As 2011 comes to a close, wed like to thank all of you (our fans, friends, customers, business partners, four-legged testers, etc.) for such an amazing year! Its hard to believe that just over a year ago we started a little company called P.L.A.Y. We are so thankful for the successes and milestones weve had so far, and we look forward to many more in 2012. To ring in the new year, we wanted to recap some of our favorite memories from the last 365 days...
In 2011 we attended many events and tradeshows; we were ecstatic to be so well-received - and all of the recognition and awards were just icing on the cake. Our first big milestone was being named one of Dr. Marty Beckers ten best in 2011 at the Global Pet Expo. Since then, weve been the recipients of a number of awards, including Pet Product News Editors Choice Award and most recently, Pet Business Industry Recognition Awards. Were particularly proud of the latter because P.L.A.Y. was recognized as the company with most innovative and functional pet beds in the industry! Check out our In the News page to see all of the awards weve received to date.
In addition to tradeshows, we were so excited to participate at the MTV Movie Awards Style Lounge in June. At the Style Lounge, we met over a hundred dog-loving celebs who we asked to help us, help animals in need. Each celeb autographed one of two Celebrity Signature Pet Beds which we auctioned off to benefit the San Francisco SPCA. After 10 days, we raised $780 for homeless pets - to top it off, members of the P.L.A.Y. team pitched in to make the donation an even $1,000!
This past year, we were proud to introduce two new product lines; our Chill Pads and Lounge Beds. Both collections have created a lot of buzz and were included in a number of Gift Guides for the 2011 holiday season. Not surprisingly, the products have been very popular and are some of P.L.A.Y.s best-sellers! We have plans to introduce more designs and new products in the new year as well - stay tuned!
We've made so many new four-legged friends this year, and we particularly LOVE when their humans send in pictures of them! In September, we partnered with LIFE+DOG magazine for our first ever Model Search. Now, being dog lovers ourselves, we know how fun it is to photograph our pups, but we had no idea that we would get such an overwhelming response! We received over 200 submissions and thousands of votes in the course of just 11 days! While we wish all of the dogs could have won - Franklin (the super cute Corgi) was our voters choice Grand Prize winner! He just had his photoshoot, so his ad will be in an issue of LIFE+DOG very soon! Keep your eyes peeled.
We also love receiving pictures of pups enjoying their P.L.A.Y. products! If you haven't already, please definitely send them our way (info@petplay.com). You can check out all of our happy tails on our Facebook Page or Testimonials page.
Its always been a priority for us to give back to animals in need. Throughout the year weve donated many items to support rescue and shelter groups around the country; but we wanted to help on a larger scale. Thats why we were so excited to announce our new Warm Bellies Initiative with The Petfinder Foundation. For every Artist or Original Collection pet bed purchased on PetPlay.com (or at participating retailers) we will donate a Special Edition Chill Pad to a pup in need. Were just wrapping the first month of our initiative, and starting in January, well be asking our customers and fans to help decide which shelters receive the donations. Keep checking back for more info!
To say the least, it has been an exciting year! Again, we cant thank you enough for your support.
From all of us at P.L.A.Y., we wish you and your loved ones a new year filled with lots of love, laughter, and great memories (oh and puppy kisses too!).
