Whiskas Tells Cat Owners to 'Trust The Purr'

The latest campaign for the Mars-owned brand has been created by AMV BBDO

By Creative Salon

31 March 2026

WHISKAS®, part of the Mars family of brands, has unveiled its new global campaign, ‘Trust the Purr’, marking a milestone in a five-year journey shaped by listening closely to cat parents. The business is driving innovation with a new WHISKAS® range enhancing nutritional quality, aroma, and texture to make mealtimes even better and more purr-worthy.

Created in partnership with AMV BBDO, the campaign will roll out across a range of assets, from social and influencer content to film and out-of-home, with the entire campaign built around one iconic line: “9 out of 10 cats love WHISKAS®*,” a claim based on testing conducted by Mars.

Rooted in a simple truth - that cats make the final decision - the creative puts real cats at the centre of the story. We see cats taste testing the new WHISKAS® recipe, paired with famous cat influencers comparing their usual food to the new product too – because while pet parents may do the shopping, it’s their feline companions who ultimately make the mealtime decision.

The world’s biggest cat casting call

To prove that cats everywhere love WHISKAS®, Mars and AMV BBDO set out to find feline stars from every corner of the cat world, launching what became the largest global cat casting call to date.

The Instagram call-out generated 582 submissions from an astonishing 27 countries. After a rigorous casting process, 30 fabulous felines were selected to feature in the final campaign. Additionally, leading cat influencers were selected such as Charlot Cat from Portugal, the UK’s Kingston the Kitten, and Winston the British Shorthair from the Netherlands. Cats were grouped by their distinctive personalities and looks, from moustached cats and fluffy showstoppers to famously grumpy faces.

These cats became the stars of the show in OOH and a 20-second social film, bringing the diverse range of feline personalities to life across multiple formats. The taste test footage shows the honest reactions from the cats, celebrating how cats from around the world are all united by one thing: their love of the new WHISKAS® recipe.

OOH will go live across Europe, including a London Waterloo station takeover, from April 6th, featuring an array of feline stars. In tandem, influencers and pet parents will reveal social taste tests after being sent bespoke kits, putting the new recipe head-to-head with their cats’ usual food. The resulting content captures unfiltered feline reactions, including genuine moments of approval.

A brand renovation led by insights

The ‘Trust the Purr’ global campaign supports the new multi-year brand renovation of WHISKAS®.

After hearing first-hand from cat parents about the all-too-familiar pungent smell of cat food, Mars set out to improve the feeding experience for both cats and their owners. Thousands of pet experts across the business came together to reimagine the product using sensory science and aroma profiling – moving from pungent to purrfect. The updated formula was tested with more than 1,000 cats and their owners, ensuring the new taste, texture and smell would foster stronger moments of connection at mealtimes. Building on its long-standing claim that ‘8 out of 10 cats love WHISKAS®’, the new recipe now delivers an updated and improved promise: 9 out of 10 cats love WHISKAS®.

Katie Griffiths, Global Brand VP, WHISKAS®, commented: “With ‘Trust the Purr’, we wanted to celebrate our brand renovation in a way only the WHISKAS® brand can - by letting cats lead the story! Real-life social taste tests put cats at the centre of the creative campaign, our boldest proof that cat preference comes first. Behind the campaign are five years of science-backed product transformation, delivering a recipe that 9 out of 10 cats love.”

Andre Sallowicz, Creative Partner, AMV BBDO, also commented: “Effectiveness starts with a strong product truth. In this case, the fact that 9 out of 10 cats prefer the new WHISKAS® recipe gave us something incredibly powerful to work with. Creatively, our job was simply to let cats prove it themselves, turning a scientific claim into something engaging, shareable and instantly believable for cat parents everywhere.”

*9 out of 10' based on NielsenIQ study (2025) on 300 cat owners (UK) asked if their cats love the taste

AMV BBDO Credential List:

CCOs: Nadja Lossgott and Nick Hulley

Strategy Partner: Suzanne Barker

Global Business Lead: Laura Balfour

Senior Business Director: Stephanie O'Neil

Account Manager: Sam Kelly, James Toomey

Senior Strategist: Brian Williamson

Creative Director: Andre Sallowicz

Art Director: Louis Prénaud, Scott Kelly

Senior Copywriter: Nellie Santee

Head of Design: Vanessa Fowler- Kendell