8 New(ish) Pet Brands Getting Social Media Right

Most pet marketing still looks pretty familiar: happy dog, nice packaging, green field, or feeding time in a sterile-looking kitchen.

But a new crop of brands is throwing out that playbook. Some don't even have a product or open doors yet. One turned a cease-and-desist into a public rebrand. Another is five months in and bootstrapped by family and friends. Two are building an audience before opening their doors. And one just gave 11 creators - with a combined 13 million followers - an actual stake in the company.

What they have in common isn't size, funding, or even how long they've been around. It's that they've figured out how to make people care about what they're building while they're still building it.

These are 8 pet brands getting attention by showing the messy parts, putting founders front and center, taking creative risks, and giving their audience a reason to follow the story — not just buy the product.

A few are barely out of the gate. But they're already doing things much bigger brands could learn from.

Here they are.

IG: @gnuforpets

What they do: Slow-simmered, single-protein bone broth chews with a translucent look, marketed as a daily chew that supports joints, gut, skin, and dental health.

Backstory: The brand originally launched as "Bru," but got hit with a cease-and-desist over the name. Instead of treating it as a setback, the entire team documented the whole rename process - including going out into the streets to ask strangers how they felt about the new name.

Why It's On the List: The chew stands out on its own - it's a genuinely great-looking product. But that's only part of the story. What helped them garner attention is that someone took a real legal headache - getting hit with a cease-and-desist over their own brand name - and turned it into a whole content arc instead of quietly fixing it behind the scenes. They filmed the process, took it to the street, and asked total strangers to give them feedback on the new name. It was funny, it was a little chaotic, and it made you want to root for them. That's the harder trick: most brands would've buried a story like that. Gnü built a following around it. Whoever runs that account deserves a raise.

That's the thread running through a lot of this list - honesty. Founders sharing the ups and downs, being a little vulnerable, a little funny. Bringing people along for the ride instead of just posting brand pics. Several of these founders built an audience before they even had a product. Many of these founders understand that building a community of enthusiasts beats flashy product shots 10/10 times.

Here's the rest of the list.