Backbone Branding – Bristly Brushing Stick

We were assigned by a passionate innovator to create a new brand and develop a packaging design for a new dog’s toothbrush project. Maintaining proper oral hygiene for a dog is much harder than it is for a human since dogs don’t enjoy the experience and don’t see the value of proper tooth care. We understood that approaching the problem from a pet humanization perspective the toothbrushing experience will be stressless for the dog owner and playful for a dog.Bristly is a revolutionary “do it yourself” brushing stick for dogs, that perfectly matches dog’s chewing behavior and anatomy to encourage natural teeth cleaning and transforms the unpleasant routine into a play.The naming of the product had to be connected with the most evident advantage feature of it, which are bristles. Thus,we came up with inventive, unifying and descriptive word “Bristly”. It perfectly corresponds to the product: a natural rubber toy covered in bristle line grooves which are the main tools that brush the pup’s teeth. Proceeding further, the logo was developed to showcase the process itself: the illustrated dog is happily chewing the stick which describes the main idea behind the product, the interactive and “do it yourself” way of tooth brushing procedure.The next step was to develop the logo into the packaging design itself. During the successful crowdfunding campaign, the already beloved logo became a strong communication element. Thus we decided to develop the logo into packaging itself which served as a market penetration tool and solved the issue of brand recognition. Thinking about the retail market penetration strategy and the packaging, we wanted to visually communicate a combination of 4 elements (product, process, pet humanization, dog’s most safe and comfortable environment). At first glance, the stick alone does not express its purpose clearly, while packaging completely transmits the functionality of the product. The dog kennel emphasizes the warm, domestic atmosphere and transmits feelings of safety and care. We designed the flat package with volume visualization effect to help the manufacturer keep the cost of packaging at minimum and make the product affordable. This package solution allows to use less paper and presents functional and emotional benefits of the product.