I cannot believe how fast this week has gone!
I have teammates–Michele and Allison–at the Portland dog show this weekend. The Rose City Classic is hosted by the Dog Fanciers Association of Oregon. Participating clubs include the Tualatin Kennel Club, The Portland Dog Obedience Club and 19 other breed speciality clubs. My good buddy, Billy Wheeler, over at Dog Show Poop will have all the latest results.
As I said, two of my teammates from Consumer Relations are at the Portland show. I heard from Allison yesterday. Here’s what she has to report:
“When I got to the airport, Michelle was already there and told me that our flight from Dayton to Chicago was cancelled. The only flight available to get us to Portland, Oregon would be to fly through Washington, DC(!), and then on to Portland. So after touring the U.S. by air we finally arrived exhausted and hungry. We were very blessed to have NOT been on the flight that landed in the Hudson. I made sure not to tell Michelle about the water landing til after we arrived since she is not a fan of flying anyways.
While getting our bags in baggage claim, Michele recognized a man standing off to one said with a few men and their luggage. The guy was Lemmy from the band Motorhead. Michele knows her rockers!! She took a picture with him on her cell phone so you’ll have to ask her to see it! Turns out that Motorhead is playing in Portland this weekend! And here we thought the dog show was THE event to attend this weekend.
Once arriving to the show, we got started setting up our side of the booth. We are sampling nine Eukanuba dog food diets. We were told that this Friday we were much slower than previous years. However, we did speak to numerous consumers/breeders about food suggestions for their dogs. The booth is beautiful! On one side, breeders can sign up for the Eukanuba Trial Challenge. In the middle is a Breeder hospitality area that includes, chairs with backs & foot messaging, lemonade, Star Bucks coffee, snacks and a Eukanuba video featuring our diets and interviews of consumers giving their testimonies. And then there’s our spot where we’re handing out food samples and talking to people. We’re also conducting breeder seminars three times a day to explain some of the innovations we have had over our 40 years in the pet food industry.
Many people have been asking if we are selling product at the show. When we used to sell food at the shows we would run show specials so many people are interested in purchasing larger quantities at the show special prices. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do this at the Portland show. I hate to disappoint them!
The hardest part of working a dog show for me is all the different breeds that I see. I leave the shows wanting one of every breed! My little Shih Tzu would be so depressed if he had to share my attention and affections with another dog at this time.
We met up for dinner at Beaches restaurant in Vancouver, Washington with some of the other Eukanuba folks out here working the show. Great seafood and had the best server ever! Her name was Missy and she really had that personal touch that made the dinner that much more enjoyable! She made sure that at any point during the dinner that everyone was satisfied and gave us great recommendations and service.
After being all business at the show, it was great to have some laughs and get to know some of our Pet Care sales people on a more personal level. I love this part of the dog show trips! We all come from so many different parts of the US in order to work these shows as the Eukanuba team. It’s great to hear sales stories and adventures, and to connect on what we all have in common and that is: we are passionate about our pets! Just like people’s framed desk photos at P&G Pet Care HQ, when our folks pull out their wallets to show you photos, more often then not it’s of their dogs or cats!
Thanks for the report, Allison!
