Before Grain Dog & Cat Food

"There are 3 of us here in this small Dallas shop we call 29 Agency (29agency.com).
We got our start in the pet food industry, with mostly high-end
boutique foods. We were first to not use animals on the packaging and
start the trend towards the humanization of pets with a brand called Merrick Five Star (www.merrickpetcare.com).



So when we got a chance to design a new 44 sku line of high-protein, grain
free food – there were no rules. Creative Director, Tyler Merrick,
wanted to represent a traditional food pyramid being flipped upside
down with the phrase “New School Pyramid, Old School Nutrition™.” The
food itself is based on the days before grain was used in commercial pet food manufacturing, so with that in mind, Before Grain™ was born (beforegrain.com).
These foods use premium ingredients not found in most pet food, like
acai berries, and we used these ingredients to build the rest of the
design. The zippered pouches and bags are printed in a matte finish,
with the dog foods packaged in black, and the cat foods in white.



The brand launched last month and should be on shelves in small pet
stores near you. Sales thus far have exceeded anyone’s expectations." Simply spectacular. More pics after the jump!

Comments

[Kristan]

Very striking!

[Nick]

Certainly an interesting take on Pet Food labeling. Not sure it is the best execution because the consumer wouldn't recognize it as Pet Food. Especially since this would be a new line the communication of what the product is - is necessary. This can still be done without imagery, but fails in this attempt.

[Casey Kovich]

Do not agree. You have to take into account that anywhere pet food is sold, the location it is being sold in communicates it is pet food. Have you ever walked down the pet food isle at a grocery store and expected to find food for yourself? The important aspect of communicating what type of animal the food is for is clearly communicated. And I think it is a very smart move to create a design that stands out from other pet food products. Most people don't think of pet foods as being high quality, nutritional food for their pets and the way most people care for the pets, they wouldn't mind spending a little extra money if they felt they were getting a better product for the sake of their pet's health and well being.

[Nick]

You do have a point - but from a dog owning consumer standpoint, I wouldn't even notice this. This doesn't read as premium to me. Less graphics and more text usually come off as a generic. I'm not saying the design is bad, but that it deviates from the standard and does not translate well. If I want a food that is high quality I want at least one picture of a show quality animal that portrays the effect of eating the food - even if the animal never eats a bite of it. I still think a typographical only design can work, but I miss it in this execution.

Maybe it comes down to how the words 'cat' and 'dog' read.

[trish]

While I do agree that the DOG and CAT text does not read well, I myself am a dog-owning consumer and shy away from bags that use images of "show-quality animals" on them, simply because I equate it with lower-quality pet foods that use inedible meat scraps as the first ingredients. This execution absolutely targets the educated pet-owning consumer by calling out the first and most important ingredient. I like this because I don't have to be bothered by turning the bag over and looking for a laundry list of ingredients hidden in a corner in 6-point type. Not to mention, showing a picture of an animal on the package can disuade a buyer by making him think that the product is only for an animal of a certain age, weight or breed type - this execution focuses on really the only important part of a pet food - healthy, quality ingredients. The biggest problem with this whole treatment, however, is the fact that "Chicken Meal" is one of the largest words on the dry food bags, and chicken meal is considered an ingredient to be avoided by many vets. I'm thinking they should have checked on that first!

[Jenelle]

I read your comment on vets not recomending chicken meal in pet food, so I googled it because i have recently purchased the product for my dog. It says

"You also want to make sure it says chicken meal and not chicken as the primary ingredient. If it says chicken only, this means that the manufacturers are counting the entire chicken toward protein value. This includes beaks, feathers, and feet. With chicken meal, they are only counting the cooked down version of the protein."

Here is the site I got that from. I would like to find out if that is true because I read alot of disputes on if it's good or not??



http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dogsarticles/What-Is-Really-In-Your-Dogs-Food.html

[Swan]

So I went to the pet store next door to purchase more Innova EVO for my cats when I noticed this new cat food with interesting packaging. I immediately went to check it out. After having done some research on what other people thought of this food, I decided to give it a try.

Honestly, if it hadn't been for the graphic (the uniqueness attracted me), I wouldn't have even bothered.

[jbrit10]

Jenelle,

One misleading point in that dog food article is that if you find a food that has chicken as the first ingredient - but also claims "no by-products" - then you're better off.

[marilyn]

i agree :) great packaging drew me to the product.it is a great product too, so i lucked out.kudos!