ST. LOUIS, April 9, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Internet-surfing pet lovers have to check one Web site for pet news, another for videos and yet another for images of America''s cutest canines and felines. Nestle Purina PetCare wants to simplify the time they spend online by inviting pet lovers to get connected on petcharts.purina.com. Pet Charts is a unique new program that "digs up" timely pet-related content scattered throughout the Internet and delivers it to users via one customized Web site. Pet Charts is a definitive dog and cat lover guide for all of the "ruff" and "fluffy" news they need.
Purina created Pet Charts in order to tap into the vast amount of published and user-generated pet content on the Web. The site brings the best pet stuff on the Internet to pet lovers in one place and connects people and cyberspace canines and felines. Pet Charts offers the latest pet-related information from both professional and amateur Web sites, including the latest dog and cat articles, photos and videos, as well as blogs and Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.
"Purina recognizes there is an abundance of pet content online and we wanted to make it easy, convenient and fun for pet lovers to access," said Michael Moore, Director of Interactive Marketing at Purina. "This interactive platform puts all the best in one place and we believe will be the top Web site for entertaining pet content."
A custom search engine pulls pet content from trusted sites like The New York Times, Yahoo! Pets, YouTube, flickr(TM) and nearly 50 pet blogs. Then a human curator reviews all the stories, photos and videos filtered by the search engine and posts only the cream of the crop on the Pet Charts site, where pet lovers can vote for their favorites. Whether it''s a video of a cat chasing her tail or a story about a dog saving a man from a bear, the best-of-the-best will be the people''s choice.
Visitors can explore Pet Charts in multiple ways; the first way is to filter the content by dogs, cats or both. Next, pet lovers will have access to the top pet news, photos and videos of the day, but they also can view the most popular content from the past seven or 30 days. Lastly, once the most recent content has been up and added to the archived content, people will be able to view the most popular stories, videos and images of "All Time."
Pet Charts is ''Paws-itvely'' Innovative
The Purina Pet Charts platform was created in conjunction with Arc Worldwide and agency partner Denuo, with content gathering technology provided and managed by Daylife. The content is initially captured and filtered through Arc''s proprietary Publishing Center. A human curator then selects the best new content and posts it daily from the Publishing Center to Purina''s Pet Charts Web site.
The human curator chooses content from the preferred news providers. However, if the curator cannot find enough content from the preferred sources to meet specifications, he then searches other trusted outlets, consisting of all other pet-related stories that Daylife pulls in from the Web.
"There is a great deal of relevant pet-related content available, but it tends to get lost on the Web," said Dan Buczaczer, senior vice president at Denuo. "Pet Charts is an excellent way for Purina to collect the best information available online and deliver it to users in a single place, on a daily basis."
To see all the best pet content available online, visit petcharts.purina.com.
About Purina
Nestle Purina PetCare Company promotes responsible pet care, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. A premiere global manufacturer of pet products, Nestle Purina PetCare is part of Swiss-based Nestle S.A., the world''s largest food company.
CONTACT: Josh Rangel: 312.729.4168 GolinHarris or Kerry Lyman: 314.982.2094 Nestle Purina PetCare Company
Source: Purina
