About the Company
Darwin’s Pet was founded 16 years ago with a special mission in mind: provide pets a healthy lifestyle that’s convenient and accessible. To do that, the brand specializes in organic, human-grade meals–custom-made for a healthy lifestyle. Delivering cats and dogs quality food is just one of the things the brand is known for.
In efforts to quip their core mission, the company supports various foster and adoption programs to ensure cats and dogs find the healthy homes they deserve. This is done by promoting local pet rescue and shelter organizations, and providing special food product lines for pets with health concerns. Their purposeful mission is rooted throughout their brand, helping pets and their owners enjoy more years of healthy companionship together.
Third Time’s a Charm
Like any mission, brands need a powerful platform to get their message across, going beyond a simple website and logo. That’s where Brittany Rees, Marketing and Communications Manager at Darwin’s Pet sought to engage the company’s updated branding with a wider audience online. Perfecting the brand identity was surely a project of its own, but finding the perfect solution to creatively communicate the mission at hand was another challenge.
After trying both creative in-house solutions and agencies, it was time for an upgrade. “Our in-house designer was not the right match for the position and agencies in the area were super overpriced,” Brittany shares. While agencies were more trustworthy in bringing fresh, high-quality creativity to the brand’s campaigns, their high price tags didn’t make the cut for a long-term solution. In-house creatives seemed like the better alternative, but with continuous growth and expansion, Darwin’s Pet found themselves at a standstill when it came to diversifying their skill sets.
With persistence in finding the perfect fit, the company finally found itself a third option worth trying–Designity. Brittany points out that, “Having everything in one place as a one-stop solution was the solution we were looking for versus one designer who has one certain kind of skillset.” And after 16 months of successful projects, Darwin’s Pet has settled for just one in-house coder to handle their website, leaving Designity to handle all things creative.
Fresh Food, Fresh Ideas
Regardless of the solution, Darwin’s Pet needed content that was modern and fresh. Like the pet industry, design trends move incredibly fast, making it hard for single in-house team members to keep up and an agency to let their prices down. Luckily, Designity’s collaborative approach had the capacity to keep a steady relationship, ditching the need for Brittany to find a new in-house team.
The organized workflow of having one point of contact and a dedicated team was able to keep projects fluid and in a constant flow. Brittany credits being able to “know when things are coming in, who I’m talking to, and having regular calls scheduled” to streamlining the creative department she didn’t need to source herself. Aside from the need for flexible and quick turnarounds, the diverse skillset and capacity for specialization was an advantage Darwin’s Pet discovered they needed. After experiencing the challenges of single in-house creatives, sacrificing the need for diverse skills wasn’t something they were willing to do.
One of the biggest advantages that Brittany credits her decision to choose Designity is “having different talents from graphic designers to videographers, or even voiceover artists and copywriters without having to onboard them.” The option of gathering skills when needed undeniably plays a part in the company’s ability to push out more quality content.
A Mutual Love for Pets
As in all Designity experiences, the first step to collaborating is being matched with a compatible point of contact to oversee and manage the work. Creative Director, Cristin B., is to credit for the five-star efficiency and quality Darwin’s Pet has experienced. “Having pets in the center of a project is always fun for me. It was great to see the ideas come to life,” explains Cristin.
Luckily, passion and talent weren’t the only things Cristin was fond of. The creative director also happened to have a knack for innovation and the keeping up of trends. When asked what their initial approach to the project pipeline was, they shared that their focus was to “move older execs out of traditional marketing and into social media,” prompting Darwin’s Pet to dive right into digital content.
Pet Owner-Approved Projects
With pet owners as the target consumer, careful consideration of details was essential when it came to effectively portraying the company’s value. This was especially relevant when it came to the creation of digital content. These projects were far from a one-man’s job though, as Cristin hand-selected a specialized team of creatives to assist their vision. It was just as important for the creative team to be reliable as they were talented.
And like any company, knowing where every penny of a budget is being allocated is crucial. Darwin’s Pet made their priority of reliable communication very clear from the beginning. After quickly experiencing, Brittany shares that she “always knows what the designers are working on” and that she can “rely on Designity to do all these projects without having to do a lot at all.” Like many marketing managers, the time to source and manage creative teams is almost non-existent, pressing the need for solutions like Designity.
However, no matter the solution, problems naturally arise. Darwin’s Pet just so happened to onboard at the cusp of the COVID-19 pandemic. This made Creative Director, Cristin’s job incredibly complicated when it came to shooting live video content. Although a sticky situation, it was certainly no challenge a Designity creative director couldn’t solve.
“We collaborated with a great videographer from our network of creatives that also had a large dog, which the company’s founder loved. It was such a great match,” shares Cristin. Hand-picking the perfect creatives to execute a department size of projects was always a part of the job, but one with a special pet was certainly a new task. In times of concern, there’s no doubt that the custom-built teams played a part in the success.
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Results Worth Wagging a Tail
The process of executing a project is only half the worry. The outcome was something Darwin’s Pet was eager to put to the test. Having a dedicated and very involved executive team, it was important that the results of the Designity experience met the company’s standards. After updating their branding and introducing new mediums of digital content, the transformation was easily visible across team members.
“With the rebrand and everything, we have definitely seen an upgrade to the quality of work we are putting out. In general, the visuals have been a lot better and a lot more consistent,” says Brittany. And while the quality of a project is crucial to its success, the turnaround time is just as significant to pushing out more content. Because of Designity’s incredibly fast pace in delivering five-star creativity, Darwin’s Pet was able to conduct more A/B tests, something they weren’t able to do with solutions before.
Brittany believes that “because of how quickly Designity can turn over things, especially ads, we have been able to test a lot more and be very agile on the advertising front.” The ability to execute more content and perfect a company’s advertising efforts is something many marketing managers wish to achieve. Thanks to Designity, that was made possible.
“I would describe Designity with the word efficient. It's both time-efficient and cost-efficient. That's probably the biggest advantage Designity has.”
– Brittany Rees, Marketing & Communications Manager at Darwin’s Pet
While prioritizing the health and lifestyles of pets and their owners, it was just as important to make sure the message was communicated effectively. After trial and error and the unique experience of a new model, the company was able to get its hands on an innovative approach to their creative department. From rebranded collateral to digital video content, Brittany and Creative Director, Cristin, were able to bring Darwin’s Pet up to modern standards and into more online exposure. The result? Content that’s as fresh and human-grade as the creatives that executed them.
Disclaimer: Because we prioritize the privacy and security of our clients, some information or visuals may be missing from this case study.
