Paws for thought – Pet Marketing & AI Search Highlights from PATS 2025
With decades of pet marketing experience, and many clients in the industry, we’re drawn to PATS (Pet and Aquatics Trade Show) like a dog to a bone.
Alongside sponsoring the PetQuip awards for the second year in a row, the Leopard Co pack was on the PetQuip stand on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday – meeting clients, chatting with exhibitors, and delivering our inaugural AIR (AI Reputation) audit clinics to pet brands at the show, helping pet brands improve their AI optimisation using a mixture of Digital PR and SEO tactics.
Debuting its new venue of the NEC this year, PATS is the UK’s leading pet and aquatics trade show. Coming up to its 20th anniversary in 2029, the event has gone from strength to strength and is well-recognised as the very best place for pet businesses to connect.
We’ve been attending for years and often come away brimming with inspiration for our pet client's digital marketing, PR and social campaigns.
From being involved in the awards, to conversations with businesses, and delivering our clinics, we have much to share. Find out more below.
AI search optimisation & why it’s important in the pet industry
We’ve been working on this with our pet clients for a while, but this year we ‘debuted’ our AI Reputation (AIR) audit to new friends in the pet industry at PATS this year.
With 70% of the UK now using AI in their daily lives, and many turning to it as a search engine – ensuring you have a robust AIO (AI Search Optimisation) strategy is just as paramount as having one for your search engine optimisation (SEO).
AI reputation auditing for pet brands
But with AI and the development of LLMs (Large Language Models) moving so quickly – many brands don’t know where to begin. That’s where our AIR audit comes in.
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We track AI’s perception of your brand across all the core platforms – identifying what they are saying both positively and negatively about the business.
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Then, we benchmark it against your competitors.
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Finally, we check out non-branded search terms – for instance “where can I buy harnesses suitable for a Staffy in the UK” and review where a brand is appearing, if at all, in those results.
That’s a spot every brand wants to sniff out!
Our audit is followed by a SWOT analysis, investigating your strengths in your AI performance, but also what the weak spots are and how to tackle them.
At PATS, every brand we spoke to then took away a workbook on how to improve their position – which included bolstering third party endorsements using clever digital PR tactics and improving AIO using on-page tactics and clever content.
Our top takeaways for pet marketing & PR
We met with brands across the pet portfolio – everything from bird seed to doggy first aid kits. Some of the overarching themes we noticed, and gave to brands as a takeaway included:
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AI search results often highlight CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) associated with your brand – so make sure you’re sharing your sustainability credentials and community work.
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LLMs can sometimes pick up on outdated information that’s no longer factual from old content such as blogs, so auditing these regularly is important.
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Third party endorsements, such as ‘listings’ PR coverage (think: article such as ‘the ten best toys to buy your pet this Christmas’-type articles) are super helpful in helping your brand to appear in those non-branded search results.
And that’s just the start of what we discovered!
Becoming an award-winning pet brand
Alongside PATS, we and our shortlisted clients also attended the PetQuip awards on Monday night – where Leopard Co were the headline sponsors.
Our client LitPet, the UK's first pet supplement brand inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine took home a gold and silver award in Most Promising New Starter Business and Product of the Year – Healthcare & Grooming respectively.
Fold Hill Foods Ltd. took home two awards too: winning a silver award in Product of the Year – Food & Treats for its dog eclairs, and with Ann Child winning the Lifetime Achievement award following her decades of commitment to the brand.
Having supported with award entry writing for many of our clients, we know a thing or two about how to make your brand award-winning.
Click here to check out our blog on awards, why they’re important, and how to craft the perfect entry.
What’s the latest in the pet industry?
If there’s a place to find out the latest about the pet sector, PATS is the place to be.
From exploring the New Products Showcase, to chatting with established brands, we picked up plenty of new sector insights. From new product development in wellness, to insect-based foods and treats, we expect to see plenty of innovation as we head in to 2026.
Pet safety is also a big consideration, with products from pet trackers to reinforced harnesses debuting and performing well at the show.
We also chatted to brands about their core messaging to consumers – many customers, especially Gen Z, are weighing up environmental credentials against price when choosing products – something all pet brands will need to consider.
And of course, AI is only going to become more and more important for pet brands. From utilising it to streamline work and operations, to ensuring your marketing is considering AIO – something brands can’t afford to overlook.
Want to dive deeper? Check out our Pet Insight Report 2025 for more trends and analysis – the insider scoop to keep your brand top dog.