Today (6 November) sees the launch of DTC pet wellness brand Dandy. Using machine learning to establish unique pet and pet parent profiles, Dandy will create fully customised recommendations that match dogs' and their owners' individual needs. In this Q&A, we speak to Danielle Sobel, founder of Dandy, to understand why she launched the brand, and how she plans to grow the business now Dandy is live. 

Can you introduce Dandy to us?

Dandy is reimagining the way we care for our pets. Through big-data and machine learning, Dandy works to take the guesswork out of pet wellness. The brand’s first product delivers personalised supplement treats for daily and long-term support.

What gap in the market is Dandy looking to fill?

If you look at the current landscape holistically, it’s hard to find any truly personalised options for your pet. Modern pet parents are constantly struggling to figure out what’s best for their dog and their unique needs. On Dandy, a dog has 32,000 different recommendations they can receive that are completely tailored to their current health needs. These are based on key characteristics that we analyse for both short term and long term health like breed (and the disposition to certain conditions), age, location, their anxiety levels and more. Not only is Dandy the only truly personalised platform on the market, but Dandy is also the only one that is dynamic  - this means as your dog grows, they will make updated recommendations to better serve your pup. Dandy is set out to fundamentally change how we care for our pets - from reactive to proactive - and doing so in a way that is easy and approachable to pet parents anywhere.

How is the Dandy experience tailored to each customer?

By using big data and machine learning, Dandy takes the guesswork out of your dog’s wellness and delivers exactly what your dog needs. Pet parents take a ‘smart quiz’ to arrive at fully-customised recommendations based on a mix of factors, including the dog breed, age, location, medical issues, and more to create their unique health profile. Dandy then analyses multiple data libraries to create a selection of four different daily supplements that coexist and work in sync to support their pet’s current and future needs. With a total of 32,000+ supplement packs possible, Dandy is truly the only personalised platform available to pet parents today.

As the company grows, what role do you think first-party data will play in supporting this development?

Our entire platform is built to learn about our customers through their interactions with Dandy - whether that’s via social, SMS, email or activations - we are able to make real-time adaptations to better serve them and their pet. These daily, micro interactions serve as the foundation to how Dandy will move into future platform and product extensions. To us, first-party data should be used to make people’s lives easier and better overall - and we plan to do just that.

Now that you're live, how are you planning on bringing customers to the Dandy brand?

While Dandy is a digitally native brand, and we do have a strong digital strategy, we believe some of the best communities are built off-line. We’re really focused on amplifying those moments you love with your dog, and bringing that to life via activations, partnerships and community. We also have some core features we will be building in 2020 that really solidify the ‘platform’ piece of Dandy and will further connect our communities both online and offline. Alongside our core platform, we’re also deeply involved in the rescue space and we have some wonderful partners on board already like American Pets Alive - who are a core piece of our internal mission to help save and rehome 1 million dogs.