While the federal election campaign is still in full swing, you can tick another vote: The best petfluencers are chosen in Cologne.
Cologne – The sun is shining, the water basin shines in a strong blue. What could be more obvious than an ice cream on this wonderful late summer day in the Waldbad in the north of Cologne?
At the booth, however, the traditional chocolate or strawberry fan is badly surprised. “What can it be as a topping?” Asks the woman in the ice cream parlor. “Duck? Or duck-apple? “
If you haven’t noticed it up to this point, you now know: The bathroom was redesigned for a special clientele that day. Around 300 dogs sniff the paths and the lawn, jump into the pool and have sugar-free ice cream with a duck and apple topping served. The fur noses should not lack anything. The German petfluencer scene meets to present the so-called German Petfluencer Awards. The dogs here are internet stars.
To explain: Petfluencer is a word creation from Influencer and Pet, the English word for pet. Influencers are people who let fans participate in their lives via social networks and who advertise all sorts of things from dietary supplements to curling irons.
Petfluencers do the same – but as an animal. Therefore, they tend to put products in the limelight that are supposed to make animals more comfortable. The market is lucrative, and Germans sometimes dig deeper into their pockets for their Fiffi.
Investor Judith Williams, known from the Vox program “Die Höhle der Löwen”, in which business ideas are examined in a row, knows that too. She has her dog Sissi in her arms. The animal is considered a bit lazy in the family. “You always want to do the right thing with your dog, of course,” explains Williams. “It’s similar to how it was with his children.” She came because of a cooperation with a company that individually adjusts food to the dog’s preferences and tolerances.
Petfluencers are a lever to make such products known. And animals have always worked on the Internet – if a cat jokes and is filmed, the video can hope for millions of clicks. André Karkalis, managing director of the Petfluencer agency, which organizes the German Petfluencer Awards, calculates that animals with around ten million followers hackle past each other on the site on this day. Of course, that also needs to be regulated. In the flyer it is made clear that piles must be removed immediately. “Neither people nor sponsorship stands may be marked.”
The scene has its own stars and starlets. The photographer Andrius Burba came, for example, who places animals on glass plates and photographs them from below. He is announced as a “mastermind”. In the main category, the account “@verpinscht” prevails, which revolves around the three dogs Mojo, Rana and Mateo. He has more than 111,000 followers on Instagram. That’s not the Kim Kardashian category yet, but neat.
“There are very few in Germany who do this full-time. For most of them it’s a hobby, ”says Karkalis. As a holder, you earn something with it.
The conversations that are held at the tables, stalls and dog courses are quite remarkable. “We don’t know each other personally. But I think I recognized the dog! ”Says a woman. Meanwhile, a man checks a grilled snack. “Is that for me?” He asks. “Or for the dog?” Resolution: for the dog.
In the first round of prizes, it was the turn of the dogs. The cats get their own awards in November. Maybe that’s better too. Sometimes you get into an argument. On the Internet. And in the animal world. dpa
