The Human-Pet ConnectionHow Animal Planet Tells the Story and How You Can, Too

Pet Writing Conference

February 12, 2011

Robin Bennefield

Executive Producer & Site Director, AnimalPlanet.com

Robin and Cindy (c. 1976)

The Human-Pet Connection…is Personal

Scruffy D. (2001)

The Human-Pet Connection…is Personal

Katmanboo (2005)

The Human-Pet Connection…is Personal

The Human-Pet Connection…Makes Us More Human

Defining Your Brand

Animal Planet’s Three Principles•Authentic human stories that matter with strong characters, great production values and a beginning, middle and an end.

•Animals are the primal drug – triggering a range of immediate and deeply felt visceral, emotional and sensory responses.

•The intersection of the “safe” human world and the “wild” natural world creates a tension that awakens the senses, unlocks emotions and reveals new perspectives on our world and ourselves..

Animal Planet’s Tone and Personality•Bold: unexpected, surprising, brave, gutsy, risk-taking, buzz-worthy, dangerous

•Unfiltered: authentic, raw, real, genuine, first-person access

•Sensory: visceral, sound, sight, taste, smell touch – heightened awareness, use of music

Defining Your Brand

Animal Planet is not only about animals…it’s about real, compelling human stories made more intense, more fun, more

frightening, more alive and more entertaining because of the world we share

with animals. The best stories – the most entertaining stories – are surprisingly

human. These are the kinds of stories that Animal Planet can uniquely tell. The

new Animal Planet is still about animals…but we’re really about so much more.

Brand-Defining Programming

Pit Bulls & Parolees

Confessions: Animal Hoarding

Must Love Cats

Brand-Defining Web Content

Brand-Defining Web Content

Branded Show Site Experiences•Translating network shows to the web through video, photos, games and other relevant content for the primary purpose of extending the show experience for the fans.

Blogs•Original content that expands the brand beyond the shows. Builds on Animal Planet’s authenticity and boldness, while creating community.

Evergreen Content•Also original content that expands the brand beyond the shows, but is less entertainment focused and more informational. Focuses on Animal Planet as expert.

The Human-Pet Connection…is Contagious

• More than 155 million blogs produce over 1.1 million blog posts/day• Pet-focused blog posts are on the rise

– Page views for Animal Planet’s pet trend blog, The Daily Treat, were up 355% YOY in 2010

• Social media promotion and search value are key to blog growth.– 90% of U.S. Internet users visits a social networking site at least monthly

– Facebook accounts for 10% of U.S. page views

– Social networking accounts for 14.4% of Americans' online time

Blogs Magnify the Human-Pet Connection

• Look at me and my pet! Blogs invite conversation and community.

• What’s the latest or the hottest? Blogs help us stay on trend and improve our water cooler conversations.

• I want the best for my pet. Blogs are great places for product reviews and helpful hints and advice.

• Tell me something that I don’t know. Blogs impart random facts and sometimes tell an untold story in a way no other medium can. Maybe through photos and video.

• I want to tell someone else. Blogs are made to go viral because they are all of the above.

The Daily Treat

The Daily Treat

The Daily Treat

The Daily Treat Doggy Bag

• Engages visitors with an intimate and personal voice, making it relatable and inviting conversation and sharing

• Offers up the latest on new products and shares usefulness in a unique way

• Uses embeddable video to help tell the story

• Capitalize on trending topics or video and offer a new spin to encourage sharing

• Generates community around live events

Cat Scratchings

Cat Scratchings

Kitty Takeaways

• Tell us something we didn’t know and/or share a “first”

• Use compelling title to tell the story, making it more likely to be picked up on Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.

• Use strong keywords and tags, like “same-sex” and “cats” in title

• Offer insider information

• Include related links to allow further exploration

Evergreen Content Sustains the Human-Pet Connection

• Show me how. Evergreen articles offer basic how-to information that we can turn to again and again.

• Give me tips. Evergreen articles provide advice in top 10 and top 5 lists for easy access.

• Share the best information. Evergreen articles provide well-sourced, accurate and expert information.

• Give me information made for me. Evergreen articles can be custom made for a particular audience or client.

• Help me find it fast. Evergreen content is well-organized and search-optimized.

Small & In Charge

Secret Society of Cat People

Evergreen Examples

• Make it useful, whether how-to or advice driven

• Make it tailor-made for your audience

• Make your article search-friendly and use search as a tool to find your topic

• Make it well-sourced and accurate

More Best-of-Breed Blogs

More Best-of-Breed Blogs

More Best-of-Breed Blogs

More Best-of-Breed Blogs

There has been a lot of talk of finding

happiness in recent years, including best-selling books such as

The Happiness Project and Delivering

Happiness by Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos. He has a few takeaways that we can

keep in mind….

Human-Pet Connection & Happiness

• Embrace Change

• Create Fun and a Little Weirdness

• Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded

• Pursue Growth and Learning

• Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication

• Do More with Less

• Be Passionate and Determined

• And my own…