In the world of subscription boxes, BarkBox is one of the most successful standouts. Launched in 2011, the company which delivers treats and toys to consumers now has 500,000 active subscriber and has become the go to destination for dog lovers. I’m joined today by Kris Hing, senior marketing associate, who will be sharing her influencer marketing insights with us.

Sherri Langburt: Welcome Kris.

Kris Hing: Hi. Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Sherri Langburt: Thank you so much for joining us. I know you started out as a BarkBox Happy Ambassador.

Can you tell us what a Happy Ambassador is at BarkBox?

Kris Hing: Yeah, so I started out of the Bark about four years ago, and in our Happy Team, which is our absolutely amazing customer service team. They’re much more than just customer service. But We were starting an office in Columbus, Ohio, and our headquarters were in New York. It was our first ever other office. So I started out as just an ambassador on the Happy Team talking to customers and engaging with our human and dog customers.

How does a dog customer dial into for customer service?

Kris Hing: Well, funny enough, we actually have the option to talk to a dog when you first call in our number.

Sherri Langburt: Oh my God.

Kris Hing: So usually it’s the parents calling us, but if they do want to talk to a dog you can press that and then you just hear a lot of barking.

Sherri Langburt: That is hilarious. So how did you, and what does your role look like? How did you evolve to senior marketing associate?

What does your role look like at BarkBox?

Kris Hing: Yeah, so I was a Happy Ambassador for a few months and grew within the Happy Team. At that time the Columbus office was only Happy Team members. So I grew into leadership within the Happy Team. And then, maybe year and a half later or so, we were actually exploring the idea of having our products in retail stores and I had the opportunity to switch over to our retail team.

So just in case anybody doesn’t know, we do now have our toys in retail stores. We’re in Targets nationwide, as well as 15 other other retailers, or other retail partners. So that, luckily that retail job did take off. But being on the retail team, I am having the background of being a Happy Ambassador. I had been talking with customers and learning about their concerns and likes of our products. I was able to get a little bit more looped into some marketing conversations but still combine my customer experience with that marketing.

So starting out with working in experiential marketing where you’re engaging with the customers out in the wild. So definitely a marketing tactic that we were looking into, but using my background and a little more communications based. And then that kind of also led into engaging with influencers. And then I just ended up being full time marketing and have been on the marketing team for a couple of years now.

What does experiential look like for BarkBox when you’re going out there in the wild?

Kris Hing: Yeah, so I actually went to about 35 different cities last year, I believe it was, 2018.

Sherri Langburt: Oh my God.

Kris Hing: It was pretty wild. I was on the go all the time. But what we were doing was just, we were trying to connect our products that were in Target. So every couple of months in Target we launch a new seasonal end cap and it has different toys that are different themes. And then we also, we have constantly an assortment that’s always there and kind of stays there year round as well.

Kris Hing: But we were trying to just get people to know more about those rotating seasonal end caps. And so we would connect some kind of event, and theme of an event, to the product line that we were launching. And host an event, so people would just come and hang out with us.

A lot of times they were at breweries, we found that people enjoy sharing a beer and bringing their dog to the breweries. Breweries are very often dog-friendly and so it’s a really great venue for us. But for example, our January line this year was Heads or Tails, and it was all about like throwback board games, card games, dice kind of games. And so we threw a Dog’s Game Night at a brewery.

Sherri Langburt: So that wasn’t necessarily in a Target, it was just to help you kind of gain awareness for these new product extensions that were not in the box.

Kris Hing: Yes. So that’s our, that was kind of our tactic for experientials. Since Target is a store where dogs are not allowed in the store to pick their own toys. This was a way to have dogs surrounded by our toys, and have awareness of them, and let them kind of pick. But you know, not, they obviously can’t do it in the Target stores.

Sherri Langburt: Right, right. Well maybe Target will change that. I would love my dog to be able to go in there. It’s my happy place.

Kris Hing: I know. For many people.

Sherri Langburt: So when we talk now about the box itself, I mean obviously I have a dog. Her name is Sprout. So she gets the box.

If we had to do an unboxing cause that’s so popular on social, what would an unboxing of a BarkBox look like?

Kris Hing: Well, an unboxing would be, so first of all, it’s kind of like the most exciting day for a dog and the dog’s family when you get your BarkBox. We call that BarkBox day. And when you, when the dog gets the box, usually the family will all gather together and let the dog open the box.

Inside a standard BarkBox there would be two toys, two bags of treats and a chew that are all themed to whatever that month’s theme is. The themes change every single month. They never repeat. You always have new, different, exciting products.

But we do have a couple… We have another line called Super Chewer, which is our more durable, kind of rugged, more outdoors-y dog type box. And so in those you would get a more like nylon or hard durable rubber type toys. And then we always have the option to add different topical fun things to your box. So there’s lots of different ways that you can customize it.

You can even customize if your dog really likes playing with toys more than treats. You can write into our wonderful happy team, and call them or whatever, and ask them to help make the box fit their dog better. And we can always do that, pretty much in any way.

Sherri Langburt: So there’s a lot of customization. I can assume that a German Shepherd is going to want very different toys than my seven and a half pound dog.

Kris Hing: Exactly. And it’s great that we have that customization for families who have multiple dogs especially because some families have a German shepherd and a seven pound Yorkipoo, and they want to have toys that fit both of those dogs.

How do dogs come into customer satisfaction or the creation of new products?

Kris Hing: Yeah, well they definitely play a very large role in that since we kind of touched on the fact that dogs are really our customers. It’s the dogs and family that are our customers. But for when we make new products, we have the dog fully in mind first and foremost. So we make about 430 new products every single year.

So all Bark toys and treats are made, designed, created, made in house. And we test every single one of those on our office dogs. They test them. They have to approve them. If we have a toy we’ve been working on and we put it out, and none of the dogs are going for it, then it’s going in the trash. Well, not the trash. We would donate it to a rescue and see if any of them wanted it.

Sherri Langburt: I’m going to send my Sprout to your office. She’s going to have more fun there.

Kris Hing: Yeah, we have tons of dogs in the office every day, so it’s really easy to be able to test out those toys.

Sherri Langburt: That’s amazing. So I don’t know if I read this wrong, but you know my background when I first started in this space was I had a lot of dating companies doing work with us.

I came across something that says you have Bark Buddy, which says it’s a Tinder for dogs. Is that a matchmaking service to help dogs meet other dogs?

Kris Hing: It’s, close, it’s a match making service to help people meet their new dogs. So we use Petfinder’s API to source photos and information on adoptable dogs across the country. And Petfinder gets information from rescues and shelters all across the country. And we put them in to an easy to use app that people can really resonate with, and to make that process of looking for a new furry family member for your family easy and fun to do from the comfort of your couch.

So people think it’s just more fun and interesting to be looking for a dog that you might be able to rescue from a shelter if you’re doing it in a way that you’ve been looking for comrades of your own.

We’re constantly trying to reframe the concept of dog adoption and try to make it as cool as possible.

Sherri Langburt: I mean that’s kind of like your cause for marketing. So it’s a great cause to be involved in.

Kris Hing: Yes, we have a whole branch of our company called Bark for Good, and we work with over 700 rescues and shelters across the country, just our company, aside from the Bark Buddy app part of it. But we’re always doing, we have our employees go on trips to help rescues and shelters, and we’re constantly donating toys, money.

Sherri Langburt: Right.

Kris Hing: It’s definitely a very big part of our company.

Sherri Langburt: No, it definitely is an important cause and so meaningful to so many people. Well, thank you for that. My question is, that you mention BarkBox day, and obviously it’s a hashtag that’s very prominent on social, particularly Instagram. In our space, it’s influencer marketing. It seems like a brand like BarkBox is so playful and fun you don’t even need influencers.

How do influencers play a role in your marketing strategy?

Kris Hing: We look at what typical companies or brands call influencers, more so as brand ambassadors because we do get so much organic attention on social, which is amazing. We have a great product that people are excited to share.

We don’t typically pay influencers to do posts for us, but we have built this group of brand ambassadors who are excited to get a sneak peek at our products before they launch or before the box comes out to everybody else. And they will post just because they love the product and they see how much their dog loves the product.

The way it actually started was for our retail line. I mentioned we were exploring going into different retailers. And when we went into Target, that was a huge deal for us. That was our first big retailer that we were in. And we wanted to figure out different ways to get that word out even more. And so we started our influencer strategy with that.

We were sending out new products that we’re going to be on those rotating end caps before the end cap would come out. We’d send them to dog accounts and get them to, or hopefully they would post. There was none of us telling them they had to post, but hopefully they would post. And we have a really high success rate of who does post. And so that was kind of the reason we started it, since we did have so much great UGC for BarkBox already.

We now have kind of switched, not switched that over, but we’ve extended it to having brand ambassadors for BarkBox as well. We look to kind of different topical lifestyle accounts more so when we’re sending out BarkBoxes ahead of time.

So, as we’ve talked about, each month there’s a new theme for the BarkBox and we try to think of what kind of of social accounts would fit well with that theme.

People who we might not have already spoken to all that much. So this month, the November box is very Thanksgiving food oriented. And so we looked to a lot of like foodie accounts, and obviously any accounts that we’re going to work with have to have dogs, and have to like prominently feature their dogs too. Because we want to make sure it comes off authentic and it’s natural for those accounts to be posting. But yeah, so we had some great success with that for our foodie accounts this month. And that’s kind of the strategy we look at. More so for BarkBox now.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah, I mean it makes sense. You could be doing like January is resolutions, so health wellness people.

Are you still working with those dog accounts specifically?

Kris Hing: Yeah, we work with a ton of dog accounts still for our retail line. And our Super Chewer line has some really amazing dog accounts that they work with every single month. BarkBox is kind of a combination.

We kind of rotate those a little bit more since the theme has always rotating and that’s just the strategy we’ve decided for the BarkBoxes. But some of them, [inaudible 00:15:20] there’s just like, there’s so many great dog accounts you can’t [crosstalk 00:15:24] pick. So we’d definitely include those with [inaudible 00:15:28] still as well.

Sherri Langburt: That’s what I was going to ask. How do you possibly go through all these? I mean there are people who are posting their dogs in bikinis. I tried, it didn’t work, but how do you possibly filter through all these precious dog photos and choose someone that you know deserves to get the box or deserves to be an ambassador. I can’t imagine.

Kris Hing: Yeah, we created a hashtag, #dogsofBARK, and that was actually what our retail, we asked our retail influencers to use when we started that out two, three years ago.

Now the #dogsofBARK has just totally taken off, and there’s like almost 400,000 posts for #dogsofBARK.

But we use that to source our UGC and we also use that to source new brand ambassadors. So that’s a great way if you ever are hoping for your dog to become involved with Bark, our #dogsofBARK is where we find them.

Sherri Langburt: That’s great to know.

Kris Hing: Yeah. We actually used to have our Happy Team respond or comment back to #dogsofBARK posts constantly. They used to respond to every single one. And it’s a little bit harder now that there’s almost 400,000 but they’re still out there searching through that hashtag constantly.

Sherri Langburt: I’m going to submit a photo after we get off this call. So tell me about, obviously you have a lot of promotions happening.

Is there an all time favorite influencer promotion that comes to mind for BarkBox?

Kris Hing: One of our treat lines in Target was called Snacks That Give Back, and it gave back to a rescue that was local to the name of the bag. So we had Snacks That Give Back New York, and that gave back to a New York rescue. Snacks That Give Back Philly, it gave back to a Philly rescue.

So we worked with a hundred or so brand ambassadors to create a game and competition. Where we split them up into teams by these regions and told them that we were going to give everyone on their team a $100 gift card to Target, since that’s where the treats were, if they won. And winning would be getting the most engagements. And it was really neat to see just how the whole gamifying of this campaign built teamwork and comradery.

And we had already noticed that our brand ambassadors would be talking back and forth with each other. And we’d see them comment on each other’s posts, and they were kind of like becoming friends through Instagram.

And so this just really helped strengthen those relationships and helped them all work together. And we even got wind of the fact that they had built, or they had created, group DMs with their teams and they were talking back and forth. So it was really successful in the way that it was just a fun and really helped build the comradery.

But then also it helped, it really amplified the campaign results across all metrics. They were posting more because it was competition. They were trying to post really engaging materials since that was the metric we were basing it off of. And they were like timing out the posts together since they were working together. So it was just really neat overall.

Sherri Langburt: And it probably wasn’t even about the prize. It was about, again, it was for a cause and then it was a competition. So it was those two things that kind of catapult the performance.

Kris Hing: Totally. I mean for the cause, I think that’s why they were willing to post multiple times. And then the competition just added that extra fun factor.

Which team do you remember won? I’m just curious.

Kris Hing: I think it was Kansas. We had, Kansas Cheese Treats were one of the Snacks That Give Back.

Sherri Langburt: Okay. Okay. Very cool. So obviously it’s hard to imagine, but I’m guess I’m wondering on the flip side of that…

Is there a campaign that didn’t perform so well that you’d be willing to share with us?

Kris Hing: In the past few months, we tried to do a campaign with one of our products in our Essentials Line. So our Bark Essentials is kind of what it sounds like. Everything that everyone needs, every dog parent needs, but not all of them are quite as exciting.

For example, there’s poop bags and pee pads. So we were hoping to incorporate pee pads into YouTube videos. And we were working, or we were, our idea was to work with trainers or puppy accounts, and have them kind of just naturally integrate our pee pads into the videos that they were already doing. And it was just a little bit more difficult than we were expecting.

It’s not all that common to be making a new pee pad video. And as I’ve mentioned, we don’t typically pay the influencers. YouTube is a little higher ask to make a video. And so it just, it was more challenging than we expected or than we had really thought about from the beginning. We just had this idea and then it didn’t pan out so well.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah. No, and we see that with YouTube too. I think that when we do other campaigns, there’s a little bit more flexibility. But with YouTube, I just think it’s the sheer nature, that there’s so much more involved in them coming up with the video content, to insert something into the story is just harder.

Kris Hing: Yeah. Certainly. It’s, overall, longer, more complicated process.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah, definitely. So I guess I would love to know in terms of like we’re talking about content, you know we talk, it’s clear that Instagram works for you.

Are there other channels that you think about that are working? Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, what other channels work for BarkBox?

Kris Hing: Yeah, well we’re starting to try and get into TikTok a little bit more since that’s been so popular recently. We have an account there, a BarkBox account, or handle I guess, I’m still not all that tuned into TikTok. We have a few of our younger teammates on that project, but I think that’s probably, it seems like it’s going to be important in the next year for brands to be engaging with Gen Z through TikTok.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah.

Kris Hing: Definitely, we have a big presence with our BarkBox account on Twitter. Those are, Twitter and Instagram are our largest right now, but we have all, YouTube and-

Sherri Langburt: Pinterest and-

Kris Hing: Yeah.

Sherri Langburt: So fascinating. What works so well for you on Twitter that it’s such a high, because so many brands now are just like, Oh Twitter. But I think it’s still a great channel.

I’m wondering for you what works so well on Twitter?

Kris Hing: Specifically for BarkBox, for that kind of brand persona, we do a lot of memes for Instagram, and we use that similar kind of just humor and joke personality for Twitter. And it’s really easy on Twitter to just put out those quick jokes. And our company and brand is very lighthearted, fun, jokey. And so I think that’s why we do well there.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah, it’s kind of like all the fast food restaurants playing around with each other on Twitter.

Kris Hing: Yeah.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah. So I guess it’s not just a new year coming up, it’s a whole new decade, and we’d love your insights since you’re at the forefront of influencer marketing.

What do you think are going to be the biggest trends in the new decade?

Kris Hing: Yeah, so I mentioned a little bit, TikTok and gen Z. I think there’s going to be a lot of focus on Gen Z and how best to reach them. If anyone’s ever been in a conversation about Gen Z marketing, we all know that authenticity is a very key factor for that generation. And, whoa, sorry about that. It was a little dog, something happening in the office.

Sherri Langburt: I hope he, she’s okay.

Kris Hing: Gen Z has a large focus on authenticity and I think that’s going to be something that brands are really working hard to fit into their marketing strategies. Luckily, I think that we do pretty well with naturally feeling authentic. And it makes it a little bit easier that we’re working with dogs, and dogs are just so cute and great. How could they not be authentic?

Sherri Langburt: Right.

Kris Hing: But yeah, I think, it’ll also be interesting to see how the influencer marketing affects or kind of goes hand in hand with that authenticity. We have not that many restrictions, like content restrictions for our brand ambassadors, influencers, since they’re not paid. So I think that will help us to because they can create whatever content they want, and what feels right to them and their account. And I think Gen Z will appreciate that and notice that. I think another really big factor is going to be losing the like on Instagram. It’s going to be a huge topic and how we are able to continue measuring successful influencer campaigns without that like.

Sherri Langburt: That sounds like a hashtag in itself. #losingthelike.

Kris Hing: Yeah, really? Yeah, I think we’re going to have to, I think it could end up being a good problem. It’s definitely going to be challenging for brands but we’ll have to be looking more closely at the higher touch kind of more important engagements, like comments and shares and saves. And I think it’ll lead brands to be looking harder at the quality of the actual posts and what kind of content your business is really looking for.

Sherri Langburt: Yeah. And I think it also might push companies to explore other channels too. So it’ll open the door for other, maybe revisiting, like blogs have got less attention in recent years. So maybe revisiting that or figuring out other strategies on other channels as well. We’re getting a lot of requests now for like, not just TikTok, but for Twitch. So just other social platforms where there might be opportunities, I think also will be part of losing the like hashtag movement.

Kris Hing: Uh huh. I agree.

Sherri Langburt: So my last question, which I always ask and I’m going to spin it a little bit differently for you, but name a dog influencer you love to follow but hate to admit that you do.

Kris Hing: I mean there’s none. Why would I ever hate to admit that I follow any dog. I follow pretty much all of them. And I get targeted with any of that I don’t follow yet, and I start to follow them. And it’s delightful.

Sherri Langburt: It sounds like a very happy place to work. You’re very fortunate and it is a busy season for you coming up. So if you wanted to share with our listeners any kind of special offers for holiday, I know everyone’s kind of dogs are top of list, so feel free to share anything.

Kris Hing: Yeah, we will definitely be very active on the Cyber Monday, Cyber Mutt Day and Black Friday. So come check out our our website then.

Sherri Langburt: Perfect. Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time and we’ll look forward to watching all your success.

Kris Hing: Thanks so much. Great chatting with you.

Sherri Langburt: You too.