Executive Summary
Savage Cat has a category-leading product proposition delivered in a below-category visual system. The product arguments (whole prey, no HPP, cage-free US-sourced, nine-item exclusion list) are among the strongest in the premium raw cat food category. None of them are legible on the current site. The opportunity gap between proposition quality and design quality is the single largest recoverable value in the brand. Two issues on the live site are serious enough to fix before any other work begins.
Section 1
Site Issues
The following issues were identified on savagecatfood.com at audit. Critical items represent active problems visible to any visitor today. High items represent structural gaps that limit conversion even when the product is strong.
Critical
Live site is serving placeholder partner logos
The "Our Trusted Partners" strip on the homepage is populated with
logo-ipsum placeholder files. This is not a staging error: it is live and visible to every visitor and retail buyer who checks the site. It signals an incomplete brand before a single product claim is read.Fix: Remove or hide the partner strip entirely this week. No design scope required. Do not replace with real logos until they have been approved for public display.
Critical
No confirmed vector master of the current logo
The site logo is a 2016-era low-resolution PNG in a blue-bordered circle. The public brand kit does not contain a vector file. Every application of the current logo on packaging, in retailer materials, and at emboss scale is being produced from a rasterized source that cannot produce clean output at large sizes.
Fix: Obtain or recreate a vector master of the current logo. Required even if a full rebrand is authorized, because transition materials need a clean interim source while new identity is in production.
High
Core proof claims are hidden inside collapsed accordions
Whole prey including real bone and marrow, no HPP, cage-free and antibiotic-free sourcing, and the nine-item exclusion list are Savage Cat's primary commercial arguments. A buyer who would respond most to these claims cannot see them without knowing to look. They are collapsed by default and require active interaction to find.
Fix: Promote the three strongest proof claims to above-the-fold hero hierarchy before any design work begins. This is a copy and information architecture decision, not a visual identity decision.
High
No wayfinding system across the protein and format SKU matrix
Three proteins crossed with two formats is a minimum six-product range. There is no color coding, no format signal, and no fixed lockup position that lets a buyer or retailer staff navigate the range without reading each item individually. This matters most in the recommended channel (independent pet retail), where staff make the recommendation under time pressure.
Fix: Assign each protein a permanent color code before any layout or packaging work is commissioned. This decision precedes and informs everything else in the design system.
High
Store locator and retailer training portal are in poor condition
The site names independent pet retail as the recommended purchase channel and staff as the conversion mechanism. The store locator and retailer training portal, which are the two tools that support that channel directly, are both in poor condition. Traffic driven to the site for a retail referral hits a dead end.
Fix: Rebuild both before any inbound traffic campaign is run. A rebuilt store locator is also a prerequisite for any social advertising that directs buyers to a local purchase.
High
Name-to-design contradiction throughout the current identity
The name Savage has a clear point of view. The current visual system (a stock WordPress theme, a blue-bordered circle logo, no expressive mark or typographic presence) does not express that view at all. A buyer who encounters the name first and then the site experiences a contradiction that reads as inconsistency rather than restraint.
Fix: This is the core identity problem addressed by the full rebrand scope. It cannot be fixed with CMS edits. See Section 5 for the recommended action sequence.
Section 2
Brand Gaps
Beyond the live site issues above, the following gaps represent structural deficits in the current brand system. They exist independently of any one page or asset and will persist through a redesign unless specifically addressed.
1
The product's strongest arguments are invisible
Savage Cat has documented claims no competitor is making directly: no fruits or vegetables, whole prey including organ and glandular tissue, no HPP, a nine-item exclusion list. These are verifiable supply-chain commitments that cost something to be true, not marketing adjectives. None are visible in the current design hierarchy. A buyer comparing raw brands has no reason to prefer Savage Cat at first contact.
2
No asset that earns trust with the retail channel
Independent pet retail is the recommended purchase channel and staff are the conversion mechanism. Staff need to explain the product in thirty seconds and need a physical artifact to support that pitch. There are currently no shelf talkers, no freezer clings, and no retailer one-pagers. The retailer training portal does not produce something staff can hold at the freezer case.
3
Documented proof outcomes are not surfaced
Customer testimonials cluster on four specific outcomes: litter box odor, reduced waste volume, coat quality, and oral health. These are the outcomes the target buyer actively researches before switching to raw. They appear in text blocks rather than as a navigable proof architecture. A buyer comparing Savage Cat against a brand with outcome-led hierarchy will not find the evidence easily.
4
Brand assets are not production-ready
Without a vector logo master, a documented color system, or a type specification, any production work (packaging revision, social creative, retailer print materials) is being done from undocumented sources. Output quality varies by vendor and by project. Undocumented production compounds over time and is more expensive to repair than to prevent.
Section 3
Opportunity Map
The six highest-leverage brand opportunities identified in the audit. Each is specific, ownable by Savage Cat, and unavailable to competitors who cannot match the underlying supply-chain commitment.
OPP-01
The "No Fruits or Vegetables" Wedge
Almost no competitor will make this claim directly because every other brand uses produce imagery to reassure the human buyer. Savage Cat's supply chain already earns the argument. The design move is to give it a visual form confident enough to carry the front of the pack and the above-the-fold hero.
OPP-02
Custom SAVAGE Wordmark
The name is the strongest asset and is currently set in generic type in a circle. A custom letterform with an anatomical or predatory detail in the V, G, or terminal E (claw, fang, tail, or cut mark) turns the name into a visual argument. Must survive emboss, foil, embroidery on a retailer apron, and favicon scale.
OPP-03
Whole Prey Diagram
A cut chart adapted to whole prey, labeling muscle, bone, marrow, heart, liver, and glandular tissue, explains the product in one image. Executed as a schematic anatomy plate rather than a hunting illustration, it is handsome enough to hang on a retailer wall and gives independent retailers a merchandising piece that works without staff intervention.
OPP-04
No HPP Inspection Mark
No brand in the raw cat food category owns a No HPP symbol. A circular or oval inked mark carrying "Whole Prey, No HPP, US Sourced" turns an invisible process claim into an ownable icon that reproduces at any size and on any substrate. Low commission cost, high distinctiveness, long shelf life.
OPP-05
Protein Color Lock System
Assigning each protein a permanent hue with genuine separation (amber for chicken, teal for duck, plum for rabbit and lamb) creates a wayfinding system navigable by staff or buyers in a freezer case at six feet. Extends to site, social, and retailer materials with zero additional decision-making once the system is set.
OPP-06
Outcome-Led Proof Architecture
The four documented testimony outcomes (litter box odor, waste volume, coat quality, oral health) are the buyer's primary research questions before switching to raw. Organizing proof by outcome rather than by source turns existing testimonials into a navigable evidence base a converting buyer can move through systematically.
Section 4
Strategic Guardrails
These constraints override design preference. Any direction that conflicts with a guardrail is off the table regardless of how well it executes against the brief. See the Design Influence Register for full rationale behind each constraint.
✕
No blood-red, visceral imagery, or aggression tropes. The buyer has a disgust response to raw flesh. The design job is to make predator read as premium and competent, not as gore, edge, or aggression. Predator is expressed through anatomy, craft, and restraint only.
✕
No white-on-white or low-contrast value schemes. Product is viewed through frosted or condensating glass, or from above in a chest freezer under fluorescent light at roughly six feet. High contrast is mandatory. Brand mark and protein name must be legible under these conditions on the top panel as well as the face.
✕
No produce imagery, farm scenes, or wholesome-agrarian cues. The brand's own copy attacks ingredient-panel produce. Any visual that imports pastoral, earthy, or botanical warmth directly contradicts the product's positioning and the exclusion list claim.
✕
No cutesy illustration, whiskers-as-decoration, or paw-print motifs. The name forecloses the softness-and-humor escape route most cat brands use. The buyer Savage Cat is addressing has already accepted the obligate-carnivore premise. Softness creates a name-to-design contradiction that undermines both.
✕
No three-tints-of-one-hue protein system. Color alone cannot carry the SKU matrix because color is already spent on protein identification. Format requires a second, independent non-color variable (die-cut window, band, panel treatment, or structural shape cue). Tints of a single hue cannot be distinguished in a freezer case.
✕
No display typeface in regulatory panels. The back-of-pack ingredient panel runs to roughly thirty items plus a nine-item exclusion list. Requires a high-legibility grotesque at small size with a tested hierarchy. The display face (Instrument Serif) is reserved for identity and hero copy only.
✕
No placeholder content shipped live. The current site's logo-ipsum partner strip is the cautionary example. No asset goes to a live URL unless it has been approved and is ready to be seen by buyers, retailers, and press.
Section 5
Immediate Actions
Sequenced from most urgent to longest lead time. Items tagged This Week require no design scope. Items tagged Before Design must be complete before layout or packaging work is commissioned.
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Remove the logo-ipsum partner strip from the live site.This Week This is a CMS edit. It takes less than an hour and removes the most visible credibility problem on the site. Do not replace the strip until real partner logos have been approved for public display.
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Obtain or recreate a vector master of the current logo.This Week Required for any production work during the transition period. If original files are unavailable, commission a redraw from the existing PNG before any other brand work begins.
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Promote proof claims to above-the-fold hero position.Quick Win Surface "No Fruits or Vegetables," "No HPP," and "Whole Prey Including Real Bone and Marrow" as visible page hierarchy above the accordion fold. This is a copy and layout decision that can be done in the current theme.
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Commission the SKU matrix document.Before Design A row-by-column inventory of proteins versus formats versus sizes. Each cell specifies protein color, panel content, and differentiating copy. This document precedes all layout and packaging work. Nothing in the design system can be finalized until the matrix is defined.
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Rebuild the store locator and retailer training portal.Before Design Both are part of the recommended purchase path. No inbound traffic campaign should be run until the locator returns accurate results and the training portal gives retail staff usable materials.
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Commission the custom SAVAGE wordmark. Highest-leverage single identity commission. Brief: custom letterform with an anatomical or predatory detail in the V, G, or terminal E. Three to five directions, each tested at emboss, embroidery, and favicon scale before client review.