Pet Gazette October 2018 | Page 8

8 | PET GAZETTE | TRADE TALK WAGG UNVEILS NEW PACKAGING AS PART OF MAJOR REBRAND The brand hopes to create a ‘clear, recognisable identity’ across all its products UK dry dog food brand, Wagg, is relaunching its entire range of dog food in a bid to help it stand out and attract new customers while driving sales amongst existing ones. IPN, the owner of the Wagg brand, has invested £500,000 in relaunching the packaging to ensure it conveys the quality of its dry dog food and dog treats whilst giving consumers quick, simple access to all the important nutritional information on the pack itself. Wagg will also launch a new website with an aim to give pet owners easy access to detailed information about its products. The company conducted research ahead of the relaunch and found that many customers believed its current packaging was “very overwhelming” and claimed the language used can be “confusing”. Wagg made changes to its packs to ensure all the important information is now clearly displayed in easy to understand language. All additional information has been moved to the website, so the packs can stay clean and clear. Lucy Stones, brand marketing manager for IPN, the owner of the Wagg brand, said: “We believe it should be as easy as possible for the average person to feed their pet well, giving their animals exactly what they need without having to pay a premium price. “We decided to invest in a relaunch of our packaging and website to clearly communicate this belief whilst being as transparent as possible that only good stuff that goes into our food. Another important consideration for us was ensuring that we communicate the care and quality that goes into every single one of our Wagg products.” COUPLE SET UP HEIGHTS FARM PREMIUM PET FOODS FRANCHISE IN PRESTON Alison and Steve Critchley have run various businesses over the years Married couple Alison and Steve Critchley have set up a new franchise delivering premium quality pet food in the Preston area as part of the Bolton-based Heights Farm Premium Pet Foods’ operation. Stephen Ward, founder and owner of Heights Farm Premium Pet Foods set up the company in response to his own experience of the pet food industry when his Douge De Bordeaux Mastiff, Milo started to develop a number of allergies. Heights Farm has enjoyed steady and consistent growth over the past six months through word of mouth. The model is based on a personal one-to-one service, with products not available on the high street delivered to the doors of customers. Steve said: “We love the outdoors, walking, meeting people and we, obviously, love dogs. Running our own franchise means we can have our own dog with us too. Owning a dog is a massive responsibility and making sure they have the correct diet is very important. We want to be able to help pet owners make the right choice in deciding what to feed their animals and for us that choice was Heights Farm Pet Foods’ hypoallergenic dog food.” MARS PETCARE LAUNCHES ‘CLEAN EATING’ PET FOOD Nutro’s Wild Frontier range is said to be high in protein, grain-free and made with non-GMO ingredients Mars Petcare UK has launched Nutro, a new premium pet food brand which uses its “feed clean” philosophy, to bring the clean eating trend to cats and dogs. Nutro’s Wild Frontier line claims 70 percent of its ingredients are sourced from animals and the range is said to be high in protein, grain-free and made with non-GMO ingredients. Nutro has attempted to respond to the growing consumer demand for clean, natural products in all aspects of their lives – including for their pets. The brand’s ethos is www.petgazette.biz that pet food should be “simple, purposeful and trustworthy”. The Nutro Wild Frontier range, which includes 18 SKUs across cat dry, dog dry and dog wet food, will be available for pet specialists stores to order from 10 September. Jo Ladbrook, natural portfolio director, said: “Clean eating is the number one human food trend; over 52 percent of consumers believe that foods with fewer ingredients are more healthy. This trend extends into the pet food category. With a growing demand for more natural products, we are projecting that it is a trend that will drive two thirds of the UK Petcare category growth to 2020. “Pet owners are increasingly choosing foods that mirror their own desire for more natural foods and Nutro approaches this challenge with its “Feed Clean” philosophy of natural, simple, purposeful and trustworthy ingredients. Through this approach we will be able to bring further premiumisation to drive category growth.” October 2018