. There were over 7000 competition entries on social media in July alone, showing that there is an appetite to engage with fun, educational content centred around pet healthcare.

Lynda Maris noted that the message that practices could help was well understood, “Across all of our communication we felt that this one message in particular came across clearly and consistently. There is still much to do in raising awareness of the health risks from parasites. For instance, while 82% of dog owners are able to correctly identify that lungworm could be fatal to their pets, 43% said they thought dog lungworm was the parasite that posed the greatest risk to human health and only 7% realised that roundworm could be a threat to human health.Just 48% were aware that ticks could cause fatalities in pets because of the diseases they can transmit and 3% thought that ticks didn’t make their pet ill at all¹. It certainly shows that pet owners need an expert recommendation based on the risk factors in order to help protect their pets and their families.”

The campaign website (www.petparasiteaction.co.uk) and social media pages (Facebook @petparasiteaction and Twitter @petparasiteact) are still online and practices can continue to share educational content from these locations.

• *The survey was carried out online at the end of July 2017 and promoted to fans and friends of fans of the campaign’s Facebook page, with 266 responses. .
• 1. Pet Buzz survey of 1056 dog owners carried out in February 2017.

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NexGard Spectra ™ Chewable Tablets for Dogs contain milbemycin oxime and afoxolaner. BROADLINE® Spot-on for Cats containsfipronil, (S)-methoprene, praziquantel and Eprinomectin. Legal categories POM-V (UK), POM (Ireland). For further information refer to the datasheets or contact Merial Animal Health Ltd, CM19 5TG. NexGard Spectra is a trademark of Merial. BROADLINE is a registered trademark of Merial.