Reducing pet homelessness by inspiring responsible pet ownership
Problem: Over 6.5 million pets are made homeless every year in the U.S. alone. Pet homelessness is a major problem around the world — often a result of misinformed expectations surrounding the true responsibilities and resources required to successful raise a pet.
Solution: In response to this, Mars Inc. a global manufacturer of pet food and provider of animal care services, developed a 50-page scientific guide that synthesizes years of research on responsible pet ownership.
Task: Transform the scientific guide into an accessible online experience for both existing and aspiring pet owners across all demographics.
Role: UX Designer & Content Strategist, working with a Creative Director, Web Developer, IT Administration, Brand Manager, and Copywriter.
Yes that is Chris Evans (Captain America)!
Research & Planning
Navigation decision
We debated two possible directions for navigation. Content volume was a major consideration as we had a extensive scientific guide to translate and re-create as a visual reading experience. We looked at comparator sites to draw inspiration from that included other high-volume instructional content like Google’s Material Design Guidelines and Apple’s Human Interface Guideline website.
Design decision:
We went with Option B, alongisde the pet life-stage centric approach to priortize the website for aspiring pet owners who have limited knowledge of petcare expectations and needs.
Marketing
Starting with our refreshed tone of voice and brand goals, we developed a social media marketing strategy that leveraged the new creative direction. One of our creative tasks was to figure out how to help Mars speak in a tone of voice that reflected their new brand purpose.
We crafted over 30x social posts, include photography sourcing, copywriting, hashtag strategy, and post calendar.
Outcomes
29,000 visitors to the site / weekly since launch
39% bounce rate
3x budget growth + new business unit project
Future: integrate content with commerce and address QA issues