'It’s like RIP.ie, but for pets': Clonakilty entrepreneur rebrands pet memorial website

A Clonakilty entrepreneur has rebranded his pet memorial website with a new name.

Launched last year as Rest Easy Friend, the online pet memorial website has now become RIP for Pets, following months of media coverage in which newspapers, radio stations and online publications consistently referred to the service as “the RIP for Pets.” 

Founder Mick Hanly says the company eventually realised it was fighting a battle it could never win.

He said: “We became victims of our own publicity. Whenever we introduced ourselves as Rest Easy Friend, we often found ourselves explaining what it was.

“As soon as we said, ‘It’s like RIP.ie, but for pets,’ everyone understood immediately. The media had already started calling us RIP for Pets and, before long, so was everyone else.” 

The rebranding has involved months of work and a significant investment, with the website, promotional signage, business cards, brochures, exhibition displays and social media presence all needing updating.

He said that during the rebrand, they “realised our biggest market wasn’t necessarily people who had lost a pet, it was the people who knew someone who had.

“Every pet owner may only need our service once or twice in their lifetime, yet every one of us knows someone who has experienced the loss of a much-loved pet.” 

The site allows pet owners to have a permanent online memorial where the lives of their best companions can be celebrated and remembered through photographs, videos, stories and personal tributes.