PetSmart® Celebrates Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures’ The Secret Life of Pets Movie with Family-Friendly, Interactive Event in Stores Nationwide
Festivities include giveaways and an in-store scavenger hunt
experience to find characters from the movie
PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–On the tail of the record-setting box office launch weekend success of
Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures’ The Secret Life of
Pets, PetSmart, the exclusive pet-specialty retailer for the film,
is bringing to life the adventures of Max and his friends with a free,
open-to-the-public event this Saturday, July 23, from noon until 4 p.m.
local time in all stores across North America.
As the exclusive pet retailer for the film, PetSmart carries the
exclusive The Secret Life of Pets pet product collection
featuring a range of toys, beds and apparel. PetSmart worked with
Illumination Entertainment and NBCUniversal Brand Development to create
an innovative multi-channel shopping experience where pets from the
movie “take over” PetSmart stores, petsmart.com,
social media and other digital channels in fun and engaging ways.
With the character store takeover, the in-store event on July 23 will
feature a scavenger hunt event where fans will search via signage for The
Secret Life of Pets main character Max. Kids can help find Max by
using stickers to mark off treasure map clues with a little help from
Max’s friends from the movie — Gidget, Buddy, Chloe, Leonard and more.
Participants can find Max and earn a special prize* when they have all
10 stickers on their treasure map. The scavenger hunt also has a strong
educational component to teach kids fun facts about various pets and pet
care.
“Scavenger hunt type challenges and games have exploded in popularity,
and we are pleased to bring this fun experience inspired by the lovable The
Secret Life of Pets friends in our stores,” said Eran Cohen, Chief
Customer Experience Officer, PetSmart. “With the characters everywhere
in our stores, we know fans of all ages will have fun roaming and
looking for their favorites from the movie and winning fun prizes.”
Kids will also receive character masks and coloring sheets, and the
first 30 kids that participate in the in-store celebration event will
receive an additional special prize!* This in-store event will be held
12 – 4 p.m. local store time.** Attendees can learn more, RSVP and
invite others using this Facebook
event hosted by PetSmart.
*All event giveaways available while supplies last.
**At
participating PetSmart locations. Check your local store for
availability.
About The Secret Life of Pets
For their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration, Illumination
Entertainment and Universal Pictures present The Secret Life of Pets,
a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school
each day.
Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, and Kevin Hart make
their animated feature-film debuts in The Secret Life of Pets,
which co-stars Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey,
Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan, and Albert Brooks.
Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime
collaborator Janet Healy produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable
Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney, and
written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch. www.thesecretlifeofpets.com
About PetSmart®
PetSmart,
Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions
for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we
believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection,
PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their
pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This mission impacts
everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates,
and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 53,000
associates, operate 1,466 pet stores in the United States, Canada and
Puerto Rico and 203 in-store PetSmart®
PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a
broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers
dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart
Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services
in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.com,
PetFoodDirect.com,
Pet360.com
and petMD.com
– offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care
information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership
with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart Charities® and
PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save the lives of more
than 500,000 homeless pets each year. In addition, PetSmart supports
organizations that make communities a better place to call home through
our philanthropy program, PetSmart
Gives Back™. By giving back to the communities where we live and
work, PetSmart not only celebrates the power of pets to enrich
people’s lives—we live it.
Follow PetSmart on Twitter: @PetSmart
Find
PetSmart on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PetSmart
See
PetSmart on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart
About Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007, is one
of the entertainment industry’s leading producers of event animated
films. Illumination, which has an exclusive financing and distribution
partnership with Universal Pictures, is the creator of the hugely
successful Despicable Me franchise, which includes Minions,
the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as Despicable
Me 2, an Academy Award® nominee for Best Animated Feature
of 2013. In all, Illumination’s films, which also include 2011’s Hop
and 2012’s Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, have grossed more than $3.2
billion in worldwide box-office revenues and feature some of the world’s
most renowned talent.
Upcoming films include Sing, starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese
Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron
Egerton and Tori Kelly, which arrives in theaters in December 2016; Despicable
Me 3, starring Steve Carell and Trey Parker, which is set for June
2017; and a newly-imagined version of Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole
Christmas, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role of The
Grinch, that is set for November 2017. In addition, Minion Rush
(800 million downloads) has become one of the world’s most popular apps,
and Minion Mayhem attracts huge crowds at Universal Orlando
Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood.
About NBCUniversal Brand Development
NBCUniversal Brand Development (NBCUBD) drives expansion of the
company’s intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories
through innovative physical and digital products, kids and family
content, and consumer experiences globally. Along with franchise brand
management, NBCUBD includes three lines of business: NBCUniversal
Consumer Products, Universal Kids & Family Productions, and NBCUniversal
Games and Digital Products. NBCUniversal Brand Development is a business
segment of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, and part of
NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
Contacts
Golin for PetSmart
Danielle Bickelmann, 469-680-2503
dbickelmann@golin.com
or
PetSmart
Media Line
623-587-2177
