Writing new dog treat ideas into full concepts

The question

A pet nutrition company wanted a fuller pipeline of dog treats for its brand, with room for ideas that could each grow into a range of products.

The ideas had to fit the growth platforms the company had already set and the owners it serves. Each one also had to be developed far enough for the team to judge it on equal terms with the others, before choosing which to take further.

Our approach

We began with homework from the company’s team borrowed from human food, since people’s own snacks are a quick source of forms, textures and reasons to believe.

Fast ideation then took the team through its growth platforms one at a time, so every idea started inside a direction the business had chosen. We wrote the ideas up as full concepts in one consistent format, from the opening line to the design notes, so none stood out merely for being better written.

What the team came away with

What arrived was a set of dog treat concepts, each formatted for the company’s quantitative concept screen.

Every concept named its benefit for the owner and the dog, the reasons to believe it, the treat’s form, a familiar reference point, often from people’s own food, and the range it could grow into. Design notes for the renders went with the concepts, so each one’s look would match its promise.

Because the ideas started with the team’s own homework and choices, it could weigh which to develop further with the reasoning behind each one in plain view. Each concept also stood on its own, so it could be read and discussed by people who had never seen the ideation behind it.