Global1002019

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Europe Best Online Cat Information Platform 2019

UK

Katzenworld was set up about 4 years ago by a small band of cat enthusiasts who wanted to share their love of cats with a wider audience Naturally, they turned to the internet but were disappointed that many sites listed under “Pets” were in fact all about the other furry four-legged friends; dogs. It wasn’t that they disliked dogs, they just wanted to share their experiences with their cats somewhere. One night during a board game evening, the group joked about starting their own blog about cats. And so, the idea for the blog was born. When working with companies on promoting cat welfare and cat-related products it is a core belief of Katzenworld to stay independent and thoroughly review content to ensure readers are provided with accurate and helpful information. When it comes to product reviews it is particularly important to maintain neutrality so that readers can trust what they read. Only when a product has been fully tested and approved by the Katzenworld team will it be published. While Katzenworld works with companies through partnerships and other collaborations these are carefully chosen long-term relationships after a service or product has been thoroughly tested. To achieve this, Katzenworld has worked with many cat professionals and related associations such as International Cat Care and the IFSM. Katzenworld believes that it’s their followers and readership that sets them apart to provide clients in the pet industry with means to reach an engaged audience that is often willing to provide constructive feedback or help spread the word about products. Additionally, Katzenworld will never turn a contributor away but instead guide them in making their contribution a valuable piece for the cat community In the beginning, they set up a simple web-based blog to post pictures and amusing stories about their own four cats; Oliver, Nubia Snowball and Mau. They soon realised that there was also a demand for a space for people reading the blog to share their own experiences. This is the core of Katzenworld, and something which sets them apart from many other pet blogs; the capacity for everyone could both consume and produce content. At that time, readers began asking them questions about cat health and wellbeing, which lead to the collaborations between Katzenworld and trusted organisations in the sector such as International Cat Care (ICatCare). Katzenworld began a

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successful collaboration with the German company, 4cats, to launch a range of toys in the UK. At Katzenworld’s centre are the editorial/director team, Marc-Andre Runcie-Unger and Iain Runcie-Unger who are responsible for the content selection and daytoday management. They also oversee the direction of Katzenworld’s editorial policy. Both have daytime jobs, so maintaining Katzenworld takes up all their free time. Around this core, there is a small team of professional content writers, which include cat behaviourists, veterinary staff, artists and journalists. A third layer consists of various content creators, such as regular visitors sharing their experiences, welfare experts from animal charities and other pet industry professionals. All have been carefully selected to be in line with Katzenworld’s ethos by reviewing previously published content and conferring with existing connections. Their policy is to permit people to express their opinions and allow them to be debated with a wide input. This is an important aspect of the Katzenworld community which they believe has contributed to their success. Rather than hiring additional talent to the company, contributors apart from Marc-Andre and Iain are volunteers or individuals who run their own blogs websites and benefit from people finding out about them creating good content. Through careful expansion Katzenworld has managed to attract a new audience of 150.000 monthly unique visitors via their Apple News Channel which has added a whole new spectrum of readers to their portfolio. On average 500.000 articles are read on the Apple News channel alone each month. “Katzenworld wouldn’t be what it is today without our large follower base, it’s an engaged audience and the nearly 300 worldwide contributors. And of course, there are also our 5 mascots, Oliver the Tuxedo, Nubia the black cat, Renegade the Oriental Shorthair, Freya the straight coat Peterbald and Ha’Penny the Australian Mist that are technically our product testers! ;)”

GLOBAL 100 | 2019


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