Wag - The Uber of Dog Walking

I’ve been noticing this new app being heavily promoted on my social feed. At first I hadn’t paid any attention because we currently don’t have a dog in the family, But then after exposure after exposure after exposure, it was kinda hard to miss. I guess “they” know we used to have a dog and we are dog lovers.

So as a marketing lover I had to take notice.

The brand is called Wag, and it’s an app that lets you call up a dog walker to take your dog out for a walk. Pretty cool system. Very millennial of them — JK.

The tag line is what really got me...The Uber of Dog Walking.

Hmm. The Uber of Dog Walking. Wag is using another brand, Uber, to quickly and succinctly describe what they offer. So clearly “The Uber of Dog Walking” means that all I have to do is hit “Request” and I’ll have a reliable, local dog walker with expertise in dog walking at my doorstep within a very specified amount of time, likely just a few minutes.

The tag line serves to give consumers a visual, perceptual, and immediate since of what they are going to get from this brand...and when you are a new brand it’s super important for new consumers to get this quickly. When you don’t have an equity built on your own, it can be really fast and efficient to borrow from another equity from another brand.

And what I love most about it all is that Wag has cracked one of the hardest elements of marketing...positioning. It can take a brand years to figure out how to position itself in the minds of its consumers and in the marketplace.Wag did it in one tag line, by drawing comparison to another well-established brand.

The Uber of Dog Walking.

And BTW, I’m not sure that Uber would mind. It places them in a leadership role as a category inventor and disruptor, crossing categories in the making. Just like Wag wants to do. Just like a lot of brands want to do.

What do you think? What’s your experience? JIM