How Paper + Spark turned a cat’s nose into a national media story for NexGard SPECTRA

Creative agency Paper + Spark has launched an earned-first campaign for Boehringer Ingelheim Australia’s NexGard SPECTRA for Cats, proving that the smartest brand stories don’t always start with the product.

Rather than beginning with a traditional product message, the campaign started with a well-established insight: cats experience the world through scent, and a cat’s sense of smell plays an important role in their wellbeing and daily interactions. Supported by independent research demonstrating NexGard SPECTRA® for Cats’ low-odour formulation, this understanding provided a strong and authentic foundation for the campaign. Paper + Spark was then tasked with transforming these insights into a creative platform that would capture the attention of media, influencers and cat owners alike.

That foundation became the idea of Cat No. 9, a limited-edition perfume created by Paper + Spark with artisan perfumer Jocelyn Fullerton (Founder, Cult of Scent) and television personality and lifelong cat lover Jessica Rowe. Designed to spark conversation around cats’ remarkable sense of smell, the campaign used an unexpected cultural idea to bring attention back to a genuine product truth: NexGard SPECTRA® for Cats’ low-odour formulation.

Parasite prevention is a mature, crowded category. Pet owners know they should protect their cats, but giving parasite protection is often stressful for both the cat and their owner. Without a launch moment to hang a story on, Paper + Spark’s challenge was to translate a meaningful but often overlooked product benefit into a story that would resonate with media, influencers and cat owners alike.

The agency’s strategy team developed a creative platform that translated a genuine product advantage into a broader cultural conversation. By bringing cats’ extraordinary sense of smell to the forefront, the team created an engaging and memorable way to highlight one of NexGard SPECTRA® for Cats’ key points of difference: its low-odour formulation, developed with cats’ sensitivity to scent in mind. Rather than open with the product, Paper + Spark opened with the fact, and let the brand truth follow.

The result was Cat No. 9, a limited-edition fragrance built around scents cats are naturally drawn to, developed with Jocelyn Fullerton and Jessica Rowe as a genuine cultural talking point, not a gimmick. Once the idea had people’s attention, the campaign moved naturally into the real conversation: feline behaviour, parasite protection, and why product choice matters more than pet owners think. Paper + Spark built the campaign as a fully integrated earned-media play, spanning broadcast, influencer partnerships, social content and live media experiences, designed to show what’s possible when a single insight is given room to lead.

Says Paul Everson, Director, Paper + Spark: “This campaign shows what happens when you stop asking ‘how do we promote the product?’ and start asking ‘what would genuinely interest people?’ We knew media weren’t going to run another parasite treatment story. Our job was finding a cultural insight nobody had heard before, and making sure it stayed connected to a real product truth. Cats’ sense of smell gave us both.”

For Boehringer Ingelheim, the campaign reinforces the power of insight-led communications.

Says Jordana Busenshut, Group Marketing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Australia: “Parasite prevention is a crowded, familiar category, and pet owners can be fatigued by traditional product messaging. We wanted a way into the conversation that didn’t start with the product. It started with something true about cats that owners already sense but rarely hear articulated: that scent matters to them. Cat No. 9 gave us a credible, cultural way to make that point, and it led naturally back to a real product truth that NexGard SPECTRA for Cats is low-odour by design. That’s the kind of communication we want more of: insight first, product truth close behind.”

Campaign: NexGard SPECTRA
Agency: paperandspark.com.au
P+S Team: Paul Everson, Sian Jenkins, Penelope Holloway, Cameron Williams, Becky Amon, Margot Alas
Boehringer Ingelheim Team: Jordana Busenshut, Vanessa Griffiths, Camilla Jury

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