Interview: How Jiminy’s Got People Excited About Dog Food

Let's face it: insect-based dog food doesn't strike as exciting or appealing to those unfamiliar with its nutritional benefits.

Overcoming this perception was a challenge for Jiminy's, which they tackled with innovative branding, packaging, and marketing strategies.

DesignRush spoke with Anne Carlson, the founder and CEO of Jiminy's, to delve into the company’s strategies and learn how they may apply to other companies' marketing and branding efforts.

Who Is Anne Carlson?

Anne is the award-winning founder and CEO of Jiminy’s, a producer of sustainable dog food & treats. Previously, Anne founded Secant, which she sold to IRI. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Anne also worked for Accenture, Big Heart Pet Brands, Diageo, and Seagram.

Well aware of the need for a strategy that would highlight Jiminy’s products over other canine food solutions, Anne drafted a clear plan from the very start.

“I wanted Jiminy’s to stand out on the shelf with a beautiful bag. It was a must. We’re selling insect protein dog food and treats, so we needed to excite consumers.”

“We embraced highly differentiated packaging right at the start. Our category is natural pet foods and it’s a sea of muted colors like browns and greens. It’s the reflex – green equals nature. This made the job somewhat easier.”

“We avoided the color green and instead established blue-grey, turquoise, and gold for our primary palette. A few others, like orange and marine blue, became our secondary palette. I’m proud to say we get a lot of compliments on our packaging.”

Coca-Cola as an Inspiration

While determining a plan of action for Jiminy’s branding efforts, Anne looked into other industries for inspiration, including the beverage industry.

“I’ve used Coca-Cola as a reference because of how detailed and thorough and, most importantly, effective it’s been over 130 years. To remain relevant and fresh is breathtaking when accounting for changes in visuals and advertising over that time."

“I also think the beverage industry embraces innovation and has similar subcategories like natural and premium. There’s a similarity shared with the pet sector.”

“One of the advantages of looking outside your industry is you might find departures in branding that could resonate with your brand. Find your focus and there are free lessons to be learned everywhere.”

Knowing the overall strategy Anne and Jiminy’s used to approach branding and packaging is great, but we intended to dig a bit deeper.

Using the company's Dental Chews as an example, Anne was kind enough to share details about her creative process:

“I looked first at our mood board. Starting there means I know we’ll at least be on track at square one. There was a color that hadn’t been used much yet - turquoise – and I thought it’d look great against the rest of our line.”

“Turquoise is a bright color and it aligned with the feelings I wanted to convey of optimism and sunshine with Dental Chews. Optimism is important to Jiminy’s as we offer a future with sustainable and humane pet food."

"We’re a forward-facing product.”

“I thought the ’70s signified some of those same feelings too and we embraced the era through one of its design signatures - the rainbow. We’ve now expanded that visual, so all our treat bags have color stripes on the front. It’s fun and warm and, better yet, it unifies the brand.”

Trends are Temporary, Brand Identity Isn't

It's always important to be aware of trends in marketing, but not at the expense of the brand itself or its values.

To Anne, this has been something at the core of Jiminy’s, even if it can come with its risks.

“Staying true to our original vision would allow Jiminy’s to continue to be recognizable and stand out on the shelf. Unless the current trend randomly apes your product – and given how much we’ve already deviated from the sector’s tropes – that’s an incredibly small risk for us.”

“We haven’t adopted a minimalist strategy or trend, but we’ve stepped into its direction."

"The back of the treat bags had a huge amount of text and we reduced it down to a simple presentation. Front and back, we streamlined the style, taking away some visual elements, and stripped away a lot of dark colors.”

“I’m very leery of diving too deep into current trends, with 'trends' being the operative word. If you change to reflect them, then once the trend passes, you’re forced to shift again. I want more permanence.”

Remaining Responsible & Sustainable

Values are as much a part of branding as design and messaging, and Jiminy’s remains focused on not compromising theirs.

Those include strong environmental responsibility and unwavering sustainability.

“We’ve embraced tetra paks with our wet food entrée. The paks are recyclable so they’re very on-brand for Jiminy’s. I also love their compact size and rectangular shape, and they pack tightly in cartons for shipping,” Anne notes.

“It’s a big advantage over cans."

"Cans are curved, so when you pack them up for shipping in rectangular cartons, you’re wasting space between each can. We’ve also introduced our 24lb size of dog food. The larger bags reduce packaging, so, for instance, you’re not buying two separate 10lb bags."

“Outside of global warming, microplastics are one of the biggest threats we face.”

Jiminy’s focus on sustainability is such that the company even sacrificed efficient packaging for an eco-friendly solution, although there’s still a need to find better options and partners.

“Our first bags had a beautiful matte finish with crisp lettering and color separations. They popped off the shelf. But they weren’t recyclable and we wanted to carry that message as well as support innovation.”

“We did a manufacturing run of our Sweet Potato & Peas Training Treats, but unfortunately, the recyclable bags at the time weren’t up to snuff. It was too early. The bags weren’t matte enough and didn’t hold their shape. The lettering was also slightly blurry and the colors toned slightly darker.”

"We’re holding out hope for compostable bags that can offer a shelf life that mirrors our product. You must get at least a year and a half so distributors will take you in. The manufacturer who breaks through on compostable packaging will have a license to print money and I’ll be first in line.”

A Word to Like-Minded Leaders

Before letting go of Anne, we asked her to share some advice with our readers, regardless of industry.

“Keep your widget on brand, but try to avoid extremes on all fronts. Pick your battles. Your product may point to the future - and your packaging should reflect that - but be sure to keep your messaging relatable.”

“You’re already asking the consumer to leap with your next-generation product. That’s a big ask already on its own. Adding challenging packaging to a challenging product might be a bridge too far."

"It’s just math,” Anne concludes.