If you have a dog, or a cat, or even just use instagram then you must know a little something about BarkBox. If you are a dog owner, and you are a female, then it is more than likely that you know a LOT about BarkBox or even been to their instagram account. This is not by accident..
BarkBox has among the best targeted ad campaigns I have ever seen. I had a dog at the end of 2019 into the beginning of 2021 and unfortunately he passed away due to a severe health condition after having him for only 5 months. During that time, I saw a BarkBox ad nearly everyday, and every female dog owner I knew recommended I subscribe to them. I am a male, and at the time a male dog owner and I felt like I knew everything I needed to know about BarkBox and their products without even visiting their website. I even felt inclined to follow their Instagram account with 1.7 million followers, and I don’t believe I am even their target demographic.
1.7 million followers, a brief scroll through those followers shows a relatively even split of dog “owned” instagram accounts, and females. There were some males, but it was mostly females. After doing more research I found that most dog instagram accounts are ran by self proclaimed “dog moms” who use Instagram to show off lated photos of their pups. BarkBox knows this obsession of dog instagram accounts and those who run them, and uses this information to their advantage.
BarBox uses bright turquoise and teal colors for their branding which tends to appeal to a female demographic, where darker colors tend to appeal a male demographic. BarkBox also knows that females with dogs love to spoil them, and they use it to their advantage to make spoiling their dogs as easy as possible by providing monthly boxes of toys without the need for dog moms to go to the store.
They have nailed their target demographic and are benefitting from it every day. Every female dog owner I know (and I know a lot of them) subscribes to BarkBox or has done it before.
