Denzel’s | Brand & Emotion is Build a £213M Opportunity in the Pet Category

Most pet brands sell function. Denzel’s Dog Treats built its challenger brand around something very different: Happiness!!

In this conversation, I speak with founders James and Nathan about how they spotted an emotional gap in the pet category and used brand strategy, packaging, product format and occasion-based innovation to turn dog treats into something much bigger than a functional purchase.
And the commercial results are what make this such an interesting story for founders scaling consumer brands. A Valentine’s activation delivered around 15–17x the rate of sale of a normal promotion, with more than 60% of shoppers buying it having not previously bought from pet. Their advent calendar has become their bestselling SKU despite only being available for part of the year. We get into how seasonal innovation moved from “marketing stunt” to revenue channel, why they designed for grocery, hospitality and online from day one, and how becoming obsessive about the brand experience helped Denzel’s create genuinely incremental growth.

Use code BGH25 for 25% off Denzel's NEW Advent Calendars from https://www.denzels.co.uk/products/advent-calendar

Details below *

*Redeemable from https://www.denzels.co.uk/products/advent-calendar only
25% off Advent Calendar
Applies to one-time purchases
No minimum purchase requirement
One use per customer
Can’t combine with other discounts
Early bird discount, active from 15 Sept to 22 Sept (23:59)

What You’ll Learn

• How James and Nathan identified an emotional white space in a category dominated by functional positioning.
• Why Denzel’s spent roughly 30–50% of its initial £25,000 startup loan on brand, design and packaging.
• How Valentine’s treats generated around 15–17x normal promotional rate of sale and attracted shoppers who had never previously bought from pet.
• Why seasonal NPD has evolved into an acquisition funnel that can ultimately drive shoppers into the core Denzel’s range.
• How to design products and formats around new channels and occasions rather than simply competing for space within your existing category.

Key Topics Discussed

• Building a pet brand around the “happiness exchange” between dogs and their owners
• Borrowing inspiration from consumer brands such as BEAR rather than the existing pet category
• Using Denzel himself as the central brand character
• Starting the business with a £25,000 loan
• Investing disproportionately in packaging and brand from day one
• Designing dog treats to work in grocery, cafés, pubs and online
• Creating selection boxes, Valentine’s treats, Easter products, birthday products and advent calendars
• Bringing a Tesco Valentine’s idea from conversation to delivery in only a few months
• Driving incremental category shoppers rather than simply stealing share
• Selling more than 30,000 advent calendars through Denzel’s own website during an early launch
• Becoming a bestseller on Amazon at Christmas
• Building specific hospitality products including peanut butter brownie, banana bread and pistachio cheesecake treats
• Outselling a chocolate Florentine in Caffè Nero
• The operational pain behind seasonal forecasting and manufacturing
• Turning seasonal innovation into a repeatable retail growth model
• Building the UK blueprint before selectively expanding into Europe
• Why packaging has to do more of the selling in crowded grocery categories
• Targeting what Denzel’s calls “Gen Zennial pet parents”

Useful links
https://www.instagram.com/thedenzelstory/?hl=en
https://www.denzels.co.uk/collections/shop-our-treats?srsltid=AfmBOorqeOYT4jb5u60GQa-AtYmjaba8MHZRynjaGkfn1vmkOy_DcN5A

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Sponsor
*** Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes’ podcast sponsor — Joelson, the commercial law firm ***
If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.
But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.
That’s why we’re proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.
Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them at JamJar Investments today!

Joelson is offering a FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION to all BGH listeners (hello@joelsonlaw.com or https://joelsonlaw.com/contact/) - we highly recommend you take them up on it!

Credits
Thanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com