Marketing in the news: Barkbox

    As a dog lover and the owner of a spoiled dog I have gone back and forth with bark box for years. I know plenty of people who subscribe and receive their monthly boxes. When I have done it in the past I have loved it, but as someone who has what is considered a power chewer the bark box fun just isn't the same. Eventually though, bark box will draw me back in and once again i'll sign up for a monthly subscription in a loop that never ends. The one thing barkbox always has going for it is amazing marketing. For the month of July the marketing doesn't dissapoint, in fact they went all out. 

    For the month of July Bark.com is offering a sweepstakes entry for every purchase of a treat, toy or subscription box. They are calling it the "Ulitmutt Giveaway." An A+ for the name alone in my book. In this giveaway they are giving three grand prize winners a winnebago view motorhome, a Barletta Pontoon boat, and a 2025 Subaru Wilderness Forester. Each of these include dog friendly features and are stocked with Bark toys and treats. On top of these big ticket items they will also be drawing names for other costly dog friendly items like a pet security camera with a treat dispenser, dog houses, and dog friendly hotel stays. The article says the point of this giveaway is to not just giveaway high ticket items, but the memories families will create with them. 

    On top of this giveaway Bark is also having several promos going on if you subscribe to a bark box including a yeti bowl set and a fire hydrant dog sprinkler. Is this promo working on me ? Yes. Am I going to probably repurchase a bark box this month? Also probably yes. The marketing is bright and fun. The prizes are cool and include special dog features which I love. As a person who hates leaving my dog behind I love the idea that they are giving away summer fun that are pet inclusive and now because of this I know that Hilton has dog friendly rooms. 

    This giveaway is giving promo codes with each purchase you then submit online. To me this makes it clear the giveaway is trying to encourage people to purchase things outside of the boxes. The more individual things you purchase the more promo codes you receive. I assume most of bark's sales are through their bark boxes so encouraging people to buy individual items to get more sweepstakes codes makes sense when trying to solve that issue.  

    As a dog lover I see marketing for bark box fairly often as well as a lot of other dog friendly marketing. However I didn't see this ad marketed at all. When I went to look up articles talking about this sweepstakes the only thing I found was something on their own site. Had I not already been looking up the bark box this week I would have never known they were having a sweepstakes. So as a marketing decision it seems weird to me that they are promoting sales through a sweepstakes but they are not marketing to the public. The only people that will hear about it is the people who are already planning on purchasing something. So if I were in charge of marketing I would definitely be making a bigger deal and making sure  more people were hearing about it. 

If you would like to check out this sweepstake for yourself please see the following link. https://bark.co/pages/ultimutt-giveaway