The pet food industry was changing fast. Online services were driving down margins while interest in premium food was soaring. Mars knew more about nutrition and pet ownership than anyone, but didn’t have experience selling directly to consumers. They wanted to explore the world of DTC and uncover what they could offer that no other company could.
We designed a 7-week lab to identify all the pain points in the dog food buying process, things like hard-to-handle bags, knowing how much is left, and accommodating dog’s changing needs. Once identified, we honed in on the top challenges we could solve then went to work on prototyping solutions to solve them. From text-based reordering and more-convenient packaging to age-based suggestions and food-finder quizzes, we tried it all to see what worked best.
Armed with the insights from our process, Mars launched its first ever DTC product, Puppo, and redpepper was there every step of the way, concepting and producing the go-to-market campaign. And we didn’t stop there. We’ve continued to help Mars fold these DTC strategies and learnings into their legacy brands including Iams, CESAR, and Nutro.