Beyond toothpaste and dishwashing detergent, Colgate-Palmolive’s pet division is powered by: hills pet nutritionhas emerged as a major growth engine for global consumer products companies.
Speaking at the 2026 Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference, Hill’s Pet Nutrition’s Senior Vice President of Global Growth and Innovation, Caroline Zurich, outlined how the nearly 80-year-old brand has expanded through product innovation, sustained marketing investment, and advanced data capabilities.
Hills has grown nearly 60% over the past five years, from just under $3 billion in 2020 to more than $4.5 billion in 2025, Zurich said. The brand said it has “significantly and consistently outperformed the category,” gaining share in both the wellness portfolio of its Science Diet line and the treatment portfolio of its Prescription Diet sub-brand.
Zurich said Hills was the company that made the biggest contribution to Colgate-Palmolive’s growth over the last five years of its strategic planning cycle. This growth was driven by both volume and price.
Pet food promotion with an emphasis on guilt
The segment also benefited from increased advertising costs across the company. Hills has invested in expanded data-driven marketing tools and capabilities to improve advertising effectiveness and efficiency. Zurich said the return on investment in media has increased sequentially over the past five years, reaching its highest level after the launch of the company’s latest campaign in 2025.
The campaign, titled “Because You’re Only Human,” aims to address what Zurich described as a “universal human truth” among pet owners: the feeling of guilt that they may not be able to love their pets as much as they love them. The campaign highlights Hill’s “scientifically proven formula for giving more love than humanly possible,” according to ad copy released at the conference.
At the end of 2025, Adweek ranked the campaign No. 3 among the top 10 ads that caught the attention of Gen Z, Zurich said.
Hills believes there is a huge opportunity for young consumers. Millennials accounted for half of all U.S. pet spending last year, according to data shared during the presentation. Gen Z and Millennials globally are adopting pets at a faster rate, with many having multiple pets in their household.
Zurich cited South Korean data showing that 57% of strollers sold there are for pets rather than children, highlighting a broader trend among younger consumers to humanize pets.
However, the path to purchase for these consumers is becoming increasingly complex. Zurich referred to the “messy middle,” describing a non-linear purchasing process influenced by digital channels and artificial intelligence.
Pet food marketing using AI and data analysis
To address that complexity, Hills developed what it calls the omnidemand generative model. This approach starts with insight-driven messaging and is supported by content created by artificial intelligence that quickly generates socially native messages tied to the core ideas of the campaign.
The brand’s key focus areas are the key ‘moments’ in the path to pet parenthood, such as the first pet adoption, a veterinarian’s medical diagnosis, or a pet’s transition to the senior life stage at seven years of age.
Data integration is at the heart of your strategy. In the US, Hills has built a data clean room that combines first-party data with third-party publisher and panel data, and second-party transactional data from retail partners. Last year, 70% of U.S. media spending went through clean rooms, Zurich said.
One result, according to Hills, is that the conversion rate for media that passes through the clean room has doubled.
Zurich said the model supports personalization at scale throughout the purchase funnel, building awareness and consideration among both pet parents and veterinarians, and helping close the in-store and online purchasing loop.
As Hills enters 2026, Zurich highlighted four pillars supporting continued growth: brand equity rooted in veterinary medicine, science-backed product innovation, the “You’re Only Human” campaign, and the omnidemand generation model.
