Beyond toothpaste and dish soap, Colgate-Palmolive’s pet division, anchored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition, has emerged as a primary growth engine for the global consumer products company.
Speaking at the 2026 Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference, Caroline Chulick, senior vice president of global growth and innovation for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, outlined how the nearly 80-year-old brand has expanded through product innovation, sustained marketing investment and advanced data capabilities.
Over the past five years, Hill’s has grown nearly 60%, from just under US$3 billion in 2020 to just over $4.5 billion in 2025, according to Chulick. She said the brand has “been significantly and continuously outperforming the category,” gaining share in both its wellness portfolio under the Science Diet line and its therapeutic portfolio under the Prescription Diet sub-brand.
Chulick described Hill’s as the single biggest contributor to Colgate-Palmolive’s growth during the company’s last five-year strategic planning cycle. That growth was driven by both volume and pricing.
Guilt-focused pet food promotion
The division also benefited from increased advertising and promotion spending across the enterprise. Hill’s invested in expanding data-driven marketing tools and capabilities to improve effectiveness and efficiency of its advertising. Chulick said return on media investment has increased sequentially over the past five years, reaching its highest levels following the launch of the company’s most recent campaign in 2025.
The campaign, titled “Because You’re Only Human,” is designed to address what Chulick described as a “universal human truth” among pet owners, guilt that they may not be able to love their pets as much as their pets love them. The campaign emphasizes Hill’s “scientifically proven formulas to give more love than humanly possible,” according to ad copy presented at the conference.
At the end of 2025, Adweek ranked the campaign No. 3 among its top 10 ads that captured Gen Z attention, Chulick said.
Hill’s sees significant opportunity among younger consumers. According to data shared during the presentation, millennials accounted for half of total U.S. pet spending last year. Gen Z and millennials are acquiring pets at a faster rate globally, and many have more than one pet in the household.
Chulick cited data from South Korea indicating that 57% of strollers sold there are for pets rather than children, underscoring the broader trend of pet humanization among younger consumers.
However, the path to purchase for these consumers is increasingly complex. Chulick referred to the “messy middle,” describing a nonlinear buying journey influenced by digital channels and artificial intelligence.
AI and data analysis driven pet food marketing
To address that complexity, Hill’s developed what it calls an Omni-Demand Generation model. The approach begins with insight-driven messaging and is supported by artificial intelligence-created content that rapidly produces socially native messages tied to a core campaign idea.
Critical “moments that matter” in the pet parent journey, such as initial pet adoption, a medical diagnosis from a veterinarian, or a pet’s transition to senior life stage at age 7, are key focus areas for the brand.
Data integration is central to the strategy. In the U.S., Hill’s built a data clean room combining first-party data with third-party publisher and panel data, as well as second-party transaction data from retail partners. Seventy percent of U.S. media spending went through the clean room last year, Chulick said.
One result: Hill’s doubled its conversion rate on media that flowed through the clean room, according to the company.
Chulick said the model supports personalization at scale across the purchase funnel, building awareness and consideration among both pet parents and veterinary professionals, and helping close the purchase loop in-store and online.
As Hill’s enters 2026, Chulick emphasized four pillars supporting continued growth: its veterinary-rooted brand equity, science-backed product innovation, the “Because You’re Only Human” campaign, and its Omni-Demand Generation model.
