Jill Villarreal, Ph.D.
Title
Assistant professor
Company
Harris-Stowe State University
Presentation Description:
Human factors that influence cat food purchasing — Jill Villarreal, Ph.D., assistant professor, Harris-Stowe State University determines whether there is a relation between human demographic factors (race/ethnicity, gender, income, age and self-identifying as a “cat-person”) and recent consumer trends and purchasing behaviors (by-product free, human-grade, organic, non-GMO, high protein). The results from this study will help cat food companies better understand and apply the complexity of the humanized cat food trend to today’s diverse cat owners.
Experience:
Villarreal has over a decade of CPG experience in R&D and consumer insights for top pet food and pet food flavoring companies. She is currently an assistant professor at Harris-Stowe State University, where she teaches in psychology and conducts fundamental research on the human-animal bond, perceptions of pet personality traits, and product trends in the tend food industry. She is also the founder of Pet Insights LLC, which provides industry leaders with a deep understanding of pet behavior, psychology of pet parents and pet products currently in market to enhance product development, product renovation, product assessment and marketing of pet products.
