Making of Dog Cookies that are better than Human Cookies

It was 22nd September 2016, exactly one year after launching World’s best Dog Chews made from Yak Milk (Dogsee Chew), me and Diwakar (COO, Dogsee Chew) were discussing about company future plans over tea.

By then, Dogsee Chew had been moderately successful in India but had received a lot of appreciation from the industry for being unique and healthy. It was doing average business in India but was receiving big orders from overseas. The company stakeholders were happy to see money flowing in but we weren’t so happy. We wanted to grow India business and create bigger impact here.

Our sales leaders, North India Director Rajat and South India Director Ajay complained about our limited portfolio, and suggested to add more products. And, this time, they wanted something very common that could be sold in every store without having to create a new market.

I and Diwakar could understand their views on portfolio expansion but we weren't going to launch a clone of existing treats or biscuits or cookies. We wanted to stick to our core philosophy :

Vegetarian, Healthy, High Quality and Human Grade.

However, this was the day when we let go three major pillars of our company – All Natural, Yak Milk and Himalayas, that had actually built Dogsee Chew.

We fought, brainstormed and did various rounds of discussions. We took the discussion to our advisors, investors, agency (Ittisa), and more. Everyone in the company was throwing his/her ideas and when everyone thought about product, I focused myself on keeping the core DNA of the company intact.

We both discussed a variety of products from treats to biscuits to cookies to dog food. Nevertheless, we could agree on only one thing that day that Unibic cookies (which we were having in that tea session) were indeed amazing. Rest were kept for future discussions and team meetings.

Design of the Dogsee Bites Packets:

I went to Ittisa’s office the very next day and sat with the team to discuss new product plans. I had taken a few packets of Unibic Cookies with me and I showed it to them asking them to come up with designs as good as the ones Unibic Packets had.

We discussed few options and few sketches were created.

The Creative Team were super excited as it was the second product design assignment for Ittisa. And, why wouldn't they be? We all were on our way to launch World's best cookies for dogs.

The discussions went on and several samples were created. I was more or less happy with what we had. But Sneh, CEO at Ittisa, completely rejected my choice and thoughts behind the package design.

See more about it towards the end.

Unibic and their great heart:

I called Diwakar from Ittisa office and asked him to see if we could get an appointment with Operations team of Unibic to explore if they could actually help us manufacture the cookies. To my surprise, even though they were big enough as a company, Mr Mani, Operations Director gave us an appointment to present our case.

We had done some research on Dog Cookies by then. We had also discussed about it with four Veterinary doctors, and had come up with some layouts on our requirements. Dr Nanjundappa from V Care and Dr Narendra from Bangalore Pet Hospital had given us some real good insights, and we too had done some secondary research. However, the final research had to be done in collaboration with a manufacturer.

We asked Mr Mani to help us. Mr Mani not only agreed but also brought Mr Shiv Bhat, Head of Research at Unibic to support us. The research started, samples were produced and tested in Lab. Those samples were also tested for palatability with dogs. We then collected feedback from Veterinary doctors, pet nutritionists and over 100 pet parents. The excitement was unparalleled among all. This was a big encouragement for us.

In two months, everything was set and we finally got the best possible recipe for the Best Cookies of the World. And, it contained no maida, it was 100% atta, no sugar, no Xylitol, no Mylitol, no Sucrose, and still had the flavours and awesomeness of cookies. The sweetness came from Jaggery and Honey. This quality is maintained even now.

In addition to that, it had real fruits and vegetables, along with natural Peanut Butter, Pumpkin Seeds, Yogurt and Milk. I feel the world conspired to give us that wonderful recipe.

Then the reality hit us..

Unibic’s own products were doing so amazing that they were not having any capacity to support us. We got upset and dissappointed with Unibic’s decision but we knew we had came so far only with their help.

We went back to Mr Mani and asked him who in India had the capacity and credibility to build these cookies for us. We wanted the quality of Unibic and hence were not ready to compromise. He suggested us 5-6 names – including Paramount Foods Bangalore, Ravi Foods Hyderabad, Sarjena Foods Mumbai, Milano Hyderabad etc.

The hunt for manufacturer had started and we had 3 criteria for manufacturers :

1) They had to be well known for quality and professionalism

2) They should have had all the major approvals for exports

3) They had to be willing enough to produce Dog cookies (of course Human Grade).

Universe conspired to make it happen

We went ahead with evaluating the manufacturers and we travelled North, South and West India. However, it wasn't easy enough to find the quality and expectations set by the high standards of Unibic.

Finally, we found one and let me tell you, this became possible as we had found some really awesome dog lovers as heads of some really largest private label cookies' manufacturers.

Finally, the product hit the shelf. Wait - the story remains on the part of packaging.

Packaging that challenged the status quo

While we were zeroing in to the packaging design, we were also discussing on the USPs of the product and the amazing product ingredients. Guess what? Sneh enters the room and trashes the design.

The design, according to her, lacked crisp messaging and emotional appeal to the people. It also lacked the creative look and feel which made the design meaningless.

I resisted her thought and we had a good debate. Finally, I gave in to her with a condition that I would at least see the new label that she gets it. I was confident that the design I had got had all the necessary ingredients to be a success: a) It had a real dog image 2) a big logo 3) and it clearly showed the USPs.

However, the reality came out to be different. When Sneh got the new design, I was amazed to see it. USPs and success factors on one side, the new design had a life now. It was a crowd puller and everyone in the loop loved the new design.

Here is the glimpse of that packet design:

Now, there was next and final design - find a vendor who can do justice to these packets. We went through a lot of vendors and finally chose to go with Parksons Mumbai. They could bring the feel of Matt and Glossy combo, UV Gloss and the perfect finish that we were aspiring for.

Finally, the cookies hit the shelf

Jan 2017, we finally launched the product and we not only won design award for the packet, but also received several good words from pet parents, Veterinary Doctors, our distributors and retailers.

Lastly, a big thanks to everyone for making it a success. We love making awesome things, and it is for nothing else but our love for dogs.

We love dogs like our kids, and everything we make comes from that motherly love.

Dogsee - Natural Treat for Natural Love.

Cheers