Jacob Zuppke Whisker

Before "influencer" was a common job title , Jacob Zuppke enlisted 25 famous cats to promote self-cleaning litter boxes on Instagram for free.

It was 2015, and Zuppke had just joined Automated Pet Care Products, the Michigan-based company behind the Litter-Robot, as a digital-media consultant. Each day from December 1 through 25 that year, a different feline's account gave one of the products away to a follower, a promotion that helped sales nearly double by the end of 2016.

"They didn't charge for this," Zuppke told Business Insider, referring to the humans behind the Instagram accounts. Paid pet-influencer campaigns weren't "a thing yet."

Today, Zuppke is president and CEO of the company, which was founded in 2000 and is now called Whisker. The 38-year-old's ascent to the C-suite shows how a marketer's instincts helped turn an unglamorous chore into a big business.…