Pets at Home bring new life to their retail stores | #BehindTheBrand

Pets at Home, the UK’s leading pet care business, has unveiled its first location to receive an extensive refurbishment following the launch of its new identity.

The new retail execution of the brand, put together by Household, is the next move in the business’ ambition to cement itself as the one-stop destination for all pet care needs, from grooming to veterinary services, dedicated to making life better for pets and the people who love them. Its veterinary business will evolve to Vets for Pets, formerly Vets4Pets, while its grooming service will now be known as Pets Grooming.

The new brand experience will be rolled-out across the full 450 plus store estate, starting with four pilot stores around the UK, the first of which is the Pets at Home pet care centre at Leeds Birstall.

To learn more about the new store branding work, we spoke to Siu-Lan Choi, Executive Creative Director at Household.

What was the brief for the rebrand?

Household were asked to bring to life the Pets at Home vision to be ‘The best pet care business in the world’, repositioning Pets at Home from a great pet shop with a vet in the back to a trusted omni-channel destination for all your pet care needs. 

This project is the first step in delivering Pets at Home’s ambition, elevating the expertise of the Vet service and Grooming offer and connecting it to the retail to create a holistic one-stop-shop, establishing a blueprint to coincide with the launch of the new masterbrand.

How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?

With the brief to give Vets for Pets and Grooming a complete over-haul we first set out to understand the needs not only from the pet owners point of view but also key considerations for the animals themselves.

We gathered insight from speaking to the vets themselves to understand the complex journeys and variety of missions that the experience needs to cater for, from routine check-ups and injections to operating procedures and the more upsetting moments of pet euthanasia.

Describe the purpose of the brand and its target audience

Pets at Home put pets first, helping owners be their best. Their purpose is to make life better for pets and the people who love them through providing the best products, services and advice to guide pet owners through their pet care journey. Their audience include pet owners throughout the UK as well as those new to pet parenting.

What was your thinking behind the rebranding solution?

With a clear ambition but lacking strong associations that drive emotional connection, we set out to create an experience that celebrate the things that Pets is famous for, with a framework that ensures the passion and care that Pets has for animals clearly shines through and balancing that, on the other end of the spectrum, with elevated expertise and guidance to build trust.

Did you learn anything new during the project?

We learnt that every 7 minutes a colleague has to stop to clean up after a dog! This meant that we had to be extremely meticulous in the specification of finishes and the detailing of furniture to, not only cope with the wear and tear of many dog visitors in store, but also to help colleagues with the sanitization element.

What was the biggest challenge? How did you overcome it?

Pets at Home were working to a tight deadline in line with the country-wide launch of their new brand, and four pilot stores were identified for launch with the new vision for Vets and Groomers to land within 5 months of receiving the brief.  

Ensuring the vet partners, alongside the various stakeholders within Pets retail, were all on board from early concept stage allowed us to work iteratively, building on feedback and briefing site project managers and shopfitters as we progressed with the design, managing the process with many parallel workstreams.

What details are you most proud of any why?

We were so proud as a team to be at the launch of the first pilot in Leeds Birstall – it felt like walking into the visuals! We’re particularly happy with what we call the ‘care’ details where the brand’s passion for pets come to life, bringing joyful moments and a smile at various touchpoints within the experience.

The paw print lighting feature at the Vets for Pets welcome; the Dog Lounge where seating is built around trees to emulate time spent outdoors with your dog; and the careful space planning that minimizes cats and dogs crossing paths are just a few of examples.

What visual influences fuelled your solution?

We built out an environmental palette from the new brand colours, using bright pops of green to celebrate Pets passion whilst reserving a more muted tone for the moments of consultation. We were inspired by joyful moments pet parents enjoy with their cats or dogs – this led to the idea of bringing the outdoors in, introducing softer forms that emulated a metaphorical hug and a human, playful tone of voice in our in store comms.

What do you hope it achieves for the brand?

This is only the beginning. We are really excited to be continuing our work with Pets with future initiatives for a world class experience.  We’re on a journey to help Pets at Home build lifelong relationships with pet parents, guiding them every step of the way.

Credit list for the work?

Brand identity – Nomad

Brand comms and experience - Household