Chewy Ranks #3 in 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns Index

Part of the 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns: From Pedigree to BarkBox index.

Chewy ranks #3 in the 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns index published by Everything-PR, a curated list of the 10 best pet marketing campaigns of all time. Chewy sits behind #1 Pedigree and #2 BarkBox, and ahead of #4 IAMS and #5 Purina. Its position is unusual for the list: Chewy earns its place not through a traditional advertising campaign but through a customer service strategy that has gone viral countless times.

What the 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns Index Measures

The 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns index is an editorial ranking. According to the index, entries were selected based on emotional resonance, cultural impact, and effectiveness. Each entry describes the campaign, its creative approach, and the marketing lesson it demonstrates. No formal scoring rubric, publication panel, or numeric methodology is described, so Chewy's #3 placement reflects editorial judgment rather than a numeric score.

Why Chewy Ranks #3

Chewy's ranking rests on a strategy that the index describes as different from the entries around it. As the index puts it, Chewy is "not a 'campaign' in the traditional sense," because its customer service strategy has gone viral countless times rather than any single advertising push.

The index highlights two specific service touches behind Chewy's reputation: the company sends flowers to bereaved pet parents and hand-painted pet portraits as thank-you gifts. These are cited as the concrete gestures that have driven Chewy's word-of-mouth.

According to the index, Chewy built its brand on intimacy and human touches even at massive scale. The index frames Chewy's approach with a broader point about what marketing is: "Marketing isn't just ads," it notes, adding that it's "every brand interaction" and that "Exceptional service IS the message." That framing is what places Chewy alongside conventional advertising campaigns on the list despite not running one in the traditional sense.

How Chewy's Service Touches Drive Word of Mouth

The index treats Chewy's small gestures as the engine of its earned attention. In its cross-brand takeaways, the index singles out Chewy directly under the heading that small touches leave big impressions, observing that "A surprise flower delivery from Chewy speaks louder than a $500k campaign" and that "Loyalty is built in the little moments."

That places Chewy at the center of one of the index's stated patterns: loyalty built through low-cost, high-emotion moments rather than large paid media spends. The flowers-to-bereaved-owners and hand-painted-portrait gestures are the named examples the index uses to make the case.

Where Chewy Sits in the Broader Pet Marketing Story

Chewy's position connects to two patterns the index identifies across all ten entries. The first is that emotions win: the index states that pet owners "don't want a feature list, they want a feeling," listing joy, relief, humor, and hope, and calling for "Heart before wallet." Chewy's bereavement flowers and thank-you portraits map onto the relief and hope end of that spectrum.

The second is authenticity, which the index calls non-negotiable. The index notes that pet lovers "have a finely tuned BS detector" and that "Fake empathy gets called out." Chewy's entry, built on real service interactions rather than staged advertising, illustrates the kind of authenticity the index rewards.

Together these patterns explain why a customer service strategy, rather than a produced campaign, earns Chewy the #3 slot among entries that include Pedigree at #1, BarkBox at #2, and, further down, The Shelter Pet Project at #6, Temptations at #7, Whiskas at #8, PetSmart Charities at #9, and Amazon Prime at #10.

What the Ranking Signals

Chewy's #3 placement in the 10 Best Pet Marketing Campaigns index signals that its earned reputation is anchored in service interactions rather than advertising. The index's own summary of Chewy, that exceptional service is the message and that every brand interaction counts as marketing, is the throughline behind its rank. Going forward, the gestures the index names, flowers for grieving owners and hand-painted pet portraits, remain the concrete assets underpinning that position.

Work with Everything-PR

Have a question about this research, or want to discuss your brand's coverage? Get in touch with our team.

Contact Us →