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Deals & M&ABy The PetRetailNews Desk3 min readAugust 19, 2026
Friskies Built a Hobby Shop That Sells Zero Cat Food
A three-city tour with custom trading cards, 3D-printed figurines, and blind boxes. No retail partner named.
A booth at Anime NYC on August 20, where attendees upload a photo of their cat, leave with a custom trading card and a blind box of Friskies samples, and enter to win a 3D-printed figurine of their own cat reimagined as an anime hero.
The activation Friskies is running instead of an endcap
Friskies announced Cat-lectibles, a convention-exclusive hobby shop launching at Anime NYC in New York on August 20, then moving to Rose City Comic Con in Portland on September 11 and FanX in Salt Lake City on September 24. The setup: attendees can create a free custom trading card starring their own cat at a Trading Card Station, take home a collectible blind box filled with Friskies samples, and enter to win a fully custom Cat-lectibles collection, a 3D-printed figurine, a hand-illustrated poster, and a retro tin lunchbox, all featuring their cat. The brand is also partnering with cat-focused creators Nathan Kehn and Gasper D'Anna (and his ragdoll cat Gus) at the Anime NYC stop.
The entire activation is an extension of Friskies' Certified Frisky campaign, which the company describes as its stamp of approval on moments, people, and places that are "playful, surprising, and a little unhinged (in a good way)." Jason Dolan, Brand Director at Friskies, said in the announcement: "Every cat thinks they're the main character. Cat owners know they're right. With Cat-lectibles, Friskies is giving them the trading card, origin story and the clout to match."
No product moves through pet specialty. No retail partner is named. The whole play lives outside the shelf.
The budget math independents don't see
Purina is running an activation that includes custom 3D printing, hand-illustrated collectibles, creator partnerships, and a multi-city tour. The samples in the blind box are the only product in the activation, and they are giveaways, not purchases.
What this predicts for the indie who stocks Friskies
When a CPG brand runs experiential plays like this, convention booths, creator partnerships, direct-to-consumer activations, we'd watch whether that same brand maintains its in-store support at the same level. We are not saying Purina is cutting retail support to fund Cat-lectibles. We are saying a brand running a three-city convention tour is choosing to invest in consumer engagement outside the store, and if that investment works, other brands will copy it.
The other tell: Friskies is America's number-one cat food brand, according to the company. A category leader running convention activations is choosing to invest in brand preference rather than distribution.
The play most pet brands can't afford to copy
For an emerging brand or a DTC operator reading this and thinking about a similar activation: the floor is higher than it looks. Purina has 11,000 U.S. associates and manufactures for 46 million dogs and 68 million cats every year, according to the company. A brand at early-stage distribution has different constraints.
The template here is not the activation itself. It is the recognition that a brand can meet cat owners at conventions and fan communities with something collectible, and that the brand is betting the investment pays off.
If you are a brand operator trying to win independents, the cheaper version of this play is a booth at a regional pet expo or a local cat show with a single custom giveaway and a signup sheet, not a three-city tour with 3D printers. The principle is the same: give people something they want to keep that is not your product, and let the product benefit from the association.
What changes Monday
Nothing on your shelf. The samples are giveaways at the booth, and the collectibles are not for sale. If you stock Friskies, your sales this week will not move because of Cat-lectibles.
What might change in the next planning cycle: if other CPG pet brands run similar activations over the next year, watch how that affects the co-op conversation.
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