Pet Food Quality

• Canadians, especially the millennial generation of pet owners, take pet ownership very seriously. They practically consider their pets as children and want to provide them with the best pet food made with healthy ingredients of human-grade quality.
• This humanization trend is driving the demand for premium quality pet food, which is the segment most responsible for the growth of the pet food market in Canada.
• North American pet owners are spending more on pet foods and treats that are of higher quality, no matter their level of income.

• Some of these premium healthier brands include Orijen, Acana, and Gutsy. 

Ethically-sourced products 

• Millennials want to know where the products come from, what they contain, and how they are sourced. 
• Transparency is an important factor in choosing a pet food brand.
• Canadian pet owners also consider whether the pet food they purchase originates from an ethical supply chain. 
• Some brands give the option to use the lot code on the packaging to trace the origin of all the ingredients.

Meat-Free Pet Food 

• Some dog owners who are vegan or vegetarians start feeding their pets with meat-free food. 
• Research from the University of Guelph found that 35% of the owners surveyed would switch their pets to a vegan diet if the food met their nutritional needs and was affordable. 
• Petsmart, a Canadian pet food retailer, saw the sales of its top vegan dog food brand grow by more than double-digits in 2019 compared to 2018.
• However, it is not recommended to feed cats meat-free food, and some pet owners who own dogs and cats only feed their dogs vegan products.

Sample Selection

•  The main leaders in Canadian dog food distribution are Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. and Mars Canada Inc. Nestlé's leading dog food brand in Canada, as well as worldwide, is their Purina line, while Mars leads with Iams but also showcases a variety of brands under their petcare line.
• However, industry aficionados and discerning consumers frequently prefer local brands. Two brands, Orijen and Carna4, were selected for this research due to their significant standing in industry and consumer communities, namely the Canadian Pet Connection and Feline Living.
• Finally, eight products were chosen for cross-analysis: A generic cat food and dog food sample from each of these leading brands.

Packaging Trends

• All samples center the use of natural ingredients. Purina and Iams state that "#1 ingredient is real meat" (usually specified to the food in question: real chicken, real beef, so on) on virtually all their dog and cat food products. Orijen packaging states it is "made with fresh regional ingredients delivered daily: free-run chicken and turkey, wild-caught fish and nest-laid eggs." Carna4 places the phrase "synthetic-free" above its own brand name.
• In general market samples, cat food products tend to have closer frames than dog food products. Compare both Iams cat food, and Iams dog food; also see a far more extreme example comparing Purina ONE Smartblend with ProPlan. General market samples appear to act on the assumption that cats should share a larger amount of packaging real estate: the pet head shot dominates packaging on Purina's ProPlan, and Iams furnishes their cat not only with an action pose, but a full natural background (even if under brand color translucency). Niche market samples did not share this correlation.
• The general market, dominated by powerful name brands such as Purina, Iams, Alpo, and so on, trends towards familiar ground; photographs of pets are often dominant on the packaging along with carefully manicured pictures of natural-looking food. Meanwhile, niche markets have highly varied packaging. Orijen, for example, only contains a small silhouette of a canine or feline figure on the top left of the bag while a black-and-white natural landscape dominates the package marketing, while Carna4 uses handmade, commissioned artwork.

Notable Deviation

•  Carna4, the Canadian Dog Connection's #1 Dog Food, is distinct from other packaging in multiple notable ways. Despite the ornate artwork being the centerpiece of the packaging, the rest of the marketing side is fairly sparse. (Compare to Orijen or Iams packaging, which contains a considerable number of percentages.) The food is described, ingredients listed, and a few reasons to buy the product scattered in fairly unassuming positions (except, of course, for the dominant "Synthetic-free"): "Convenient alternative to raw, Made in Canada," and so on.

Mandated Information and Industry Guidelines

• According to the Pet Food Association of Canada, all pet food packaging must follow the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act R.S.C., 1985, c. C-38 and the Competition Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-34) 
• These statutes require that the packaging contain the following information about the food: a common, generic name, e.g. "Cat food" or "dog food," a net weight, and the manufacturer's contact information.
•  Industry guidelines recommend pet food labels should also contain: a list of ingredients listed in descending order by percentage of weight, feeding instructions, information on projected nutrient quantities, and nutritional adequacy (e.g., for younger or older pets).

Research Strategy

Conclusion