Grandpa Gus’s Refresh: Updating an Old-Fashioned Brand for the Modern Market

Grandpa Gus’s was a highly successful all-natural pest control brand in the online market. However, their parent company, VCM Products LLC, recognized the need for a packaging design refresh to expand their distribution in retail and accommodate future growth.

Grandpa Gus’s products are safe to use around people and animals, and are made with simple ingredients, in line with their guiding principle of “what’s good for nature is good for us all.” The objective was to capture the brand’s essence with specific asks to leverage the existing color scheme from their star product, Mouse Repellent Pouches, and illustrations of animals and insects with the updated design.

Building a Brand for Future Generation
Design Resource Center was excited to revamp the old-fashioned brand with a contemporary twist, passing down Grandpa Gus’s effective home remedies to future generations. A thorough category audit was conducted to ensure the new packaging would have an improved on-shelf presence while maintaining the brand integrity and equities that Grandpa Gus’s customers know and love.

After a series of character-building exercises with the client, we established a tone of voice and physical attributes for Grandpa Gus. The new brandmark with his likeness reinforces the wisdom and authentic character of Grandpa Gus, evoking a feeling a safety and trust.

The resulting black and white palette and strong design architecture provides a consistent visual identity for the full line, while distinct color-coding allows for easy product differentiation and shop-ability in each category.

Folks Love Grandpa Gus
The success of the Grandpa Gus’s brand refresh is evident in the fact that are now distributed in thousands of stores nationwide, including top global retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot. The brand also continues to achieve high rankings on Amazon and has garnered over 10,000 five-star customer reviews.

The evolution of Grandpa Gus’s from e-commerce to traditional retail demonstrates the power of effective package design in an era when audiences are fragmented, and visual communication and emotional connection is more critical than ever.

SCOPE: Strategy, Brand Identity, Package Design.