Pet Valu is continuing to lean into its “Love Lives Here” brand platform with a spot featuring a pet owner and staffer bonding over a dog strutting around in silly suspender boots.

Idan Driman, VP of marketing at Pet Valu, tells strategy the spot captures a typical, but magical, in-store moment between a staffer, a “devoted pet lover” and a pet. The ad also features one of the hottest trends in pet apparel: footwear.

“Love Lives Here” was first launched in 2021 and focuses on the strong bonds between pet owners and their furry friends. The “Love” part of the brand platform is about the compassion its staff show customers, while the “here” refers to the fact that its 700 locations serve as community hubs, Driman explains.

Last spring, the specialty retailer launched “They Grow Up So Fast,” which showed one of its employees tearfully attached to a customer’s bulldog puppy that has grown to become an adult. In March, a Pet Valu and Re/Max collab was featured in a digital campaign, “Moving with Pets.”

For the current campaign, most of the buy was through conventional and connected TV. However, Pet Valu is leaving room for a test-and-learn via social media platforms, as well as Amazon Prime and Disney+, through the holidays. It’s targeting specialty programming that over-indexes with its core group of pet owners.

“As we drive awareness, we always try to allocate a significant spend on the lower side [of the funnel] to make sure that you drive conversion,” Driman says. “But we always ensure that there is a balance between the upper funnel and the lower funnel, investing in both to create a sustainable marketing strategy.”

The 15-second spot entered the market this week. Longtime agency partner, Arrivals + Departures handled creative, with True Media the ad buyer.