Don’t Set It and Forget It: Nestlé Purina’s Iterative Approach to Lifecycle Marketing with Braze

At Forge 2024, Nestlé Purina showcased how they’ve harnessed Braze to power their iterative lifecycle marketing program. The session, “Don’t Set It and Forget It” with Sarah Lands Ramrup and Diana Gilbert, explored how Purina built a connected ecosystem of products and services designed to engage pet owners at every critical point in their journey—driving loyalty through personalization and real-time customer engagement.

The pet care journey: From transactional to experiential

At the heart of Purina’s marketing strategy is the pet care journey. Diana Gilbert, Performance & Personalization Marketing Manager at Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, explained that the company mapped out a customer journey that spans the lifetime of a pet, starting from acquisition, either through birth or adoption, and continuing through key moments in pet care, such as choosing food and treats, training, and overall health management. However, the explosion of digital platforms and influencers has changed the landscape, with pet owners now receiving recommendations from countless sources, from TikTok to dog walkers.

“We’ve developed a connected ecosystem of products and services to engage the consumer at every pivotal moment within their pet care journey,” Diana said. “It’s not just about transactions anymore—it’s about creating experiences that lead to lifetime loyalty with Purina.”

Leveraging data to power personalization

Sarah Lands Ramrup, Enterprise CRM Strategy & Personalization, Senior Manager at Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, explained how Purina focused on building a data-rich environment that fuels personalized customer experiences. “We implemented Braze as an MVP deployment for our myPurina app,” Sarah explained, referencing the mobile app that hosts Purina’s loyalty program and features a wide range of other features and benefits to help pet owners care for their pets.

By gathering detailed user profiles, including information on pets’ breeds, ages, and behaviors, the team was able to optimize the way they engage customers. “We added redemption data, behavioral data, and are now integrating key data sources like acquisition from AppsFlyer and purchase data from our loyalty program,” she noted.

This data-driven approach enables Purina to craft highly targeted campaigns, such as upsell and cross-sell initiatives based on receipt data, helping to build consumer loyalty and increase lifetime value.

Agile activation without waiting for a CDP

One of the critical decisions Purina made was to decouple their Braze implementation from their customer data platform (CDP) rollout, allowing them to get activations running without waiting for their full data ecosystem to be in place.

“We couldn’t wait to get things moving,” Sarah shared. “Even though we knew we didn’t have the ideal architecture in place, we worked with our internal team to start streaming key behavioral events directly into Braze.” This allowed Purina to rapidly begin deploying activations, generating quick wins as they refined their long-term strategy.

By focusing on getting key Google Analytics and loyalty data into Braze, the team boosted agility and speed to market. According to Diana, this approach resulted in a 12X increase in activation volume year over year, with activation launch times cut in half compared to the previous year.

Custom campaigns that drive engagement

One innovative activation was the Petivity Smart Litter Box Monitor promotion, a campaign targeting high-value app users with a VIP-exclusive offer. Using the Braze platform’s segmentation tools, Diana was able to identify users who owned cats with relevant health concerns, launching a multi-step journey that offered users a high-value offer for the health monitoring device.

“We had 50 conditions in the segment, illustrating the power of the Braze tool and its ability to find your exact target consumer,” Diana explained.

Meeting users where they are with real-time engagement

A key element of Purina’s success with Braze is having the ability to meet users where they are, whether on the myPurina app, website, or through direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels.

“We’ve launched many campaigns incentivizing consumers to cross over from our website to our app,” Diana said. By using in-browser messaging to notify users of points earned from purchases, Purina created a seamless experience that encourages users to engage across platforms.

Diana also highlighted the importance of speaking to consumers on a 1:1 basis at scale. By incorporating personal touches—like using a pet’s name or referencing loyalty points—Purina enhanced its communications and deepened customer relationships.

Looking ahead: Expanding Braze across the ecosystem

As Purina looks toward the future, the team is excited to further expand their use of Braze. Sarah mentioned their plans to build cross- and upsell promotions using the platform’s AI-driven product recommendations and to develop true cross-channel consumer journeys across acquisition, loyalty, and retention.

“We’re excited to take Braze even further into our ecosystem, including leveraging it for PetFinder, a rich entry point into the pet acquisition journey,” Sarah said.

Final thoughts

With a clear focus on personalization, data-driven decision-making, and agile activations, Nestlé Purina is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in customer engagement, ensuring that every pet owner’s experience is not just transactional, but a meaningful journey that fosters lifetime pet wellness—and brand loyalty.

To learn more about how today’s brands are driving success with their customer engagement strategies, register to attend Forge 2025.