Robot Food puts the barking pet food category straight with itsdogfood.com

Seeing a growing demand for better quality pet food, company founder Craig Wallace invested in the UK’s first cold-pressed dog food plant. To keep prices competitive, he also chose to cut out the middle man, selling direct to customers through an online subscription model. Wallace approached Robot Food to bring his concept to life.

But first, a little background...Cold-pressed dog food is apparently a more nutritious option than regular kibble as it’s not extruded, while raw food is considered for many to be a better option than manufactured protein-based wet food. For real meat jerky treats, the benefits go without saying.

"Robot Food identified that our competitors, based on the quality of the product, seem to over justify their high price points by patronising and guilt-tripping dog owners with cutesy animations referring to 'fur babies' or describing dogs as 'ancestral wolves' that require a primal diet," says Wallace. "We wanted to remove the BS and democratise better quality dog food as the main barrier to trading up until now has been price."

Robot Food’s approach was to address the industry head-on. The Leeds agency identified two extremes of dog owners: the anti-humanisers, those who view their dogs as wolves. And the extreme-humanisers, those who see their dogs like babies. The only group not being addressed was the largest, somewhere between the two, made up of "rational thinkers" who see dogs as dogs, a loveable part of the family but still a dog at the end of the day.

Designer on the project Eve Warren said: "As the category’s straight-talking antidote, our tone of voice was the perfect starting point to lead the design. We hand-painted a bespoke typeface full of bold personality to match the no-nonsense statements we created at the core of the brand.

"We’ve seen a huge number of clients moving to a DTC brand model and when designing for them, the usual retail rules of engagement don’t apply. In this case, we created a brand that’s fun and impactful both on and offline, cutting the crap and breaking down the barriers to better dog food for all."