bobiotics / purebob

the starting point

Bobiotics makes anti-itch & allergy supplements for dogs, a category dominated by prescription drugs like Apoquel and cortisone. Entering the DACH and Benelux markets, the brand had a credible, vet-developed product but no positioning, no creative system and no acquisition engine.

The challenge wasn't awareness of the problem, every owner of an itchy dog knows the pain. It was convincing them that a natural supplement could replace what their vet prescribes.

what actually moved the needle?

The market was worth the fight: Germany is Europe's largest pet market, roughly 21% of households own a dog, and pet supplements are one of the fastest-growing segments, around 7-9% a year in value. The demand existed; the natural-alternative positioning didn't.

Dog owners weren't shopping for ingredients, they were exhausted by the cycle of expensive vet visits, side effects, and symptoms that always came back. The real lever was reframing the choice: not 'supplement vs. Nothing', but 'natural root-cause fix vs. Aggressive chemistry that only masks symptoms'.

That reframe became the spine of the whole creative system, most visibly in the comparison ads positioning Bobiotics directly against Apoquel and cortisone.

the marketing strategy

I defined the positioning, then built a creative matrix across angles: the comparison play (vs. Apoquel / cortisone), the mechanism story (gut health → less itching), and the emotional relief angle (an owner who finally stopped worrying).

I handled full art direction on the visuals, adapted every line of copy to DACH and Dutch cultural codes, and deployed the initial acquisition budget to find the angles that scaled.