How Petmate Turned Pet Parents Into an Always-On Ambassador Program

Petcare goes beyond just getting the best products; it’s about a deep loyalty pet parents buy into for their routines, rituals and communities built around the love people feel for their furry family members. As social platforms became more crowded with sponsored content and short‑term influencer partnerships.

That was the challenge facing Petmate, the parent company behind trusted pet brands like Chuckit!,With decades of trust built among pet parents, Petmate knew their social partnerships needed to reflect the same values their products already stood for: play, connection and real relationships with pets. Petmate faced a familiar question: how do you scale social advocacy without losing credibility or consistency?

Petmate wanted to capture the everyday moments that actually drive brand preference — playtime before dinner, weekend walks, unboxings on the living room floor. The moments that don’t feel like ads, but like life.

To solve that, Petmate needed to rethink not just who was telling their story, but how that story was being told.

The Shift: From Influencer Moments to Community Momentum

Instead of relying on one‑off influencer placements, Hiebing helped Petmate reframe the opportunity as a long‑term community play. The insight was simple but powerful: the most credible voices for Petmate weren’t paid spokespeople — they were real pet parents already living the brand.

This led to the creation of Petmate All‑Paws All‑Stars, an always‑on ambassador program designed to turn passionate pet owners into consistent brand advocates — without scripting their experiences or forcing content to feel performative.

The goal was building authentic relationships between Petmate and pet parents, but also fostering community among the ambassadors themselves.

Building a Program Designed for Real Life (and Real Feeds)

From the start, the program was built with structure and flexibility in balance. We identified pet parents who already had a genuine love for Petmate products and were naturally posting the everyday moments the brand wanted to be part of — pets playing and real life at home. From there, ambassadors were given clear brand guidelines, but the freedom to show up in ways that felt natural to their routines.

Each ambassador committed to creating at least one piece of content per month, aligned to a shared editorial calendar that supported seasonal moments, product launches and cultural pet holidays. In return, they received product packages stocked with their Petmate favorites to showcase those everyday moments of play. Rather than chasing polish, the program prioritized emotionally resonant moments: unboxings, first play, daily rituals and real reactions.

A Community That Scales With the Brand

The Petmate All‑Paws All‑Stars program proved that community doesn’t have to mean chaos — and structure doesn’t have to kill authenticity.

By investing in long‑term relationships instead of short‑term reach, Petmate built an ambassador ecosystem that could flex with business priorities, support new product introductions and grow alongside the brand.

More importantly, it created something harder to buy than impressions: trust, credibility and a community that genuinely wants to show up.

Interested in creating an ecosystem of content that makes your product or service shine? Hiebing is here to help. Email Nate Tredinnick at ntredinnick@hiebing.com to set up a call.