9Lives Taps an Old Paw to Catalyze Sales

Morris the cat is about to get another life.

His owner, Del Monte Foods Co., said Thursday that it would resurrect the finicky feline and make him the top cat in a new advertising campaign for its 9Lives brand.

Morris hasn’t been seen much for 14 years -- that’s about 70 years if you’re a cat -- and Del Monte hopes his comeback will jump-start sales. Even though 9Lives is the No. 2 brand of canned cat food, it trails far behind Nestle’s Friskies, which controls nearly half the market.

Del Monte, based in San Francisco, is trotting out a valuable asset, according to experts in such things.

“Morris is about personality and attitude,” said Peter Sealey, a marketing professor at UC Berkeley. “He is just the type of cat people want.”

Indeed, the ginger-colored tabby could be a key to reconnecting consumers to a product whose sales have flagged in recent years, said Michael Kamins, a USC marketing professor. Despite his long semi-retirement, Morris probably is as familiar as the Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger and Charlie the Tuna.

“I bet you 90% of the people know Morris the cat,” Kamins said, “but far fewer know what brand he is associated with.”

Del Monte purchased the 9Lives business from H.J. Heinz Co. two years ago, also getting StarKist tuna, a line of baby food and a soup label in the $1.8-billion deal.

Heinz had neglected the brand, letting quality slide and advertising languish, said Todd Lachman, a former Heinz executive who heads Del Monte’s pet products business. He said that at the time of the acquisition, the label made famous by the fastidious Morris was failing cat taste-tests by a 7-to-1 ratio.

“Our most frequent complaint was ‘Cat won’t eat,’ ” said Del Monte Chief Executive Richard Wolford.

Del Monte has since reformulated the pet food. Now in company taste tests, cats are as likely to choose 9Lives as any of its rivals, Wolford said. And after four years of declining market share, 9Lives has made gains for two straight quarters.

Morris might also help 9Lives make inroads in the dry cat food business, where the brand ranks seventh. Cat food is a $4-billion business in the United States, and dry food accounts for almost two-thirds of that.

Although Morris’ mug appears on 9Lives packaging, and he has through the years made brief TV commercial appearances, he hasn’t been the centerpiece of a sustained advertising campaign since 1990.

Since the first Morris ad aired in 1969, at least four cats have played the role. The identity of the latest Morris wasn’t revealed. And all Lachman would say about the upcoming ads was that they would be in line with the cat-with-an-attitude theme of the past.

Morris’ TV comeback was briefly mentioned during a conference call with analysts about the company’s latest quarterly results.

Del Monte reported that profit in its fiscal third-quarter ended Jan. 25 more than doubled to $53.5 million, or 26 cents a share, from $24.4 million, or 13 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 51% to $811.1 million.

The gains resulted from the combination of the former Heinz unit with Del Monte’s fruit and vegetable business and were in line with Wall Street expectations, analysts said.

Del Monte shares rose 8 cents to $10.85 on the New York Stock Exchange.