Well, we can't really believe it, but we have won the Pet Industry Federation Innovation Award for our Don't Bug Me product. Neither Jo nor I expected to win and we are so grateful to our peers for voting for us and the Pet Industry Federation for facilitating the two day event. It was absolutely brilliant and gave us both so many ideas that we plan to take forwards! It was also one of the most amazing networking events we've been to - lots of new friendships were formed over the two days!! 

Here's the press release from the Pet Industry Federation. 

The Pet Industry Federation, the trade association for pet business, has announced Don’t Bug Me by The Holistic Hound™ as the winner of its Innovation of the Year Award in front of attendees gathered at its Business of Pets conference at Cranfield Management Development Centre held from Wednesday 5 – Thursday 6 June 2024.

Jo Arbon, who runs the Irish company, The Holistic Hound™, which had developed Don’t Bug Me, fought off competition from a finalist pool of nine other innovative products and services, all of whom had to deliver a presentation about their innovation to those attending the event.

During her presentation, Jo explained that Don’t Bug Me is a natural and effective geraniol based tick and flea repellent. It was one of the few essential oils that’s safe to use with dogs, cats and all other pets and had been demonstrated to have antimicrobial properties.

The announcement of the winner rounded off a fantastic two-day conference, sponsored by Worldpay, aimed at pet businesses that wanted to learn about scaling up their business, taking on coaching or mentoring, improving their pitching, discovering market statistics and picking up marketing tips.

Nigel Baker, PIF CEO said: ‘Our finalists delivered fantastic presentations over the course of yesterday and today to persuade conference attendees that their product/service was the most innovative. It was a nerve-wracking experience delivering in front of and taking questions from their fellow delegates, and they handled it with aplomb. The final outcome proved to be a close-run result in the end, but delegates clearly felt that Don’t Bug Me carried the edge over the other finalists.

The presentations provided an excellent backdrop and context for the engaging talks which took place over two days and the feedback we have received so far has been excellent. We are grateful to our sponsor, Worldpay, who engaged with delegates and supported the event throughout.’

Images by Rowan from Pooch & Pineapple www.poochandpineapple