The Importance of Brand Positioning- Petco

One company that failed to position itself using the name and logo in recent years is Petco. In 2020, the classic imagery of the blue cat and red dog against the red brand name that had drawn consumers in for years was replaced by a simple blue text reading “Petco The Health + Wellness Co.” Replacing the mascots enraged consumers to the point that the company brought the cat and dog back for online advertisements, but Petco seems to have no intention of reincorporating it back into its logo (Sims, 2021). 

The company’s mission statement is “Petco is a category-defining health and wellness company focused on improving the lives of pets, pet parents, and our own Petco partners.” (Values, 2024). The company’s vision is to create healthier pets, happier people, and a better world; Its values are to put the customer first, unite and conquer, do what’s right, stay forward, and focus on being a company that puts pets first (PETCO…2021). The new logo fails to convey the brand identity to consumers, competitors, and stakeholders because other than the collection of letters “pet” in the name, there’s no indication that the company is a pet store, let alone a pet store that values pets wellness and health above all else. Removing the beloved mascots was also a major mistake on the company’s part not only because it represented what the company sold and represented, but also because it eliminated a key color component: red. In marketing, colors hold more meaning than just aesthetics. Red is a powerful color that consumers relate with feelings of excitement, energy, power, and passion. It can also exemplify a sense of urgency (Maybray, 2023). The company completely missed the mark with the rebrand, and their unwillingness to change after the backlash from consumers is concerning. 

One brand naming strategy I would implement for Petco would be personification, or bringing the brand to life through a brand personality (Carter, 2016). This would of course be done by reintroducing the classic blue cat and red dog mascots. This strategy would be effective because it would give the company its “face” back; The mascots were beloved by consumers as proven by the outrage of removing them. They also provided people a clear image as to what they could expect when walking into a Petco store. Even if the company changed the imagery of the mascots to a basic blue outline to match the basic blue font of the new logo, it would provide the same effect of providing concise imagery as to what type of store the customer was considering purchasing from. 

One brand naming strategy the Petco executed well is using hybrid naming (Carter, 2016). By combining the words “pet company” into one, the company created an easy, memorable name that effortlessly slips off the tongue. It’s creative without being too complex that consumers have to stop and consider what the company’s intentions might be. While there could still be room for confusion without any prior knowledge as to what the company is or does (especially without seeing a personified mascot in the logo), I think Petco overall did a good job with this naming strategy, and I would recommend it to other companies when appropriate.

Carter, L. (2016). Brand naming: Top ten methods for brand name Creation. Retrieved from https://www.personadesign.ie/brand-naming-top-ten-methods-for-brand-name-creation/

Maybray, B. (2023). Color psychology: How to use it in marketing and branding. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/the-hustle/psychology-of-color#:~:text=The%20Wild%20Thornberrys.-,Red,the%20color%20makes%20people%20hungry.

PETCO mission statement, Vision & Values. (2021). Retrieved from https://vomma.org/petco-mission-statement-vision-values/#:~:text=Here%20at%20Petco%2C%20our%20vision,Better%20World.

Sims, T. (2021). When rebranding goes wrong: Petco. Retrieved from https://platformmagazine.org/2021/04/13/when-rebranding-goes-wrong-petco/

Values. (2024). Retrieved from https://careers.petco.com/us/en/values