From SUPERZOO 2023: How the World Pet Association Helps You and Your Pet with Vic Mason, WPA President

Barking Mad

In this episode, Dr. Megan Sprinkle and Dr. Mary Cope speak with Vic Mason, the President of the World Pet Association (WPA). They talk about what the WPA is and its goals, how the WPA helps you and your pet, and how you can make the most of your time at SUPERZOO.

Links:

World Pet Association Website

SUPERZOO Website

Show Notes:

(03:04) How a part-time job in his uncle’s pet store influenced Vic to dedicate his life to pets

(04:08) Vic’s journey in the pet industry

(06:25) What is the World Pet Association (WPA)

(07:45) The goal of WPA

(09:16) How the WPA powered through Covid

(11:54) The three big reasons people attend SUPERZOO

(14:36) How the WPA improves the pet industry through education

(16:22) SUPERZOO is more than just dogs and cats

(18:37) Critter Alley: bringing all pets to SUPERZOO

(21:57) Why the WPA strives to get pet associations working together

(23:00) How WPA works with international pet organizations

(24:25) How the industry can more involved with legal issues.

(25:59) How Vic became a "Doctor Doolittle"

(27:25) What Vic sees as the future for pet product retail

(29:07) How WPA strives to have the best information about pet care

(31:06) What is the foundation to pet care

(33:03) The most important goal for the president of WPA

(34:49) What Vic thinks about BSM Partners

(38:21) How Vic continues to learn

(39:13) What WPA does at SUPERZOO that creates fun

About Today's Guest Vic Mason:

Vic Mason became president of the World Pet Association in 2020, bringing 40 years of experience in the pet space including CEO and co-founder of the pet food company, Replenish Pet and past director of business development for Veterinary Service Inc., a West Coast animal health product distributor. Mason has served as a WPA board member since 2010 and was chairman before taking the role of president.

About BSM Partners:

BSM Partners is a multidisciplinary team of PhDs, board-certified veterinarians, and nutritionists offering 400+ years of cumulative technical experience, supporting the development of thousands of products per year. From R&D to replenishment, we have you covered.

BSM Partners offers a wide range of services including research, product innovation, FSQAR, nutrition services, veterinary services, transformation, operations support, and engineering.

Learn more at https://bsmpartners.net/

Transcript:

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Welcome to the Pet Industry podcast, connecting you with the people behind the passion, the leading experts in the pet industry. I'm your host, Dr. Megan Sprinkle.

Dr. Mary Cope: And I'm your other host, Dr. Mary Cope.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Did you know that there is a pet industry, trade organization that endeavors to ensure a better future for people and pets, and spends a great deal of time and money working to protect your rights as pet parents? You probably don't have the opportunity to see behind the scenes of the pet industry. But this podcast is about making that connection.

Let us introduce you to Vic Mason. Vic Mason became president of the World Pet Association in 2020, bringing 40 years of experience in the pet space, Including C E O and founder of a pet food company, Replenish Pet. And past director of Business Development for Veterinary Service Inc. a West Coast Animal Health product distributor.

Mason has served as a WPA board member since 2010 and was the chairman before taking the role of President.

Vic is on a mission to unite the pet industry under a pet family-centered focus.

So without further ado, let's get onto this exciting conversation that we had at SUPERZOO.

This is SUPERZOO 2023. What has been your favorite part so far?

Victor Mason: Without question. our new logo. We've had the same logo for over 20 years. And the new logo is amazing. I had a smart small piece in it. Our marketing team did an amazing job. My small piece was we have five animals in the logo.

And I said we need to add in a couple more. And then they made a video. I hope you saw it. It was amazing. This is for sure my favorite part.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: It was a little bit of a surprise. I did not realize that the logo was changing. 'cause it still had the traditional one with all the online. And then I also thought the same thing.

I walked up to register. And I saw it and I was, I loved it. So I agree.

Victor Mason: Having a 30-foot TV, and we got that from Mandalay Bay and that also made it even more amazing.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Any other thing you've really enjoyed with this show?

Victor Mason: I started, right before the pandemic.

And certainly, the pandemic closed our show in 2020. So just my favorite part was just seeing the energy. The number of people that came back We're definitely back, pre-pandemic. all the numbers show that, I can't count the number of exhibitors brands that came to me that said, Vic, this was the most amazing SUPERZOO ever.

That makes me feel good.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Oh, and you're right. You must have been booked out because we had somebody tell us that they went their traditional time to go register for the show, and it was already sold out. So you had some sad people.

Victor Mason: This is the downside of success. Everybody couldn't fit in it, so that was a bummer.

But, we did create a lot of FOMO. and people are certainly registering for next year. Yep. Very good.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: You started talking about you, starting before the pandemic. So let's back up a little bit. How did you even get into the pet industry? And then how did you get involved with associations?

I think even when you're part of an industry, sometimes these associations can feel a little mysterious. So what is your story?

Victor Mason: They are a hundred percent mysterious. I'll just say that. That's fun. I actually started my uncle's pet store, when I was in high school. And one of my jokes or things I like to say is I know the industry from the bottom up.

So as a, a 16 year old working in a pet store, my job was to, clean up after the animals. So that's why I say that.

And,why I got on the board. I have had a long career in the pet industry over 40 years.

And,I, it really was a thought to give back. I was on, a successful career and to how, what can I do to give back? I came to a SUPERZOO. And made the mistake, or maybe it wasn't mistake of giving suggestions of how to make the show better to one of the staff. And they go, perhaps you should be on the board.

So that's how that started.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Yep. You accidentally volunteered. yes. So do you mind sharing a little bit about your adventure through the pet industry? And you talked about that you've had several decades of experience, so

Victor Mason: Wow, that would,how long is this? 'cause that could take a long time.

I've, the Cliff Notes version? Yeah. No, it's,started in retail. Had a long time in retail, learned about many products. Learned about how to care properly for animals. many different animals. some that aren't always nice. I remember, I used a welder's glove and let a, a type of lizard grab onto it so I could get out of his cage.

in, when I was, 24, 24 years old, I started my own distribution company.

And I think it was, 'cause everybody said I couldn't. So that drove me to want to do that. Kind of a specialized trade. It was a veterinary product into the retail trade. And it really got me to learn how, products get to market. Certainly back in those days, how products got to market are different than today.

There are many brands out there now that can sell direct to consumer. Back then it was more a two-step distribution where you would sell to a distributor. The distributor sold to the retailer. And then that product was available to a consumer, for them going into a pet store.

So distribution, that I owned a company then I worked for a large,distributor for 20 years. Met many people. I think I, I met more contacts with there. At one point we had 1000 brands that we were dealing with. Many times you you say, Hey, how's it going? Because you don't remember their name.

But it's a funny thing. But, so that's why we have badges at trade shows. 'cause, we can look down and look at that name.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Yes, I've used that many times and every, I think it's a big little industry. I, walking around with even my colleagues and they know everyone. So even with me being in the industry only a few years, it, like pet specific vet background, a little bit different. But, there's a lot of connections and That's nice.

Victor Mason: It should, it, that is absolutely true. And back to the point of why I wanted to give back is all the people you deal with. They're your family. you can call 'em work family or whatever else. we're we all have love for pets. And, I think that, that love just transcends to all the people that we deal with.

And we all have the same, outlook of what's going on. Yeah.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: And I love being able to bring that spirit into a larger organization like the World Pet Association. So do you mind sharing a little bit about, W P A and what is it, what does it exist?

Victor Mason: The easy way to say that we're a nonprofit organization.

We have, uh,from anywhere from 12 to 16 board members. They're not paid. So they're really trying to help the industry. So we put on this amazing show. SUPERZOO. And in, in a business world, it, does make, bring in some money. We take that money and try to do good works back to the industry.

It, it may be an advocacy, where we go to Washington DC give information to help, lawmakers create laws that will help pets. Unfortunately, there are some out there that, wanna create laws that, prevent people from having pets.

We are, we're on that other side of, we, we believe that people should have pets. that human-animal bond really helps people. We can go into some of the good works that, that we do, but it's really, it's really that simple.

We make money from a trade show and we try to take that money to help the industry and help pets.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: I think that kind of starts answering the next question I had and how does the WPA impact pet families, but anything else that might impact pet families that you do with the WPA?

Victor Mason: There's, again, there's always two sides to this. There's the business side, and then there's the life side. And, we've, we're working, with many companies. But the end goal is really to help pets and help people. It sounds so simplistic and of course, there's lots of barriers that get in the way to get to that point.

But it's really that simple. One of my favorite programs is, it's called HABRI. It's called the Human Animal Bond Research Institute. And yeah. Really all they do is do studies on how pets help people. And recently they came out with a study of how much a person would save in medical bills if they had a pet. which is amazing.

So when you go, and I'm sorry I don't have the stats with me, but,if you would save over your lifetime, tens of thousands of dollars if you have a pet. Because you'll be happier. and which makes you more healthy.

Dr. Mary Cope: it sounds like the primary funding for the WPA is SUPERZOO, which is a massive trade show. How many people attend?

Victor Mason: we, this year we had, over 21,000 people that registered.

Dr. Mary Cope: Yeah. it's an, it's absolutely enormous. And so when Covid hit, obviously with the laws that were put into place for distancing and limiting social gatherings, we couldn't have SUPERZOO in 2020. But yet, three years later, SUPERZOO is now bigger and better than ever. Can you share with us how you did that and take me through that journey?

Victor Mason: It was difficult. I started in, in this position in January of 2020. And, and had visions of how we would go forward, etc. And just a few months in into that, COVID started. We actually had to, stop. one of our, shows, other shows that we do. It's a grooming show in Atlanta. And it's a three-day show, and on the third day we had to cancel because of Covid.

Of course everybody then thought it was a gonna be a couple week thing, two weeks to flatten the curve. Exactly. And,it, it changed everybody's life. And in the, again, in, in the event business for Super Zoo, that was our main income. So there was a lot of, lot of hard decisions. The board was amazing through that time.

We still funded, all the good works that we did that year. Even though we knew financially it would hurt us,I, I actually went to the board and go, we can do everything. It'll probably cost us $5 million. And we went through that and did that in 2021. it was very challenging to get us a show back started. And, of so different from this year, but, that year the.

Weeks leading up to it. you would wake up every morning and look at your email to see who canceled coming to the show. There was actually a very big brand that canceled the night before the show. and I wrote a very strongly worded email, to tell them I was disappointed it didn't get them to come. But, so we really powered through in 2021 to get the show up and running.

Although it was much smaller than what we would call a normal show, we, like I said, powered through and got, and we made it happen. And I think that is the reason why our show is so successful today. Because that became our stepping stone, if we're having a show, we want to get all our pet people together.

And I think that was a really a turning point that, want to get the show going in 2021. to where we are today.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: SUPERZOO is a, a big help for the WPA as an organization. But it's also a really big opportunity for everyone in the industry. It's, you know, I overheard that like everybody is here if you need a distributor. If you want a manufacturer. Like everyone is here at this show.

So by not having it during COVID, I can only imagine that also impacted everyone else in the industry. So what did you see from the impact on the industry as a whole through the past few years?

Victor Mason: Absolutely true. if you're looking from the business side, the reason people come to a show, there are three main reasons.

Networking, being number one. And, during Covid that didn't happen. And I go back to, what I said earlier, we're one giant family. and there was, people we hadn't seen in years really. so a lot of hugging, Hey, what's up? So networking is a big part of, events.

Education, which, really, stopped during that time. There's definitely, and we're looking into further that more education online. Digital education where, not only can you come to an event and learn something, which is always the best way. But you can always, 365 days a year, get online and look at a subject and learn, which I think is really important.

So we're partnering with a company, called FetchFind, with digital education. And, what, it's amazing how far that has come. So you can have fun, getting sitting in front of your computer and learning all at the same time. Stores can help, train their staff. And brands can actually get information out, directly to stores and consumers, which is pretty, pretty amazing.

Many people come to trade shows just to see what's new, what products are out there that are new, that are, that they can introduce to their customers. And many people know that, go going to a pet store destination and looking for that new product.

Maybe it's a toy. There's many very functional products out there that will help their animal. Nutrition is a big thing that, that somebody might learn. what the cutting edge of nutrition is and what might be best for their animal.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Since we're on this topic, have you noticed any trends this year from the show that you're seeing?

Victor Mason: In my past since I was a distributor, I was certainly involved in the buying process. And there's always a large amount of new products. This particular year we've had over, 1000 new products and a new product showcase. And it is, it's for sure one of the favorite place for everybody to goes.

I'll be honest, I dunno how all these inventive people think of new products. But they're always something new that's out there. And usually they happen because somebody, has a pet and they're trying to solve a problem. And many of them have to they come up with a new product. And it's always fun when, somebody comes up with the new products and has a successful business.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Speaking back to what the WPA does for the industry, you have worked on some big focuses, having missions and objectives. Because you as an organization are thinking about the industry as a whole, right? you're not just a single brand who's thinking about, how to, how's my brand get out there and do well.

So how does the WPA influence all these different brands for the better of the industry?

Victor Mason: Of course, we're neutral, to the business world when somebody's competing out there. But, I think from a broad, broader point, and if you could take the food category, getting education out there to teach people what animals need.

It's not that they need just a bowl of food and then you move on. There are many other aspects to how to care properly for an animal, whether it's grooming or nutrition. There's many things out there. So I think that's where we help is really, making, information available on how best to care for an animal.

And then the business really goes out there and creates those products to, to best serve those animals.

Dr. Mary Cope: And one thing I love walking around SUPERZOO for our listeners who have not ever attended, when we talk about the pet industry, it's so easy to get wrapped up with just dogs and...