During July ECRM Europe hosted three virtual  programs that facilitated over +1100 virtual meetings between retailers and suppliers through our ECRM Connect™ platform. Health, sustainability and care for the environment has been is running like a read thread through our hosted meetings and the products presented by suppliers.

During our virtual Europen Pet Program taking place 21-22 July, buyers had the possibility to leave a digital vote on their favorite products based on innovation and product packaging. SpunkyPup and MERA Pet Food brings home Buyers Choice Award During European Pet Program – and are great examples of companies driving innovation while embodying sustainability.

Spunkypup took the first place with their Clean Earth Collection and MERA Petfood was selected finalist with their Sensitive Range products with Insect Protein.

This was the third of several European virtual sessions that ECRM will be hosting this year. Click here to see our full list of this years virtual sessions and upcoming programs in 2021

Here are the details about the winning products:

First Place: Spunky Pup's Clean Earth Collection:

Spunky Pup is a fast growing specialty pet brand committed to making high-quality, interactive dog toys in every segment of the market including Glow-in-the-Dark, Durable, Interactive, and Plush. In addition Spunky Pup is proud to give special focus to sustainability and American manufacturing with our Clean Earth Recycled/Recyclable line of toys as well as our Certified Organic Cotton toys. Spunky Pup supplies over 5,000 pet stores and is dedicated continuing to introduce innovative toys for dogs of every kind.
With the introduction of The Clean Earth Collection of Recycled Toys, Spunky Pup is becoming a leader in sustainability in the pet industry. Each Clean Earth dog toy is made from 100% Recycled Water Bottles and redirects plastic waste from oceans and landfills. Clean Earth is available in Plush, Durable, and Rope toys, including an ever-expanding number of Made in the USA toys. Each Clean Earth toy is made of 100% Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic water bottles (PETE Plastic) and product packaging shows how many plastic water bottles were used to make the toy. All toys can be recycled when a dog is done enjoying it -- which means Infinite Loop Recycling. When a consumer buys a Clean Earth toy, they are helping us contribute to a cleaner Earth.

Second Place: MERA Pet Food's Pure Sensitive with Insect Protein

The German petfood manufacturer MERA combines the knowledge of  three generations on all issues relating to the well-being of our family pets. MERA produces more than 60 thousand tonnes of premium products for dogs and cats each year and ranks among the top three manufacturers on the European market for dog baked goods. “Made in Germany” is the promise MERA makes as a traditional company, combining high-quality food production with ultra-modern facilities - MERA is always in tune with the market and works  continuously  on  the  development  of honest,  innovative  and  nutritionally  important  food  concepts  for  cats and dogs. 

Already in 2017, MERA has high-flying launched an Insect-protein based product within its veterinary range MERAVITAL (closed-user-group of vets), and now follows up with the next Insect-protein complete food within their most successful B2C range pure sensitive: 

MERA pure sensitive Insect protein is a Limited Ingredient (LID) Diet with locally sourced insect (black soldier fly) as the only protein, and rice as the carbohydrate base.  Since insects are very rarely used as a source of protein in feed, the risk of an allergic reaction is minimal. In addition, insect protein is an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat.

Mera is also joining our Pet Program 2021