Nestle's Purina PetCare Co. is continuing to ramp up its mobile strategy with a new application that lets pet owners track the health and wellness of their animals.

Purina?s mobile app is part of a broader marketing initiative from the company?s partnership with mass merchandiser Walmart. Triad Retail Media is working with the companies on the campaign.

Healthy paws
The Purina Pet Health app is available for free download from either Apple?s App Store or Google?s Android Market.

The goal of the app is to help pet lovers manage the health and wellness of their dogs and cats by creating a profile.

Users can fill out a form to create an account that includes their pet?s name, gender and breed.

Consumers can then add their pet?s contact information, including their vet, groomer and kennel. For each contact, users can add a name, phone number, address, Web site and email address.

Pet owners can also manage appointments and medications via the app and find nearby veterinarians, groomers and parks.

To find a vet, the app asks consumers to use their device?s GPS. From there, users can view directions or call the vet directly.

Users can also view articles and learn about their pet?s health via the app.

The Purina logo is splashed across in-app pages, which helps the company brand its mobile efforts. The app also aggregates editorial content from Purina.

Mobile push
The Purina Pet Health app builds on the company?s larger marketing initiative to work with Walmart on the Purina Pet Products program that gives consumers pet resources.

As part of the program, Purina rolled out an iPhone and Android app to let users manage their pet?s walks (see story).

The campaign also includes a Purina-branded Web page on Walmart.com that integrates games, videos and news to keep pet owners informed. The new app is highly promoted on the Web site, which helps spread the word to consumers.

An initiative such as Purina?s shows how mobile can be tied to multiple digital channels as part of a bigger campaign.

Consumers have a high loyalty to brands that their pets use, which ties naturally into an app.

The effort also shows how apps can be used to target a specific, tailored group such as pet owners.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York