Hi all,
This is potentially one of the biggest projects we (K9 Media) have ever been involved with and it is something that we have been working with for the past 6 months.
Here's the upshot.
We were approached by an entreprenuer/self made multi-millionaire who has recently sold another of his businesses and was in the middle of looking for new opportunities. Like many people who have made their fortunes, he was interested in going into a venture in which he had personal interest. In this case his interest was dogs. Normal, ordinary pet dogs and more specifically cancer in pets. He is someone who, like many of us (myself included) has lost a much loved pet the disease and as such he also happened to be one of the founder members of the Animal Cancer Trust, a charity who he has since parted company with.
When searching for an new venture he came across a company who were specialists in predictive life science (in plain English, apparently this means they make products that can tell or predict illness, ailments or diseases before they occur and thus administer relevant treatment)
This particular company had managed to crack (by accident almost) the code for detecting cancer in dogs (as well as a variety of other conditions) Like most scientists, they went to the head of the company and said 'hey, look what we've just done. Let's develop this into a marketable product and we could help save the lives of literally millions of pets around the world' Problem was, head of the company was only interested in human products and absolutely nothing else.
Since this breakthrough the scientists left the company, met up with the entreprenuer and are now full steam ahead with the predictive cancer screening product.
This is where K9 Media comes in. We were approached by the entrepreneur with a view to helping out with the market research stage of the product. I have personally spent the last 6 months with the gentleman discussing the need for the product and the likelyhood of commercial success.
Here's what I know already. Most people would rather prevent cancer in their pets than try and treat. Most pet owners who lose pets to cancer could have saved their animals if the disease had been picked up early. Most pet owners don't like to see their pets die. Most pet owners are very concerned about the health of their animals which is why they vaccinate etc, etc, spend a fortune on vet bills etc, etc.
Here's what I found out. Most vets would be financially a lot worse off if they did not have to treat sick or injured pets, therefore a self test kit that was not sold by them but instead through supermarkets, pet shops etc, that was likely to identify the likelyhood of a pet getting cancer (or some other diseases which the kit can pick up) would have a major impact on their profits. Most vets enjoy profits and like to protect them. Most vets also love animals but ultimately, they run a business.
Upshot. The general pet owning public would NEED and WANT the product BIG TIME. The petcare industry would have some problems with it.
Here's why I need help. We (K9 media, scientists, entrepreneur) would like to put together a focus group of pet owners who could get involved with the research stage for this project. We want people who are prepared to say why they would desire this product, why they would not, why they would pay a certain price, why they would not, what their concerns would be, what their reservations would be, what would be their initial questions if product was to launch, etc, etc. We would ideally like to do a webcast or online discussion with a few carefully selected but highly profiled pet owners - in other words it would be no use us having a focus group with people who all had the same opinion or similar backgrounds - let's face it if you are very rich and love your pet, you'd probably buy this product if it cost £300 a year, if were not very rich, you'd have to think twice - thus it would be no good us putting a focus group together of all very rich people etc.
I would love for people to actually get debating this product on this thread as the opinions expressed would be valuable research in their own right. When the time is right I would also like to invite people to come on board in the research stages.
I am raising the issue now because I have (finally) been given permission to do so as some comlicated licence agreements, pharmacutical stuff or something has been sorted at the developer end.
We are not making a big song a dance about this yet but are trying to carefully undertake the right research and keep everything organised. Problem is, we know for a fact that this project will snowball massively once it gets going and that will influence how we react.
This is why I am telling you, dedicated, intelligent, considerate users of dogchat, about this really exciting project before anyone else (in the world)
I promise you this will be MASSIVE worldwide when it is done and the people behind it are big enough to ensure that. I also promise you that it is project with a tremendous ammount of good will behind it.
I lost a Springer Spaniel called Penny to Leukamia when she was just 14 months old. I will never ever forget the vet telling me that what she died of was preventable and she could have lived a perfectly normal life with a course of drugs IF WE HAD KNOWN BEFOREHAND. How was I supposed to know? She went to the vets only when needed, to get shots, wormers or if she was ill or injured (which was never) The first sign I saw that something was wrong was on a Sunday, she went to the vet on the Sunday evening and she was dead on Monday morning. That was 5 years ago and I think about her everyday and wonder what I could have done.
That is why I am so personally keen to get this project up and running and would be very grateful if anyone wanted to email me with thoughts, opinions, anything relevant or even better still use this thread just to debate animal cancer and this project.
Many thanks and I hope you see this project in the same ground-breaking light as I do and wish to be involved in its early stages.
Ryan
ryan@dogchat.co.uk
