Nutriment’s new identity by Robot Food demystifies raw pet food

Pets have become a huge part of many people's daily lives, with the number of pet owners in the UK reaching record highs during and after the pandemic. At the same time, shelves have become flooded with options for pet nutrition, making it hard for owners to know what's best for their furry family members.

Although raw diets for pets are not new, the concept is now recognised as a serious option in the pet nutrition conversation. However, claims, counterclaims, and influencer opinions are still making it hard for consumers to navigate the space. Pet food brand Nutriment was founded in 2013 when raw diets were still a small niche within the category.

Since then, the brand has grown considerably and contributed to making raw food more mainstream. Its new target is to be the go-to brand for raw nutrition and provide more clarity for consumers shopping in-store and online.

Robot Food was brought in to update Nutriment's visual and verbal identity, including a new packaging design, with the goal of better communicating its science-driven approach, which differentiates it from competitors.

The studio's account director, Emma Collingswood, highlights Robot Food's work on other brands in the pet food category, such as Harringtons, NAW, Wagg, and YuMove. She also recognises that The Nutriment Company is doing "some really exciting things that present unique and interesting brand challenges" across its portfolio, which comprises ten different brands.

It was immediately clear that, while Nutriment takes a very science-driven approach to nutrition and raw feeding, "that level of quality and attention to detail wasn't really reflected in their visual identity", according to Robot Food creative director Ben Brears. The studio recognised that foregrounding this information could be the key to making the raw food diet more accessible and less daunting to pet owners while positioning Nutriment as the category leader.

Brears says that balancing these tension points - "science and simplicity, expertise and accessibility" – underpins the whole identity and the design system. He also describes how the nutritional breakdown of Nutriment's pet food, which is 85% raw meat and 15% fresh vegetables, informs the design by providing "building blocks of nutrition".

"It gave us a framework for breaking down information, separating product facts from benefits, and highlighting what was really important to give real clarity to pet owners", he adds.

Colour is used in the brand to provide "an accessible entry point", says Brears, and also has a functional purpose as it showcases the diversity of the Nutriment range. For the typography, Robot Food opted to prioritise simplicity and clarity of communication to align with the brand's values.

On pack, the bowl photography serves a dual purpose, according to Brears, as it not only showcases "the quality and care that goes into each dish and demystifies raw food for customers" but also looks "damn tasty".

Photography was another important visual aspect leveraged to break down barriers between pet owners and the brand, like concerns over convenience and practicality. Brears says: "We consciously chose to show Nutriment's real, natural food within the context of real lives, as part of the candid moments where bonds are forged with our pets."

Nutriment's verbal identity was devised to complement the more visual assets, communicating the complexities of pet care. Robot Food's copy director, Clayton Davis, notes that the language of pet food can often feel "a bit insincere, with lots of brands promising happy pets with simple one-size-fits-all solutions."

To avoid this, Nutriment's tone of voice was developed with clarity and compassion in mind, allowing the brand to "confidently show expertise without exerting pressure or guilt and empowering customers to choose", says Davis. He adds that by focusing on moments that really matter to pet owners, Robot Food ensured that the brand could be "celebratory and joyful in an authentic and sincere way".