Pedigree wants your dog front and center in this year's holiday photo.
The Mars Pet Nutrition brand is launching the "Pedigree Pawliday Portrait Studio," a new pop-up photo experience at Walmart.
It revives the look of the old Walmart Family Portrait Studio, but this time, with the family dog in the front row.
The shoot is free, but the custom ornament of your pup takes a $5 Pedigree receipt.
This small ask gets the brand's reformulated kibble into shoppers' carts right as holiday shopping starts.
Families will pose with their pets against throwback holiday backdrops at select Walmart stores this season.
Alfonso Ribeiro, the '90s TV star and devoted dog parent, is introducing the campaign with his own dogs, Aksel and Ace.
He'll also be sharing photo tips for getting pups camera-ready and posing for holiday portraits with them.
"The holidays wouldn’t be complete without Aksel and Ace, and neither would my holiday photos," Ribeiro said in a statement.
Colten Kidwell, VP for the dry dog food portfolio at Mars Pet Nutrition North America, ties the campaign to the brand’s daily role in dog care.
"Dogs bring so much joy to families, especially during the holidays.
Helping them thrive starts with the care and nutrition they receive every day," he shared in a press release.
Pedigree calls its new Adult recipes the brand's most significant dog food renovation in a decade.
The kibble now includes plus-sign-shaped Vitamin GoodBites pieces with Vitamin C, Biotin, and higher levels of essential vitamins.
The recipes also come with what Pedigree calls its 6-in-1 promise, covering digestion, immunity, skin and coat, heart, strong bones, and dental care.
Pairing the August recipe change with a Walmart co-branding push gives the new kibble a friendly face on the shelf.
Shoppers who stopped noticing the yellow bag years ago now have a reason to pick it up again.
How Families Get in Frame
Families can reserve a free session at PedigreePawliday.com, while the studio will visit five Walmart stores across four states:
- Burbank, California, on Nov. 6 and 7
- Chandler, Arizona, on Nov. 13 and 14
- Baytown, Texas, on Nov. 17 and 18
- Denton, Texas, on Nov. 20 and 21
- Rogers, Arkansas, on Dec. 4 and 5
Each session includes a complimentary professional photo shoot with digital files.
The set will be stocked with holiday sweaters, headwear, and matching accessories for pets and their owners.
Cozy set accents and an over-the-top festive backdrop finish the throwback look.
Visitors who show proof of a $5-or-more Pedigree purchase can also get a custom embossed ornament of their dog's portrait, while supplies last.
Free samples of Pedigree Tasty Biscuits and holiday treats for pet parents will be handed out at the events as well.
Pet parents who cannot make a stop can still enter a no-purchase-necessary sweepstakes at Pedigree.com/Pawliday.
They can share a portrait from the event or one taken at home for a chance to win a hand-painted recreation by Erin Lynn Paintings.
The grand prize winner will receive a Pedigree Pawliday Gift Box and a year's supply of Pedigree dog food, while runners-up receive the gift box.
The home entry stretches five two-day stops of experiential marketing into a national campaign.
Every shared dog photo then doubles as free social content for Pedigree.
Pet Owners Trim Spending as Nostalgia Pulls Them In
Pedigree is marketing to a shopper who is watching every pet dollar spent.
The American Pet Products Association's 2026 research found that 22% of pet owners spent less on their pets in 2025.
Nostalgia gives the brand a reason to bring back these shoppers into the store.
CivicScience tracking published in 2026 shows that 68% of U.S. adults say that nostalgia influences their purchases at least a little.
The same data shows 49% of consumers heavily swayed by nostalgia are very open to trying new brands, nearly double the 28% general-population rate.
These are the consumers that Pedigree needs if it wants dog owners to give a reformulated recipe a fresh look.
Here are three ways that other brands can apply the same thinking:
- Set a low purchase threshold for the reward: A small spend requirement links a free event to product sales while keeping the perk within reach of budget-conscious shoppers.
- Give remote fans a second way in: An online entry with no purchase required lets people far from the event join the campaign from home.
- Borrow a retail memory: A format people remember from childhood needs no explanation, which frees the campaign to focus on its real star.
Attaching a small purchase to a nostalgic perk gives any brand strategy a sales number to track next to the goodwill.
Our Take: What Stays on the Wall?
Most holiday campaigns are forgotten by New Year’s Day.
We'd put money on the dog portrait being the one piece of this campaign still hanging on the wall in March.
A kibble bag disappears into the pantry, while a framed dog photo gets a nail and a place above the couch.
The catch is that a logo in the corner of a holiday photo says little about what goes in the dog's bowl.
Pedigree's April platform, "Good Then, Better Now," said this connection out loud by telling people their childhood dogs probably ate its kibbles.
Here, an embossed ornament and a $5 receipt have to do that job.
The number worth watching is how many of the shoppers come back for a second bag of the new recipe.
Retail activations that revive a shared memory work best when the product has a clear role in the story.
These top agencies help brands design in-store experiences around the memories shoppers already have.
