How Mars DINE increased sales by 73% with the AI-powered Cat Decoder campaign

Goals

Most cat owners will tell you they'd do anything for their feline companions. But research shows that while the majority of cat owners enjoy spoiling their pets, their efforts often miss the mark, leaving them wondering what their cat really wants.¹ For DINE®, Mars Australia's premium cat food brand, this insight represented both a challenge and an opportunity.

DINE set out to strengthen their premium positioning in the cat food category while reaching cat owners at scale. The brand needed a campaign that could bridge the gap between what cat owners think their pets want and what cats actually desire, all while driving measurable awareness, consideration, and conversion. Working with Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab and media agency EssenceMediacom, DINE developed a bold, full-funnel strategy designed to acquire new customers while staying true to the brand's core promise: delighting cats and their owners in equal measure.

Approach

The centerpiece of the campaign was the "Cat Decoder"—an AI-powered interactive tool, custom-built by Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab using AWS technology, that translated cats' behaviors into personalized, playful video messages revealing to owners what their cats might be thinking. Pet owners were invited to upload a photo of their cat and select how they typically interact with their feline companion. AWS AI then generated an animated video with a custom "translation" of what their cat might be thinking—a creative, tech-forward experience that put DINE's premium brand values front and center.

AI-powered Cat Decoder campaign

The campaign was built around Amazon's full-funnel advertising capabilities, spanning Prime Video, the Amazon.com.au homepage, online video, and display advertising. Prime Video ads drove broad awareness, while the interactive Cat Decoder experience deepened consideration, and Amazon store placements converted engaged audiences into buyers.

To extend reach among younger adult cat owners beyond the Amazon canvas, the campaign partnered with leading TikTok cat influencers—Aimee Leigh, Jessie Pearce, Maple Ginger Boy, and Isabelle Petzl-Duncan—whose creator-led content brought authenticity and scale to the campaign's social layer.

"At Mars, we're driven to create a better world for pets. DINE has always been about delighting cats and their owners, and this breakthrough Cat Decoder campaign allowed us to deliver on those promises. Partnering with Amazon Ads and EssenceMediacom enabled us to push beyond traditional advertising and create an engaging, tailored experience that reinforced the premium positioning of DINE,” said Marni Crookes, Digital, Media and Content Director, Mars ANZ. “It's a great example of how creativity and technology can work hand in hand to reach new audiences and deliver meaningful growth for brands."

Results

The Cat Decoder campaign delivered exceptional results across every stage of the funnel. Over the six-week campaign period from August to September 2025, DINE saw a 73% increase in units sold on Amazon compared to the same period the previous year, with 36% of those sales coming from new-to-brand store shoppers, demonstrating the campaign's power to drive meaningful customer acquisition.²

The impact extended beyond Amazon, with a 2.2% offline sales uplift recorded across the broader DINE brand, and a 2.9% uplift specifically across featured DINE products including the Classic Collection and Fillets ranges.³

The campaign generated 29.3 million impressions across the Amazon canvas and 9,500 personalized videos created with a 99% video completion rate, underscoring the depth of engagement the Cat Decoder experience created. The TikTok creator strategy reached 5.5 million cat owners, generating 33 million impressions, 5.1 million engagements, and an additional 1.9 million views from organic creator content.⁴

The campaign demonstrated how creative innovation, powered by Amazon's full-funnel advertising capabilities and first-party signals, can drive both brand growth and measurable business results, connecting with new, relevant audiences at every stage of the customer journey.

“The Cat Decoder campaign demonstrates how Brand Innovation Lab unlocks growth for brands by transforming bold ideas into custom experiences that delight customers and drive business results. Working alongside the innovative teams at Mars and EssenceMediacom, we built an audience-first campaign that created a playful, tailored connection with cat lovers across Amazon's entire canvas—from Prime Video to the Amazon store,” said Chris Wilson, Head of Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab, Australia and Middle East and North Africa. “The campaign's strong engagement and measurable sales uplift show what's possible when creative ambition meets Amazon's full-funnel capabilities, delivering differentiation at every stage of the customer journey.”

Sources

¹ Mintel Group, 2025.

^2–3 Circana Offline Study, 2026.

⁴ Amazon internal data, 2025.