Marketing Strategy Ensures Viability of Endangered Breed

Jody Moxham is a Dandie Dinmont Terrier fancier and a globally successful marketing professional. She was asked by her club to create an ad for the breed. She refused. And created far more than just an “ad.”

DDTCA created the Strategic advisory committee, which Moxham chairs, exclusively dedicated to ensuring the long-term viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier.

Surging numbers

In three years, the work of the committee has increased registrations of the breed by more than 150 percent. Membership in the club is surging to the point it can’t keep up with printing the membership roster, Moxham noted. According to AKC statistics, the breed has risen six points in popularity after years of decline.

“I asked myself, ‘How would best marketers address this.’ There is a thing called the product life cycle in marketing,” Moxham said. “A lot of breeds are in the “decline” phase…. Marketers reposition a “product” and put it back in to introductory stage. That’s what we’re doing.

Product marketing techniques

“I created a methodology for forecasting success of marketing communications while they were just ideas on paper. We marketed it to multi-national corporations and helped them strengthen the persuasiveness of their strategies and their communications. We were proven effective in 40-some countries, according to the tough measures marketers use. A month after 9/11, the US Government called and asked if we would be willing to see if the methodology that worked so well in the commercial world could also work for national security interests.  We gained contracts from across all arms of the USG – Defense, Military, Intelligence, and State.

“It has been a fascinating journey. What drives me is making a difference. I thrive on doing things that have never been done before. Or that are super tough. Easy can be done by anyone. Really hard piques my interest.

“We will not stay vulnerable”

“That is the background that I brought to tackling the objective of ensuring the viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier for generations to come. You probably know we are a highly vulnerable breed. But we will not stay vulnerable.

“We started this program three years ago and formed the Strategic Advisory Committee as an action arm of the DDTCA.

“The first of four surveys has been released, each dealing with a specific area of breeding and raising healthy litters. Collectively they will be the foundation for mentoring programs for DDTCA and other breed clubs that want to use our findings.  We want the DDTCA to be known as the innovator of support programs for breeders … and as a sponsor of best breeding practices.”

To learn more about the DDTCA visit: https://www.ddtca.org/

To hear the conversation with legendary Master Breeder Betty-Anne Stenmark about the Dandie Dinmont Terrier and its “gene puddle,” click to listen here.