Seymourpowell has created the new branding and packaging for premium cat food, Purina Cat Chow. New graphic elements and photography demonstrate the brand's dedication to using natural ingredients that support natural cat behaviour.
"Cat Chow reflects a passion for making products that allow cats to be their amazingly dexterous and active selves, and the brand believe that natural food with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives is a crucial part of achieving this," commented Claire Fisher, client director at Seymourpowell. "We felt that the passion and genuine commitment to naturalness that sets Cat Chow apart from competitors wasn't being communicated enough on previous packaging, so we set out to bring these distinctive brand characteristics to the fore in our design."
Seymourpowell developed a leaf-shaped device for the packaging to communicate Cat Chow's natural credentials. On pack a vibrant green leaf illustration holds the messaging 'with Naturium to support healthy digestion', and an adjoining leaf contains a photograph of the cat food contained inside the packaging. The two leaves are brought together by a green stem leading down to an illustration of a carrot and a wheatsheaf, directly linking the Cat Chow product to its natural ingredients in a clear and transparent way.
A further use of the leaf-shape device can be seen large-scale in the background of the design, seamlessly wrapping around all elements on pack and bringing the brand story together. This new asset is ownable to Cat Chow and furthers its naturalness positioning while also being a practical way of both uniting the whole range of products & differentiating the various flavours and special care SKUs in the range.
"We've changed the colour of the leaf-shape in the background of the design on different products to denote different variants of flavour and nutritional benefits in the range," Fisher explained. "It's also used on the back of the pack, to hold and emphasise the brand story of Cat Chow. The leaf becomes something that guides the consumer as they choose which food to buy their feline friend, subtly placing the idea of naturalness right at the centre of the consumer's decision-making process."
Seymourpowell also created new photography for the range that showcases the amazing natural agility of cats, attributes that Cat Chow's products complement and support. Across the range, cats can be seen dexterously reaching up on their hind legs towards illustrations of spinach and parsley, directly linking real cat behaviour to the ingredients of the product.
The new designs recently won a Bronze Award in the Packaging Design Category at the 2016 A' Design Awards.