| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Pet food |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Decatur, Alabama, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Cat food, cat health products |
| Owner(s) | Del Monte Pet Food Group |
| Website | www.MeowMix.com |
Meow Mix is a variety of dry and wet cat food known for its advertising jingle. It is a product of Del Monte Foods.
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The Meow Mix Company operates from a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) facility in Decatur, Alabama, and also produces Alley Cat brand cat food products. Originally a product of Ralston Purina, Meow Mix was divested for antitrust reasons in the early 2000s. The brand was acquired by Del Monte Foods in May, 2006. Their most famous slogan is, “Tastes so good, cats ask for it by name.” The company was acquired by The Cypress Group, a New York based private equity firm in a $425 million leveraged buyout in 2003. Three years later, Del Monte Foods acquired the company for $705 million.[1][2] Previously the company was also owned by J.W. Childs Associates which acquired the business in 2001 for $160 million.
Meow Mix is well known for a popular advertising jingle, "The Meow Mix Theme", seemingly performed by a singing cat. The idea came from Ron Travisano, at the advertising agency of Della Femina Travisano and Partners, who had the account with Ralston Purina in 1976. Travisano put together film footage with editor Jay Gold, looping images of a cat to make it look like it was singing. The music was then composed by Tom McFaul of the jingle house Lucas/McFaul, one of the major jingle-composing houses at the time. Working from Travisano's film, McFaul wrote and produced music to fit, with the actual meowing performed by professional singer Linda November.[3][4]
Travisano then came up with the idea of adding English subtitles, along with a bouncing ball pointing out the words, which were humorously just "Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meowwwwww".[5] Later lyrics included English words such as, "I want tuna, I want chicken, Meow Mix flavors keep me lickin," "I like chicken, I like liver, Meow Mix Meow Mix please deliver!", or "So much talking, want more eating, meow meow meow meow please please feed me."
Meow Mix House was a reality TV show created by Meow Mix in the format of Survivor. Ten cats rescued from animal shelters nationwide (including the ASPCA in New York, Touched by an Animal in Chicago, and Kitten Rescue in Los Angeles) competed for a grand prize — an executive-level position with the Meow Mix Company. These three-minute reality TV segments aired on Animal Planet for ten consecutive weeks, beginning on June 16, 2006. The cats were viewable full time via webcam and were adopted as they were voted off of the show, receiving a year’s supply of Meow Mix as a consolation prize. Weekly contest winners for areas such as “Best Purr” and “Greatest Post Climber” were decided by a panel of judges. Two winners were chosen — one through professional judges, and a second by TV viewers. The company stated that the winner received the title of Meow Mix’s “feline vice president of research,” as well as becoming part of a new family. A second corporate position was provided to the cat voted most popular by viewers.
Miami’s Cisco won the top prize of VP of R&D at Meow Mix, and Ellis from Portland won the title of viewers’ choice winner.