Market-leading product launch strategy for the pet industry.

Product Launch Strategy

TropiClean was preparing to launch a new pet oral care product, Fresh Breath Drops, with a unique squeeze bottle format providing previously unseen convenience. Oral care for pets is very important but often quite inconvenient for pet owners, so TropiClean believed they had a strong offering and wanted to ensure a successful launch.

We conducted audience research to assess the potential of the new product, including social listening and assessing consumer reviews of their existing products. Oral care often means inconvenience for the parent and discomfort for the pet, so to communicate the benefits of Fresh Breath Drops we created the “Happy Dog, Healthy Mouth, Fresh Breath” tagline to speak to efficacy and convenience in a light-hearted way. The phrase has now been applied to the entire line of oral care products.

Pet Industry Branding

To launch the Fresh Breath Drops line, we conducted several initiatives, including developing packaging and POS materials, a social media campaign, and print ads. We also wrote the script for a radio spot that led to some wins at retail. Ultimately, the Fresh Breath Drops launch was highly successful, leading TropiClean to enlist our help on other lines and projects.

Social and Digital Media

For the Fresh Breath Drops launch and other projects, we created several collections of social assets meant to engage the brand’s audience and build its positioning. The Fresh Breath Drops images used actual consumer testimonials in the distinctive (trademarked) bottle shape, offering a playful take on traditional consumer review messaging.

Other collections were adapted to different audiences for the various platforms, including Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. These social images achieved widespread adoption by consumers and ultimately became a brand asset, being incorporated onto the TropiClean website and adopted for other uses as well.

Additionally, we served as TropiClean’s partner for search engine and other digital marketing including native advertising, SEM and SEO, and advertising on e-commerce platforms.

Web Design and Development

With the success of Fresh Breath Drops, TropiClean entrusted us with an overhaul of their company web presence. We designed and developed a new site on a modern content management system (CMS). Our design choices included refreshing TropiClean’s signature green and integrating more lifestyle photography to communicate a more natural, less clinical feel. We also incorporated the new messaging and strategy developed during the Fresh Breath campaign, evolving it to apply across categories.

At the same time, we outfitted the site with brand-building technical capabilities including a larger social component, a retail map that included groomers (to highlight the professional endorsement the brand receives), and a pet professionals portal.

The latter includes an e-commerce component and Salesforce integration to simplify ordering and provide valuable sales data. The portal has built TropiClean’s relationship with their partners to a notable degree, increasing sales and improving communication.

Custom Photography for the Pet Industry

In support of the Fresh Breath ad campaign as well as the web work, we produced custom photography that highlighted the relationship between people and pets and supported the “Happy Dog, Healthy Mouth, Fresh Breath” messaging. We sourced locations and talent and executed images to fit the needs of the brand.

Packaging Redesign

TropiClean also entrusted us with redesign of their flagship line of grooming products, including shampoos, conditioners, sprays, and wipes. We developed the art direction for 4 SKUs and their internal staff applied it elsewhere in a collaborative process. We conducted consumer testing to guide the redesign, and when results showed that customers loved the brand’s fragrances, we ensured that the packages highlighted that.

Our work also included consideration for information hierarchy, featuring careful word choice meant to guide strategy and positioning. The grooming products had always possessed a strong story of natural sourcing and quality, but the existing packaging did not highlight that, offering a more dental or clinical look. To better communicate their real value, we softened their trademark colors to create a more natural look while maintaining brand equity, included a natural texture, and highlighted key natural ingredients.

For final execution, we worked closely with packaging vendors to maintain the bottle’s signature shape while updating the substrate to modern standards. The final package uses contrasting varnishes to create a more premium feel and catch the eye on shelf. When the redesign rolled out, with no other change in promotion sales increased to a notable degree.

Pet Industry Supplement Packaging

Building on their other successes in working with us, TropiClean enlisted our help for their entry into the pet supplement space with their Life by TropiClean line. The brand had an innovative product with a concentrated format that made it more usable for the pet parent, but they needed a logo and packaging design as well as a way to showcase the product at shelf.

Although the concentrated nature of the product was its key advantage, it could nonetheless suffer visually next to the larger bottles typical in the segment. Accordingly, we designed a pusher system display to elevate the brand visually, to encourage retailers to carry the whole line and to keep the product well stocked.

Fresh Breath by TropiClean

Having experienced the success that a packaging redesign brought to their flagship grooming line, TropiClean was prepared to invest in new packaging for their Fresh Breath line of pet oral care products. Tasked with considering the various product line offerings, from advanced cleaning gels to products for puppies, MarketPlace developed design and content hierarchy strategically so that it could be extrapolated across the entire product line.

Building on our pet industry expertise, brand experience, and knowledge of the pet oral health segment, MarketPlace elevated the look and feel of the Fresh Breath product line, from water additives to TropiClean’s new flavored teeth-cleaning gels.

Brand Nurturing

With TropiClean’s web and social media presence refreshed, we have continued to work closely with the brand to develop its relationship with consumers. We developed a social media guide to help maintain a consistent voice across accounts and among different team members, ensuring brand consistency.

We also built an internal knowledge base for documentation and sales materials, supporting TropiClean’s sales team with our consideration for sales strategy and internal operations. Knowing that retail is critical for their brand, we have also provided design and strategy to help build their retailer relationships.