Petco, the retailer for all things pets, is making massive changes to better serve pets. The first of these changes: removing all dog and cat foods and treats with artificial ingredients.

The issue is that most Petco shoppers will learn the brand is going artificial free in-store – while they’re shopping for their usual pet food. Petco’s new look and feel had to (1) breakthrough in an advertising sense, and (2) create a thoughtful in-store presence to mitigate the confusion and frustration shoppers will feel when they discover their pet food is being phased out. All of this in over 1500 stores across the country.

On top of that, there is an overwhelming misattribution for consumers when it comes to Petco and Petsmart that many people don’t even recall which retailer they just walked out of. We had to make a bold statement that would make people remember Petco.

We designed an energetic modular visual system that was impactful and attention-grabbing in all our stores, guiding and informing customers to make the switch to artificial free and get excited about it.

Every design decision was made in service to the ideals of pet ‘health’ and ‘performance – not just among fancy breeds, but in all pets. Pets appear active, photographed in a visceral style, as they overlap with big, clear bold type, furry graphic patterns, and a fun AF copy tone. All to showcase pets at their artificial free best.

Colors, patterns, big booming type, and gorgeous close-up photography of pets met customers at every touchpoint, and worked to get them excited about the future of their pet’s food.

We refreshed everything from the logo, to copy tone, to the photo library and color palette, to launch Petco’s nutrition initiative in stores across the country.

We broadcast our message and refreshed look at the entrance of our store with in-store posters, and surrounded the food aisle with ceiling banners and stanchions in our new design that said, “Come Get It” and “Bye Bye Nasties” – speaking to pets directly while acknowledging the voice they’ve had all along.

Paw print floor decals lead shoppers to the food aisle; shelf talkers directed shoppers to new artificial free brands that were nutritionally closest to their old kibble.

Employee t-shirts encouraged people to ask for help finding a new food brand.

All of this across 1500+ Petco stores nationwide.

62% of Petco customers are considering switching to a new food that meets the new standards, with more than half (51%) indicating that the new nutritional guidelines are the reason why.

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