Dive Brief:

• Cat food brand Meow Mix leveraged the boy band phenomenon of the ‘90s for the latest iteration of its long-running “Remix” campaign, according to information shared with Marketing Dive.
• Creative featuring a “cat boy band” known as the Tabby 5 will include a TV spot airing during “America’s Got Talent.” Digital and social executions include a TikTok duet video during which NSYNC’s JC Chasez invites viewers to sing along with the band.
• The J.M. Smucker Company brand first debuted its iconic theme in 1974 and has remixed it in a variety of different ways in recent years. The latest iteration uses rain and choreography, in addition to a cat boy band, to replicate a ‘90s-style music video and tap into nostalgia for the decade.

Dive Insight:

Like many other brands in recent months, Meow Mix has been integrating nostalgia for pop cultural artifacts of past decades into its marketing as a way to engage consumers. PSOne, a unit of Publicis dedicated to the J.M. Smucker Company, and BBH US worked on the campaign. 

The thirty-second spot features a group of five cats wearing denim outfits singing “meow” over and over again to a ‘90s beat. Chasez makes a cameo and sings along before the cats make a costume change to white outfits. The short music video ends with the brand’s classic tagline, “the only cat food cats ask for by name.” A landing page dedicated to the campaign features a zodiac quiz for cats along with a profile of the Tabby 5.

“Our latest campaign honors Meow Mix’s storied heritage while also bringing new cultural relevancy to the brand,” said Gail Hollander, CMO of J.M. Smucker in a statement.

The campaign comes not only at a popular time for campaigns driven by popular music, with brands such as Malibu, Wendy’s and others recently re-purposing classic songs for advertising purposes — it also comes a pivotal time for Meow Mix. Earlier this year, J.M. Smucker completed its sales of a number of pet food brands and said it will increase its focus on driving growth for Meow Mix and Milk-Bone going forward. The pet food sector has seen increased competition in recent years, making a brand’s ability to stand out increasingly important.