Brand launch
Purina® Pet Gear
How traditional brands reach a new audience
It’s no secret that people are crazy about their pets. Understanding consumer devotion to our fur babies – even in tough economic times – is the type of trend that, once spotted and thoroughly understood, can fuel brand success in the pet industry. Pawsitively purr-fect!
Our challenge
Reach a completely new audience for an established brand. Purina has defined pet nutrition for decades. This traditional strength posed a contemporary challenge when Purina decided to expand its brand portfolio into pet accessories. How could they introduce a distinctive new sub-brand that built on the trust and goodwill of the parent while also contemporizing the overall brand, and expanding its relevance to new consumers?
Parent brand
New Pet Gear brand
Our solution
Give voice to the pet Inside the consumer’s head.
We started from the premise that people think of their pets as people (a positive thing; according to an article in Psychology Today that states, “thinking about the behaviors of dogs in the same way that we think about the behaviors of young humans can help us to understand” our pets).
We conducted trend research targeting a contemporary audience to determine the latest tastes in colors, textures, surface treatments and other key creators of product affinity and preference. Finally, we combined our consumer perspective with the trend research – and, of course, our extensive experience in package and graphic design – to help create a uniquely engaging line of pet accessories, from toys to food bowls, leashes to beds, that incorporated a quirky and fun visual and verbal style. We even let the end users “speak for themselves,” putting all marketing copy in first-person dog and cat. (Incorporate: “attitude,” humor element, quirky design and photo style.)
Brand expression via unique + sassy pet-centric voice and visually engaging wide-angle photography
Unique illustrative and iconic styling to reinforce the quirky brand personality
Contemporary pattern development covered the range from fresh, bread-and-butter stripes to novelty prints
Product development direction and oversight, utilizing the key design elements
Packaging design
The results
A compelling new brand extension for a traditional brand that delights contemporary consumers and engages them with a long-standing brand in entirely new ways.