BUSINESS - HomeSafe Seeks New Brand Partner

Canada’s Automated Lost and Found Service Moves On

HomeSafe™, North America’s only automated, privacy compliant, customer owned and managed recovery service, announced today it is searching for a new brand partner.

HomeSafe™ is a trademarked service owned by Urban Animal Corporation (formerly PetLynx) that provides “Fast, Cheap, Direct Protection and Recovery of All Things Valuable.”

A new Partner:   HomeSafeTM desires a North American brand partner that owns a significant market presence.

An interest in asset protection/recovery may be useful but is not a requirement.

HomeSafeTM will be an element of the social innovation strategy and core value alignment of the brand partner. Brand clients feel good about helping another person recover something of value, especially in the case of a pet.

The Investment:  As HomeSafeTM launches V2.0 in the US market, the investment supporting this relationship is expected in the range of CAD$150,000 to CAD$300,000 per annum.

The brand partner is supported by Urban Animal’s digital media channel with a global audience greater than 340,000.

The History:   In 2008, in a nationwide collaboration with the P and G brand IAMS, Petsecure Insurance and the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC), HomeSafeTM launched what has become the most effective lost and found system for pets in Canada.

With a million public users per month, more than a million active subscribers, coverage in 340 Canadian communities, an experience factor of 75 months and more than 337,397 recovered pets, HomeSafeTM continues to be the fastest and cheapest way to get a pet home safely.

What’s more, recovery is not dependent upon a microchip or tag or, more significantly, pre-registration.

When a lost episode occurs, HomeSafeTM allows pet owners to use the system free for seven days to affect recovery. Even though many recoveries occur in 48 -72 hours, there are other low-cost options to continue the recovery process after the initial no-cost service.

Why the Move:   In 2012, the brand relationship moved to assist Randy Valpy with the launch of a new approach to pet health insurance called Pets Plus Us.

When Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) decided to abandon this initiative earlier this year Pets Plus Us was sold to Pethealth a Fairfax company. Since Pethealth also owns 24PetWatch, a concierge/microchip based recovery service in Canada, the eight year brand relationship with Valpy is ending.

“We are grateful for the experience, collaboration and support of our relationship with Randy Valpy and his colleagues during the past eight years,” said Larry R. Evans, Managing Director of Urban Animal Corporation.

“However the timing for a change in brand relationships couldn’t be better for HomeSafe™. Expanding service from pets to ‘all things valuable’ will provide the new brand partner with a high level of trust and reliability from the only automated, privacy compliant asset protection and recovery service in North America.”

The new brand relationship is expected to come into effect during the first quarter of 2017.

Nulo Pet Food Sponsors U.S. IRONMAN Events

Nulo Pet Food has entered a partnership with American IRONMAN events through 2016. Nulo Pet Food is founded by swimmer Michael Landa. Landa has considerable experience in pet care and education. Upon seeing increasing numbers of overweight pets he was inspired to create a healthy pet food. Nulo pet foods are based off of animal proteins, contain a probiotic, and have low carbohydrate levels.

Landa said, “For so many athletes, our dogs are our best friends and sometimes training partners. Just like our own diets, the types of protein, carbohydrates, and ingredients that we feed our dog or cat matter to their health and recovery. We thank IRONMAN for aligning their brand with Nulo and for teaming with us to become evangelists for better pet nutrition. IRONMAN athletes understand the role quality nutrition plays in fueling a healthy, active lifestyle. We believe triathletes seek the same superior qualities in their dog or cat’s nutrition too. Nulo’s partnership with IRONMAN allows us to educate fellow athletes and pet parents about the benefits of Nulo’s ingredients – in an atmosphere that is fun, inspiring, and celebrated by so many pet lovers.”

IRONMAN CEO, Andrew Messick said, “The IRONMAN organization is thrilled to partner with such a unique pet food company like Nulo. Their dedication to pet nutrition and promotion of healthy lifestyles breathes a new perspective into supporting our entire IRONMAN community. We look forward to helping them activate their brand across our many race venues and in inspiring IRONMAN competitors everywhere to take greater care of their extended families.”

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PetLynx Corporation Launches Search for Partner

PetLynx Corporation has selected CrunchBase.com to launch the public search for a partner.

"As we move into the next chapter of our emergence, a partner that adds strong operating and financial management to the world class marketing, program development and disruptive business model already owned by PetLynx will secure a strong future for our shareholders", said Larry R. Evans, Managing Director, PetLynx Corporation.

According to Evans, the focused acceleration provided by national partnerships with Canada's largest logistics company CDMV and Associated Veterinary Clinics Canada's largest provider of animal health services will support PetLynx subscriber growth in the Canadian market.

The next chapter of PetLynx development involves an investment of 12 million $CAN and five years to deliver:

1. PetLynx 2.0, a simple mobile interface with more services that PetLynx subscribers own and manage;
2. A North American market penetration of 7% (8 million subscribers); and, 
3. A privacy compliant monetization strategy to serve the largest pool of active residual subscribers in this market.

"Investors understand the subscriber model and the value of subscriber companies like Verizon and Netflix", said Thomas R. Trifaux, Chair, Board of Directors, PetLynx Corporation. "Early involvement in digital communications allowed Evans to understand how human/animal relationships in urban municipalities could be improved with PetLynx subscriber services. Achieving 10% of the Canadian market proved up the PetLynx model. The value of the PetLynx subscriber pool will grow as they use PetLynx online services to manage their human/animal experience", said Trifaux.

Information about PetLynx and the search for a partner is updated regularly in the PetLynx CrunchBase. Interested parties can "follow" PetLynx to receive automatic updates.

Pethealth Partners With the American Animal Hospital Association

On July 23, 2015, Pethealth Inc. announced that they will be participating in the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Microchip Lookup Tool (MLT). According to the AAHA, the MLT was created because, “Even with a microchip scanner, identifying the correct pet recovery registry to contact can be challenging because microchip manufacturers and pet recovery services use different microchip technology and databases.” This is one of the downsides of relying on a microchip to bring a lost pet home.

Pethealth’s 24PetWatch will be the 16th lost pet recovery organization joining the MLT. Pethealth CEO, Sean Smith said, “With the addition of Pethealth’s database of approximately 10 million registered pets, we are extremely pleased to join forces with AAHA to promote the greater goals of animal welfare. As a Fairfax organization, we pride ourselves on collaborating with all animal welfare organizations.”

Currently the MLT is only available to pets in the United States.

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