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BUILDING A BRAND TO DISRUPT THE PET FOOD INDUSTRY
From kibble killer to category catalyst: How we turned nutritional innovation into a no BS brand. No bowl required.
NOBL Foods
Client
Date
Dec 2019 - Dec 2020
Role
Agency of Record
Website
Contributors
Chuck Granade
Business Strategist, CEO
Lando Febuary
Creative Director
Pete Gade
Brand & Content Strategist
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Relationship Summary
When your passion meets a brand that shares your enthusiasm, it's more than just work; it's an exhilarating journey. At CRRNT, we're all about aligning ourselves with brands that are as passionate about innovation as we are. That's precisely what happened when we crossed paths with NOBL Foods, a groundbreaking pet food disruptor.
Our journey with NOBL Foods began with a serendipitous introduction. In our dynamic world, connections are everything, and we owe our partnership with NOBL Foods to a mutual friend, Michelle Akers, who introduced us in February 2019. Meeting Jim Galovski, the visionary force behind NOBL Foods, was a pivotal moment.
Initially, our conversations with Jim were intriguing, but we approached the idea of partnering with NOBL Foods with a hint of hesitation. Two key reasons gave us pause. First, startups often overlook the critical role of strategic branding right from the beginning, and we weren't sure if NOBL Foods would fully grasp its importance. Second, the initial impression of freeze-dried dog food bars left us intrigued yet unconvinced.
Can Pet Video: Co-Founder Jim Galovski
Everything changed when Jim traveled to Seattle in July 2019 for a face-to-face meeting. After my lab tasted the innovative, nutritionally-dense, portable dog food bars that Jim and Ryan had ingeniously crafted, a wave of excitement swept over me.
Beyond the product, we connected with Jim's unique personality and saw a golden opportunity to shape NOBL Foods into a brand capable of disrupting the pet food industry. The journey took an exciting turn when we pitched our vision for NOBL Foods against a world-class competitor, Goodby Silverstein and Partners, an agency actively involved with the sister brand, Dog Almighty. Winning the agency work was a remarkable achievement, but the story goes deeper.
"It is NOT easy to have a group of strangers come in and tell you your baby is “ugly”, ESPECIALLY when you are paying them."
-Jim Galovski, Co-Founder Guardian Pet Food, NOBL, Dog Almighty
We later discovered that Jim and Ryan were specifically seeking a branding and consulting agency without prior pet food experience, and that's where we fit perfectly. It's worth noting that pitching and winning over an agency of Goodby Silverstein & Partners' caliber was no small feat. It underlines the trust NOBL Foods placed in us to make the right decisions for their brand and goals.
In the world of bespoke brand consulting, such unwavering trust is a rare gem, and we cherish it as we continue to craft NOBL Foods' success story. Our partnership was a testament to what happens when passion, innovation, and trust converge.
TRANSFORMING A DISRUPTIVE PET FOOD PRODUCT INTO A MARKET-LEADING BRAND
Rewriting the Recipe for Pet Food Branding and Business Building
Our mission was clear: to engineer a brand as groundbreaking as NOBL's food bar. This brand needed to captivate the target audience and optimize marketing investments. Each step was a building block in forging a powerful, unwavering brand—one that instills trust, fosters loyalty, and propels success.
At CRRNT, we believe that true transformation goes beyond the surface. Sometimes, it's about identifying innovation opportunities that can reshape industries.
Unveiling NOBL: Fueling Innovation
The focal point was launching NOBL, a revolutionary, nutrition-packed dog food meal in the form of a bar. Our journey commenced with a client workshop, market exploration, industry analysis, and product immersion, enabling us to grasp NOBL's essence—the business, its customers, and the sales dynamics.
The Art of Brand Building
In today's cutthroat market, a robust brand is indispensable. Yet, building a brand that resonates and stands out demands a meticulous approach. There are several core elements that businesses need to consider when developing a brand: define purpose, pinpoint the audience, craft a unique value proposition, shape a distinctive visual identity, cultivate a consistent brand voice and tone, and finally, expertly manage the brand.
Starting with In and Out of Category Design Research
We were deliberate about spending time discussing various aspects of brands we liked. We looked at color, photography treatments, typography, storytelling, websites, and packaging.
Our market brand and design research revealed what most of us knew at a gut level, the pet food industry was full of stale looking brands. Far too many brands leverage tons of cliché’s in how dogs are portrayed in the brand marketing and how poor design, branding, typography, and messaging was lacking. Or put another, PLENTY of opportunity for the NOBL, Dog Almighty, and Guardian Pet Food brands CRRNT was developing for them to stand out in a noisy market.
The Pet Parents of whom are NOBL’s target demo include outdoor enthusiasts and pet owners that travel so our design research included both. We looked at a handful of pet food brands doing things right (from our perspective) along with in market competitors with stale or confusing brands. We also took a look at outdoor brands, fashion, and food market categories for design reference to inform NOBL’s visual brand development.
"We knew finding an agency from outside of the pet industry was crucial, we were right. In the end, I’m not sure another agency could’ve pulled off what CRRNT pulled off for our launch at the Global Pet Expo. The CRRNT team nailed it!"
Jim Galovski
Co-Founder, NOBL Foods
WHAT WE DID
Calling a Brand Baby Ugly
Aren’t all brand baby’s beautiful? Of course the answer is no, they’re not. It’s never easy for an agency to call a brand ugly because in most cases, it injects creative tensions into the relationship. Plus, the new brand or name gets typically gets submarined often leaving the best creative ideas on the cutting room floor. It wasn’t the case here; the Jim and Ryan trusted us and the CRRNT team crushed it.
So, how did we successfully convince two savvy Pet Food industry executives to change from the Guardian Bars (MoRE) & Whole Prey product names to NOBL? We let the market research and overall evidence do the talkin’.
Few businesses will be likely to succeed, regardless of a killer name, if there is no purpose or rationale behind it.
Immerse & Learn
Even if we had previous Pet Food industry branding and marketing chops, we’d still immerse ourselves in category research, business, and product discovery. Our research also performed in- and out-of-category packaging research and looked at graphical trends, typography, colors, and photography, that would eventually inform the visual backbone of NOBL.
Our team had never rebranded a pet food brand or developed so much as a social post for a business in the pet food category. Most, if not all of our relevant expertise to date lives within gaming, entertainment, and lifestyle.
Digging Into the Target Demo and Market Segments
In rebranding Guardian Bars (MoRE) to NOBL, we analyzed diverse target demographics including outdoor enthusiasts, hospitality sectors, and specialized groups like K-9 units. This research informed a client workshop where we developed a brand identity resonating across varied segments while upholding core values of authenticity and simplicity.
The result was NOBL - a name encapsulating premium pet nutrition and appealing to active lifestyles, positioning the brand uniquely in the competitive CPG pet food market.
What (Formerly Guardian) does –
We are a health and wellness brand for pets. The ingredients in our foods come from nature, their nutritional benefits are all rooted in research, and we create all of them with the active lives of pets and their parents in mind.
Why they do it -
Real, Simple, Honest.
We put pets first. As a result, we will change the lives of pets for the better. We understand that the industry makes it tough for people to make healthy choices, so we answer all the fear mongering and empty claims out there with truth—truth found in our real ingredients, simple feeding, and honest presentation.
Who they’re for –
Pets and Their Parents
We’re for anyone who knows that a busy, active life is better with a pet by your side. From the start, our pets look to us, and we look to them, as family. And it shows in the way we care for them, especially their food. We want nutrition that’s complete and balanced, proven and safe. Because that’s what good parents do.
WHAT WE DID
Brand Platform and Strategic Recommendations
The brand platform for Guardian Pet Foods emerged from a comprehensive strategy presentation that distilled client inputs, original brand sentiment, industry immersion, and pet food category research. This platform provided the creative and strategic foundation, guiding visual and verbal expression across all touchpoints and serving as a decision-making filter for product development, partnerships, and hiring.
The outcome revealed the brand truth in a fun, creative, and authentic way, informing a new name and brand architecture. NOBL emerged as a name packed with meaning, mirroring the nutritional density of their meal bars. This strategic insight led to the tagline and go-to-market campaign, "We've kicked the Crap out of Kibble," effectively positioning NOBL in the competitive pet food market, informing messaging and the visual ID.
What's in a Name? Everything.
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Brand Positioning Statement
There's no shortage of lousy pet food out there. So let’s cut the crap. You have high expectations about the food & treats you share with your pet. Their ingredients, how healthy they are, and that they're safe. All of that.
NOBL makes the best nutritional wellness product for your pet and we're unabashed to say so. Why? Because we know that in the end, you want what’s best for your pet and appreciate the No Bulls*t approach. So do we.
Tagline
With the strategic foundation in place, a new name, positioning, and messaging the next thing our team cut loose on was a tagline. Something that cut through the market noise amplifying benefits of the product.
“We’ve Kicked the crap out of Kibble”
A complete meal in a bar, with no bowl and no bull.
Strategy Slides
A little bit of our thinking...
Get the Whole Story on How We
Built and Launched NOBL Foods
Colors, Logos, Visual ID
In creating NOBL's visual identity, we didn't just design a logo – we crafted visual storytelling elements that would become brand icons. The underlined 'O' subtly nods to the revolutionary food bar format, while the NOBL Nose emerged as a distinctive brand mark.
Every color choice and design helps NOBL distinctively stand out on crowded retail shelves while working in harmony to communicate NOBL's position as a category disruptor.
North American Brand Launch: Global Pet Expo and GTM
NOBL's market entry started with a bang at the Global Pet Expo, where we launched NOBL Foods and Dog Almighty Elixirs, designed a smart, gorgeously designed exhibit booth, and facilitated social conversations about NOBL’s revolutionary approach to pet nutrition.
This initial splash laid the groundwork for what would come later in the year– a custom Shopify eCommerce store that would bring NOBL's innovation directly to pet parents' doorsteps. Each launch phase was strategically timed to build and maintain market momentum.
Relationship Timeline
The NOBL-CRRNT timeline reads like a masterclass in agile brand building. Starting in January 2021, we moved from strategic conception to Global Pet Expo launch, navigated a pandemic-induced pivot, and culminated in an e-commerce launch in Q4 of 2922, transitioning the account in January 2023. Each milestone represents a testament to the power of strategic partnerships.
