Pet Brand Retreats: 38M+ Social Reach in the Catskills

Pet brands are moving beyond press releases and mailers to earn coverage through shared experiences, and PR and marketing agency 5W's Pack Retreat 2.0 shows why it works. The three-day Catskills retreat brought media from Good Morning America, Forbes Vetted, InsideHook and The Spruce Pets together with seven pet creators, generating 300+ organic social shares, an estimated 38M+ social reach and 24M+ immediate earned media impressions.

What Happened at 5W's Pack Retreat 2.0?

From September 29 to October 1, 2026, 5W's pet team hosted Pack Retreat 2.0: Catskills Edition at the Arnold House. The three-day getaway brought together pets, pet parents, media and creators to celebrate the bond between pets and their people, and it landed in the pre-holiday editorial season, when pet editors are planning gift guides and deal roundups.

The retreat welcomed 32 guests, including dogs. The itinerary mixed a group hike, a pup playdate, a sound bath, a cocktail class, a collar charm bar, group meals, a movie night and a bonfire, with brand product dropped into guest rooms. Every one of those moments gave guests a natural reason to try products, swap story ideas and take photos with their dogs.

The Honest Kitchen, Cabot Creamery, Waggle, Dental Fresh, MacKenzie-Childs and Veterinary Formula took part, with Sullivan Catskills as the host destination.

Why Are Pet Brands Turning to Retreats and Experiential Marketing?

Pet brands are turning to retreats because a shared experience gives editors and creators a reason to cover a product that a pitch email cannot. Pet parents treat their animals as family, so a setting that includes the dog changes how people encounter a food, treat or accessory.

A retreat also solves a practical problem for pet PR and marketing teams. Editors and creators receive a steady stream of samples and pitches, and most products get a quick look at best. When a guest finds a bag of treats in the room, watches their dog enjoy a cake they decorated and sees other guests posting about it, the product becomes part of their own story rather than one more item in a box.

Retreats also build relationships that last longer than one placement. Attending editors meet the brand team, learn the full product line and know who to call when a roundup comes up months later.

How Did The Honest Kitchen Build the Brand Into the Experience?

5W designed the retreat so that The Honest Kitchen appeared naturally at every touchpoint instead of through a single sponsorship moment. The brand secured visibility through five integrations:

1. The Honest Kitchen was included in The Pack Dispatch, the retreat's welcome newspaper, which guests read at the start of the weekend.
2. Official logo placement appeared on the main welcome signage and on brand-owned signage throughout the retreat.
3. Every room was stocked with Wholemade, treats, Bake Mixes and Clusters.
4. Product was placed prominently in shared spaces where guests gathered.
5. A brand-owned cake decorating experience introduced the newly launched Bake Mixes.

The result was repeated, low-pressure exposure. Guests did not need to attend a single presentation to learn about the brand, because the products and logo were part of the environment they were already enjoying.

What Did the Cake Decorating Activation Add?

The cake decorating activation gave guests a hands-on way to experience The Honest Kitchen's new Bake Mixes. On-site staff prepared a cake for each pup, and guests decorated them with dog-friendly toppings such as applesauce, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, strawberries and blueberries while the team shared product details.

Guest feedback from the post-retreat survey was enthusiastic. One guest wrote, "EVERYTHING! But the cake decorating was so sweet!" Another named being exposed to new brands as a highlight and called the activity awesome. A third said the activation was the perfect way to experience the baked items and that they were enjoying all of the brand's products.

The activation worked for a simple reason: it was photogenic, it involved the dog, and it explained the product by letting people use it. Several creators posted the cake decorating moment, which carried the Bake Mixes launch to audiences that had not seen it yet.

Who Attended and What Did They Share?

The retreat welcomed media from Good Morning America, Forbes Vetted, InsideHook and The Spruce Pets, alongside seven pet creators with a combined following of 1.7M+.

Posting began on the first day, September 29, and continued for more than a week. @lavenderandlatte shared reels and TikTok videos on October 6 and 7, well after the retreat ended, which extended the life of the content beyond the weekend itself. One attendee wrote on LinkedIn, "100/100, we will be back!"

What Results Did the Retreat Deliver?

The retreat generated 300+ organic social shares, an estimated 38M+ social reach and 24M+ immediate earned media impressions, along with an earned media placement.

On October 7, 2026, attendee Kelsey Legg published a Good Morning America story on pet deals during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days that featured The Honest Kitchen Wholemade Whole Grain Chicken Recipe. That placement shows how quickly an event experience can turn into timely editorial consideration.

Estimated social reach reflects the size of the audiences involved, so it estimates potential exposure rather than unique viewers, clicks or sales.

What Can Pet Marketers Learn From the Pack Retreat?

The Pack Retreat offers a practical template for pet brands planning events with media and creators. Five lessons stand out:

• Build the product into the setting. Rooms, common areas and signage did the introducing, so no one had to sit through a pitch.
• Give guests something to do with the product. The cake activation turned a new launch into a shareable moment.
• Include the dogs. Pet content performs when the pet is part of the scene, and the retreat was designed around that.
• Time it for the editorial calendar. A fall retreat reached editors while they were planning holiday gift guides and deal coverage.
• Plan for the long tail. Posts continued for more than a week, and attending editors now know the participating brands' full lines for future roundups.

How Should Pet Brands Measure the Success of an Event Like This?

Pet brands should measure an event across immediate coverage, creator content and long-term editor familiarity, not impressions alone. A useful scorecard tracks placements earned in the weeks after the event, the number and reach of organic posts, how many editors now know the full product line, and the coverage that follows over the next several months.

Reach and impressions are still a helpful headline number, as long as they are labeled correctly. For the Pack Retreat, the 38M+ figure is an estimate of social reach, and the 24M+ figure counts immediate earned media impressions.

What Does This Mean for Pet PR and Marketing in 2027?

The retreat points to a broader shift in pet PR and marketing toward programs that combine earned media, creator relationships and experiences. Brands that bring editors and creators together in a setting that feels personal give them material that is authentic by design.

5W's pet PR practice combines events like the Pack Retreat with earned media and creator programs for pet brands. See the full Pack Retreat 2.0 case study, and for more on how agencies work in this category, read the global PR pack of top agencies driving the pet industry forward and how 5WPR elevates pet brands.