Challenge
Pet food is a $10.4 billion U.S. business, and consumers have a daunting number of products to choose from with each trip to the pet food aisle. Packaging is a key factor in the selection process, so CRAVE™, a high-protein pet food brand inspired by a dog’s natural diet, needed a disruptive package design to sell product through mass channels.
Insight
Playing off the ancestral connection between domesticated dogs and their wild ancestors, the Brighton design team combined a gritty typeface, dark colors and the eyes of a wolf. By making the key design element — the animal’s eyes — pop, the product itself pops off the shelves, disrupting its segment in the process.
Strategy + Execution
The effect is intriguing, memorable and unique, encouraging pet owners to make the leap that if a high-protein diet was the instinctual choice of wolves, it must also be beneficial to our modern-day beloved dogs. Humans instinctually lock eyes. By showing the eyes of a wolf, we boldly grab shoppers’ interest and draw them to our product.
- Packaging/Point-of-Sale
- Advertising
- Branding
- Media Planning/Management
Results
Brighton’s deep-rooted industry knowledge allowed us to be nimble — from download to store shelves in six months. Every design element, from eye color to scaling to color palette, was tested in focus groups.By designing packaging in tandem with these focus group events, Brighton was able to bring the new brand, and corresponding package design, to market quickly, effectively and disruptively.The CRAVE™ product design was strong enough to support global sales without a corresponding paid launch campaign. What began as a simple packaging assignment evolved into an international brand campaign. The brand continues to be a success and is growing into markets around the globe.
That’s creativity that means business.
