BETTER CHOICE COMPANY (TRUPET/TRUDOG)

My Summer 2019 Cooperative Experience was at TruPet in Milford, OH. While I was there, the TruPet company just became acquired by ‘The Better Choice’ company which was going to be taking over as their parent brand.

Since TruPet was a start up, all of it’s growth was in the past year. This meant they were in desperate need of revamping their brand, giving a better character to the parent brand, and organizing very needed brand guidelines that didn’t exist before. We took new product photography, put together email graphics, and created how-to videos for the dog food products that some customers didn’t know how to begin introducing the “raw food diet” to benefit their dogs.

LOGO REDESIGN

When TruPet was acquired by Better Choice Company, the existing logo (shown on the left) was outdated, with legibility issues due to poor letter spacing and a font that no longer aligned with our rebrand. To maintain the simplicity and cohesiveness of the parent brand while ensuring the logo fit seamlessly on packaging, we decided to retain the stamp-like format but updated it with our new typeface. The black-and-white color scheme was preserved across all logos, ensuring versatility and compatibility with any of the new brand colors.

BRAND GUIDE

When TruPet, a relatively young company at the time with only five years of operation, was ready to expand its product reach beyond private sales and into the commercial market, the need for formal brand guidelines became essential. With no existing guidelines in place, we turned to the TruDog brand for inspiration, working to define the unique characteristics and brand traits of TruDog, Better Choice, and TruGold. This involved a thorough review of all prior design materials to identify key elements that best reflected the brand’s values. We then established core components such as brand fonts, colors, and the brand personality, which included defining customer profiles and aligning celebrity influencers with TruDog and TruGold. As part of the process, we also created a cohesive social media style guide to bring consistency and personality to the brand’s online presence across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

TRADE SHOW GRAPHICS

The Better Choice Company had the exciting opportunity to showcase our brands at two major trade shows: PetCon in Los Angeles, CA, and SuperZoo in Las Vegas, NV. This allowed us to design two unique setups for both events.

At PetCon, we spotlighted our flagship brand, TruDog, which is the most popular within the brand group (as seen in the top two images). At the same time, we were also in the process of acquiring and launching the Hound Dog by Elvis Presley brand, so we chose SuperZoo to debut this new addition. For the Hound Dog booth, we had a blast creating a vintage-inspired experience, complete with checkered flooring, retro toy cars, Elvis posters, music, and our beloved dog influencers.

MALL KIOSK

In 2020, TruDog partnered with GS Retail and secured a contract to design over 300 kiosks. I had the opportunity to contribute to this project, incorporating the new brand color palette we had recently introduced. Above are several design options we presented, with the first image being the final choice that was selected for production. The kiosk company provided specific sizing and placement guidelines. We were pleased with how the designs came together.

PACKAGING: TRUGOLD

PACKAGING: BONA VIDA

TruDog acquired two new brands during my time with the company, TruGold and Bona Vida, and the design team was tasked with creating distinctive packaging for both brands.

CONCEPT PACKAGING REDESIGN: TRUDOG

We were tasked with reimagining the TruDog brand packaging, exploring an alternative to traditional photography by creating a concept centered around illustrations. These illustrations were thoughtfully designed to visually represent the key ingredients in each product, highlighting the brand’s focus on simple, high-quality formulations. Each product features real meat and vital superfoods, and the illustrations reflect this clean, nutrient-rich approach to dog nutrition.

PHOTOGRAPHY