We Won! A Deep-dive into Purina’s 2023 UNLEASHED Program Process

4 min readJul 21, 2023

As the majority of you will be aware, DOGAMÍ took part in Purina’s 2023 Unleashed program and we’ve just received our award (as one of the seven winners) for our innovative IRL and in-game pet food project! 😉

Kris holds our trophy for the Class of 2023 in the Purina Unleashed Program

Over the past 20 weeks, each of the seven winners was accompanied by pet industry experts, and coaches to achieve predetermined KPIs to meet key business objectives. Each of the participating winners were given CHF 50,000 funding to help them achieve their goals!

For DOGAMÍ, this meant gauging the interest of our community members for our DOGASNAX physical and digital treat to see if it had product-market fit potential.

What is the Purina Unleashed Program? ⏩

Purina Unleashed is a leading accelerator program in Europe and the Middle East focused on pet care. It aims to discover and nurture startups that utilize technology to enhance the well-being of pets and their owners.

Originally established by the Purina Accelerator Lab, Unleashed is now extending its reach to include Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. By staying at the forefront of advancements in pet services, innovative nutrition, and health technologies, the program aims to strengthen the bond between pets and their caregivers.

Engagement around Purina Consumables in-game, Our North Star Metric 🌟

To gauge the interest of the community, we simply needed to ask! We carried out a survey in June to do just that — you probably remember filling it in!

The idea was to understand if Purina would drive traction amongst our Dogamers (the name of our community members FYI) and see if the brand was welcome both in-game as a booster and as an IRL purchase. We also wanted to understand consumer behavior and preferences with regards to food and snacks and for those who don’t have a dog yet, whether they might purchase Purina-branded dog food/treats in the future.

We received participation from over 40 countries and discovered a lot of cross-over between community members and dog owners with 51% of Dogamers owning 1 or more dogs and 69 % of them joining the Dogafam because they are dog lovers! 🐶

Furthermore, 88% of respondents expressed interest in purchasing in-game assets as boosters, showing belief in the product and its future potential in-game, and 78% would purchase the IRL DOGASNAX themselves or recommend them.

Almost 85% of pet owners also gave their dogs a multitude of dry and wet food including treats and snacks and Purina was also the most purchased and popular brand within the community, with 59% of Dogamers already being Purina customers.

The results clearly show that Purina matches perfectly with our community members and their positivity towards the idea gives both DOGAMÍ and Purina confidence that a unique experience can be offered both digitally (to enhance a fun game experience) and in real life as a healthy snack for dogs.

With such a large portion of those surveyed interested in Web3 technology, being dog lovers, engaging within the discord multiple times a day (76%), and, having a brand affinity with Purina, there was clear evidence that DOGASNAX could really serve you — Both your Dogamí and IRL dogs!

What also resonated with the expectations of the community but also with Purina was:

Maintaining high nutritional standards and choosing good ingredients
Having enthusiasm from the community to try Dogamí branded snacks for dogs
Exploring the idea to bridge a Web3 project with a trusted pet-care brand.

What might this look like in the future? 🔮

In the next 6 to 12 months, players from around the world will be enjoying a moment playing DOGAMÍ Academy on their phones with their friends. The transition from the digital to the physical world begins as they start wearing DOGAMÍ merch and reading comic books.

Fast forward 5 years and DOGAMÍ has permeated at a deeper level in the home! Purina DOGASNAX has become part of daily life.

A regular living room a few years from now…

Finally, a decade from now, DOGAMÍ has touched many aspects of regular life from regular dog treats to shoes and memorabilia that’s ready to be passed on to new generations.