Procter & Gamble (P&G) Pet Care announced today that Euka, its V.P. of Canine Communications since 2003, will retire next spring after a good, long run of dedicated service. The 9-years-young Labrador, along with other members of her leadership team, conducted an extensive search for the best replacement and one dog stood out and met all of the specific job requirements. He’s an energetic, 6-month old Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen (PBGV). For the next 10 months, Euka will be putting this little guy through his paces as he learns about his new responsibilities associated with serving as the ambassador for Iams and Eukanuba. Before all of that begins, this pup needs a name, so the leading pet food brands are turning to Facebook fans for help, and in return donating funds to an important cause.
Beginning today, visit either http://www.facebook.com/iams or http://www.facebook.com/eukanuba and suggest a name for this new 4-legged hire. Names will be accepted until July 7, 2011 at midnight EDT. A team of pet-naming aficionados at P&G Pet Care will choose the top five names and unleash a Facebook poll for voting July 11-18. The name that receives the most “Likes” during the polling period will win-out, with an announcement being posted on the Facebook pages July 19. For every name suggestion and resulting “Like” from June 29 through July 18, P&G Pet Care will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to America’s VetDogs.
“Euka has touched the lives of so many during her tenure with us, and we’ll really miss her after she retires next April,” said Vicki Seiler, external relations associate, P&G Pet Care. “But she’s going to take the training of this young PBGV seriously, and she definitely has a lot to teach him before he flies solo in his new role: making appearances around the globe, earning his champion title and becoming certified as a Canine Good Citizen and Therapy dog…and that’s just year one.”
If there’s a dog that deserves some R&R after years of dedication and hard work, it’s Euka. Since joining the team in the summer of 2003, she’s been the official greeter of office visitors, represented Iams and Eukanuba at corporate events and industry activities, supervised numerous shelter make-overs and visited school children to help educate them about the importance of animals and how best to take care of them. In 2004, her celebrity really took off when she became a national “cover dog” by appearing on Fortune Magazine with P&G CEO at the time, A.G. Lafley.
Euka’s training program for her replacement has begun and everyone is anxious to start calling this new employee by a permanent name. Seiler continued, “We’ve had this puppy for a couple weeks now and have had a lot of fun getting to know him, but when we started talking about what to call him, we said: ‘Who better to name our newest vice president than our Iams and Eukanuba Facebook friends?’ We’ll be posting photos and videos so everyone can get to know him a little before sharing their suggestions, but when they see him, we’re sure they’ll fall in love with his face too like we all did.”
Visit http://www.facebook.com/iams or http://www.facebook.com/eukanuba to suggest a name for P&G Pet Care’s new V.P. of Canine Communications and help raise money for a good pet cause.