Project Overview
Did you know each year as many as 38 million single-use plastic dog food bags end up in landfill in Australia alone?
After 25 years in the pet business, our client was shocked to learn of the damage they were doing to the planet. Specifically, the problem with single-use plastic dog food packaging. The solution lay in the circular economy and switching from single-use bags to reusable tubs.
Delivery Hound is Australia's first Refill & Replace dog food delivery service. Their mission is to reduce the impact dog owners have on the environment, by delivering premium dog food without any single-use plastic packaging. Just like the "Swap & Go" gas bottles at the servo, except they deliver, refill & replace for you.
Creatik were approached to help develop the brand and grow the customer base in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Our recommendations included developing the brand identity, redesigning the website, and running a digital marketing campaign to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to the website.
The campaign performed well to raise awareness with a significant increase in website traffic. Compared to the same period last year, online sessions increased by 148%; online sales jumped to 344% and online sessions from social media were up 2,667%.
According to our client, "the results exceeded expectations in both appearance, purpose and outcome.”
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Kylie Gould, Creative Director
Dan Clark, Design Director
Sofia Merkoureas, Design Manager
Louise Thomas, Strategy and copywriting
Patricia Lima, Digital Designer
Rachel Nicholls, Graphic Designer
Catarina Campos, Animation Designer
Project Brief
Delivery Hound are on a mission to hound out single-use plastic from the dog food industry. The brand was in its infancy when they approached us. They had a basic logo, tagline and website with a small budget and big plans to save the planet from single-use plastic waste. Our team recognized the brand's potential and opportunity to create a cohesive customer journey.
Our brief was to develop a marketing campaign to promote Delivery Hound in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. An area and target audience selected for its high dog ownership rate and affinity for environmental issues.
We began by understanding what had worked well in previous marketing initiatives and who their customer was. A small budget and Covid restrictions meant we couldn’t run local, community-oriented events which had been successful in the past. Knowing this, we focused on the brands' digital presence.
Our strategy was to develop the brand design, improve the online brand experience and go to market with a targeted digital marketing campaign to drive traffic to the website.
Project Innovation/Need
Everything we did, was designed to solve a problem:
1. The business had a dual proposition and needed to find the right words to communicate this.
Delivery Hound is equally committed to solving the single-use plastic bag problem and offering a premium, convenience service. To express this, we developed two value propositions: “Never run out of dog food” and “Reduce your plastic pawprint”.
2. The primary touchpoint – the website – was not communicating the value propositions nor delivering a successful customer experience.
We redesigned the website, refined the navigation, simplified the shopping process, and optimised content to educate users about products and services.
3. They had a basic identity but no holistic brand design.
We created a comprehensive visual and verbal identity around the existing logo. Using features from the typeface, such as the dot on the 'i', we created a series of icons and graphic devices to add a playful, creative element to the visual expression.
We adopted a subtle yet playful tone of voice to reflect the brand personality such as ‘plastic pawprint’ and ‘hounding out’.
4. No-one knew about Delivery Hound, much less the problem they were inadvertently adding to.
We designed a set of infographics for social media to inform people about the availability of the service and educate them about the problem with single-use dog food bags.
Design Challenge
Whilst Delivery Hound is uniquely positioned to offer a Refill & Replace delivery service centred around reusable, refillable tubs - from a design point of view the tubs presented a challenge. The tubs are branded under the food manufacturer's brand and whilst it’s a premium, Australian brand it means that every time Delivery Hound show their service, they're promoting another brand. The tub packaging couldn't be changed, so we overcame this by creating a custom set of product illustrations to replace product photography. We extended this style across all channels and developed a suite of brand templates for use in organic social media content to deliver a consistent brand identity.
A further challenge was how to engage busy, eco-conscious, digitally savvy dog owners in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. We knew if we could tap into their emotional needs, we could help the brand connect. We were targeting people who already buy their dog food online, which suggests they’re already looking for convenience. Our research also showed that once people realise their dog is unwittingly contributing to the plastic pollution problem, they become highly motivated to find a green alternative. Based on these consumer needs we crafted two value propositions: “Never run out of dog food” and “Reduce your plastic pawprint”.
Future Impact
Consider this. Australia has one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world, with 4 million more pets than people, and about 7,500 dogs in the target area.
Delivery Hound have calculated that the average dog will consume 96 bags of dog food in its lifetime. That’s 96 single-use plastic bags going to landfill that can’t be recycled and will take up to 1,000 years to break down into nasty microplastics that never really go away. In the campaign target area alone, that equates to 720,000 bags. Just imagine how many single-use plastic dog food bags could be saved from landfill if all dog owners switched to Delivery Hound. We know that if we all do a little bit, together we really can save the planet.
Feed your dog, save the planet. Why wouldn’t you!
Better Future - Circular Economy
Projects that expand and grow the use of circular economy principles.
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