Case Study
Rapid activation of high-intent audiences for PETCO’s market research
How Adbloom delivered a high-fidelity community mix by leveraging high-trust partner networks to bypass typical lead times
Petco partnered with Adbloom to recruit a “Pet Lovers Community” for a market research project. The objective was to source a demographically balanced mix of current pet owners and "pet fans" who do not yet own pets, requiring a fast-turnaround recruitment strategy that maintained high participation quality across varied age groups.
Original source
About Pet Lovers Community
Web: petco.com
Industry: Market Research
Client: Petco Animal Supplies, Inc.
Petco is a health and wellness company focused on improving the lives of pets. The brand serves as a central hub for the "Pet Lovers Community," offering a range of services from premium nutrition to veterinary care to adoption support. This case study details how Adbloom recruited a high-fidelity research group from this community to provide Petco with actionable market insights.
Challenge
The core constraint was the precision of the user mix. Petco required a specific ratio: approximately 80% pet owners and 20% pet lovers without pets, balanced across diverse life stages. Recruiting for market research introduces a friction barrier: users must be authentic enough to share personal information on a private sign-up site.
Solution
Adbloom deployed a diversified affiliate strategy that activated 19 existing, high-trust affiliate partners with a media mix of Instagram Creators, Web Publishers, Email Newsletters, and Mobile Apps. Utilizing each platform’s native strength to fill specific age and ownership gaps triggered immediate activation. We applied demographic-specific positioning to frame the research project in an attractive manner for each audience type (Gen Z, Millennials, etc.) By matching messaging to the motivation of each cohort, we improved participation quality, ensuring the recruit met Petco’s strict demographic requirements.
Results
The affiliate strategy delivered 4,500 new community members from 38,000+ targeted clicks, providing Petco with the required high-intent research group across ownership stages, ages, and life events. By diversifying affiliate types, Adbloom achieved full age-range coverage, including the hard-to-reach Gen Z demographic. Established partner relationships enabled rapid activation and accurate audience sourcing, demonstrating that affiliate-led programs can meet strict demographic requirements under tight timelines without compromising data quality.
Clients + partners
A high-fidelity research community, recruited at partner speed:
Micro-communities
Pet-owner communities delivered engaged members who matched Petco's exact segment mix, bypassing typical panel lead times.
Pet creators
Pet-niche creators recruited the passionate owners whose opinions market research teams actually want.
Mobile networks
Rewards app placements with pet-owner targeting filled remaining quotas fast — 4,500 members from 19 partners.
