The Holistic Hound wins PIF Innovation Award for tick repellant

The Pet Industry Federation, the trade association for pet businesses, has announced that Don’t Bug Me by The Holistic Hound is the winner of its Innovation of the Year Award.

The announcement was made during the Business of Pets conference held at the Cranfield Management Development Centre from 5-6 June 2024.

In her presentation, Jo Arbon, founder of The Holistic Hound, detailed that Don’t Bug Me is a natural and effective geraniol-based tick and flea repellent.

It is one of the few essential oils that are safe to use with dogs, cats, and other pets, and has been demonstrated to have antimicrobial properties.

Arbon also triumphed over nine other innovative products and services. All finalists were required to present their innovations to the conference attendees.

The announcement of the winner concluded a fantastic two-day conference, sponsored by Worldpay, aimed at pet businesses looking to learn about scaling up their operations, receiving coaching or mentoring, improving their pitching, discovering market trends, and gaining marketing insights.

PIF CEO Nigel Baker said: “Our finalists delivered excellent presentations over the past two days to convince conference attendees that their product or service was the most innovative.

“Presenting in front of and taking questions from their fellow delegates was a nerve-wracking experience, and they handled it superbly. The final result was closely contested, but delegates clearly felt that Don’t Bug Me had the edge over the other finalists.”

Baker added: “The presentations provided an excellent backdrop and context for the engaging talks throughout the two days, and the feedback we have received has been outstanding. We are grateful to our sponsor, Worldpay, who actively engaged with delegates and supported the event throughout.”