A League-First Deal
The Farmer's Dog has signed a multi-year agreement with the National Football League, becoming the league's first-ever Official Pet Food Partner — a designation that gives the direct-to-consumer fresh pet food brand category exclusivity across one of the most-watched media properties in the country. The partnership represents a significant marketing escalation for the company, which has steadily built brand equity through high-profile sponsorships and a Super Bowl commercial that earned both an Emmy nomination and a USA Today Ad Meter win.
The deal grants The Farmer's Dog activation rights at marquee NFL events including Super Bowl LXI, the NFL Combine, and the NFL Draft, as well as integration into league community programs such as My Cause My Cleats, NFL Salute to Service, and NFL FLAG. The scope positions the brand not merely as a media buyer but as an embedded league partner — a meaningful distinction in competitive sponsorship terms.
The Launch Campaign
The partnership debuts with a campaign built around New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo and his senior rescue dog, Duke, both identified as existing Farmer's Dog customers. The creative follows Skattebo through the off-camera routines — early mornings, recovery sessions, long drives — that mirror the daily discipline of competitive athletics, framing the brand's subscription meal-plan model as analogous to the nutritional rigor elite athletes apply to their own diets. Skattebo's Dachshund puppies, Cheech and Daizy, also appear in the spot.
"I started feeding him The Farmer's Dog because I wanted as many healthy years with him as possible," Skattebo said. The athlete-as-customer narrative has become a reliable creative lever in the better-for-you food segment, lending credibility that paid endorsements alone rarely generate.
Market Position and What It Means
For the broader pet food and specialty food manufacturing category, the NFL deal signals continued premiumization pressure on conventional kibble manufacturers. The Farmer's Dog has built its business on a subscription DTC model emphasizing human-grade ingredients, complete-and-balanced formulations developed by board-certified veterinary nutritionists, and refrigerated home delivery — a value proposition that commands a significant price premium over mass-market dry and wet formats. The brand is also available through Walmart.com, extending its reach beyond the DTC channel.
The NFL partnership joins existing league-level adjacencies: The Farmer's Dog already holds Official Pet Food status with the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and counts NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney and tennis player Jess Pegula among its brand affiliates. The cumulative roster suggests a deliberate strategy of aligning with high-performance, aspirational consumer identities — a playbook increasingly common among better-for-you food and beverage brands competing for household wallet share against conventional categories.
CEO and Co-Founder Jonathan Regev framed the partnership in terms of closing an awareness gap rather than preaching to the converted. "For too long, feeding your dog meant choosing between different versions of the same ultra-processed food," Regev said. "This partnership gives us an incredible opportunity to show millions more people there's a better way." With NFL regular-season viewership routinely exceeding 20 million per game, the league's reach gives The Farmer's Dog a consumer education platform that few independent pet food brands have ever accessed at this scale.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
