The international magazine for the pet food packaging industry
Consumers do not buy pet food. They buy what they believe is best for a member of the family.
That seemingly simple shift has fundamentally changed the role of packaging. While functionality and shelf visibility remain essential, today's packaging is increasingly expected to communicate quality, create emotional connections and express a brand's values. In the premium pet food segment, the package has become far more than a protective container. It is often the first conversation between a brand and the consumer.
Argentina offers a particularly interesting perspective on this development. Despite decades of economic volatility, the country has established itself as one of Latin America's most creative packaging design markets. Designers have learned to balance ambitious ideas with tight budgets, fluctuating material costs and rapidly changing consumer expectations—an environment that has fostered remarkable adaptability.
To better understand how these forces are shaping today's pet food packaging, PetPack Journal spoke with two of Argentina's leading packaging design agencies: Imaginity and Tridimage. While each studio approaches branding from its own perspective, both describe an industry moving in the same direction: towards packaging that is no longer designed primarily for pets, but for the people who care for them.
Economic instability is rarely associated with creative freedom. Yet Argentina's design industry tells a different story.
For decades, inflation, changing production costs and supply chain disruptions have forced brands to rethink not only what they produce, but also how they present themselves. According to Hernán Braberman, Co-founder and Creative Director of Tridimage, these conditions have shaped an entire generation of designers.
We've always had to do more with less, and that constraint has become a genuine driver of ingenuity.
Rather than seeing limitations as obstacles, Argentine designers have learned to use them as creative parameters. Material choices may become more restricted, premium finishes may disappear from the specification sheet, but the brand still has to communicate quality.
Imaginity describes this balancing act in similarly practical terms. Inflation does not simply influence production costs—it changes consumer behaviour. Smaller pack sizes become more attractive because they lower the immediate purchase price, while larger formats appeal to households seeking better value per kilogram. At the same time, consumers frequently move between premium, mainstream and economy brands depending on their financial situation. Packaging therefore has to justify price while remaining visually convincing, regardless of the segment.
The result is a market where graphic design itself becomes one of the most valuable assets. When expensive production techniques are no longer available, typography, colour, composition and visual hierarchy must carry the brand.
If there is one theme that runs consistently through both conversations, it is the changing relationship between people and their pets.
Pet owners increasingly apply the same expectations to pet food that they do to their own groceries. Ingredient quality, nutritional transparency, sustainability and premium positioning have become purchasing criteria that extend well beyond the traditional pet food aisle.
Braberman summarizes this shift with remarkable clarity.
You're not designing for the pet. You're designing for someone who projects their own values, emotions, and quality standards onto their pet's experience.
That observation fundamentally changes the design brief.
Packaging must no longer convince an owner that the food is merely nutritious. It has to reassure them that they are making the right decision for a family member. Emotional trust becomes as important as nutritional information.
Imaginity arrives at the same conclusion from another angle. The agency describes emotion as "a primary driver" in purchasing decisions, noting that packaging must reinforce the owner's feeling of care and responsibility. Warm colour palettes, expressive pet photography and reassuring language have therefore become essential visual tools.
Perhaps the most significant consequence is that pet food packaging increasingly borrows visual codes from human food categories. Ingredient photography, clean layouts, wellness-oriented messaging and transparent communication are no longer exceptions—they are rapidly becoming the new standard.
Packaging has always represented a brand. Increasingly, however, it has become the brand itself.
Both agencies describe storytelling as one of the strongest characteristics of contemporary Argentine design. Rather than focusing solely on product attributes, brands seek to communicate origin, authenticity and emotional value.
Braberman points to Patagonia-inspired premium pet food brand Fawna as an example of how narrative can become the foundation of an entire packaging system. Instead of simply highlighting ingredients, the packaging builds a broader story around landscape, purity and the emotional bond between people and their pets.
Imaginity observes the same tendency across the wider FMCG market. Argentine packaging often relies on illustration, expressive typography and rich narrative elements that create an emotional connection beyond product functionality. In highly competitive retail environments, storytelling has become a key differentiator.
For both agencies, this development reflects a broader change in branding itself. Consumers increasingly expect brands to communicate personality rather than specifications.
Premiumisation continues to influence the pet food sector around the world. Argentina is no exception.
Interestingly, premium does not necessarily mean expensive materials.
Because budgets are often constrained, perceived value is frequently created through graphic sophistication rather than production complexity. Strong typography, carefully structured information, restrained colour palettes and refined illustration can communicate quality without adding significantly to manufacturing costs.
As Gastaldi explains, premium positioning in Argentina often depends on design rather than decoration.
Braberman agrees, but adds another dimension.
The packaging must feel as carefully crafted as the product inside.
For premium brands, every design decision contributes to credibility. Consumers willing to spend more expect packaging to validate that investment. A sophisticated recipe presented in an ordinary-looking bag immediately creates doubt.
This relationship between design and trust becomes increasingly important as premium products continue to grow within the pet food category.
The role of packaging no longer ends at the supermarket shelf.
Both agencies identify e-commerce as one of the strongest forces reshaping packaging design. Products must now perform equally well in two completely different environments: standing several metres away on a retail shelf and appearing as a thumbnail image on a smartphone display.
Visual hierarchy therefore becomes even more critical. Small details that work perfectly in print may disappear entirely online.
At the same time, packaging is expected to survive increasingly demanding logistics chains while contributing to a positive delivery experience.
Both agencies also point to the growing importance of connected packaging.
QR codes, digital product information, loyalty programmes and extended brand experiences allow packaging to continue communicating long after the purchase has been made.
Rather than replacing physical design, these digital touchpoints extend it.
The package becomes less an endpoint than the beginning of a longer relationship.
Few topics illustrate the tension between aspiration and reality as clearly as sustainability.
Both agencies agree that environmental awareness is growing among Argentine consumers, particularly within younger and premium target groups. Yet both also acknowledge the practical limitations created by economic conditions and recycling infrastructure.
Imaginity describes sustainability as increasingly important from a branding perspective while noting that purchasing decisions are still largely influenced by price and convenience.
Braberman argues that sustainability becomes most convincing when it is integrated into the brand itself rather than treated as an isolated claim.
His example is Fawna's programme for collecting used pet food bags and transforming them into backpacks and accessories, a project that combines environmental responsibility with social impact.
The underlying message is clear: Consumers increasingly expect responsible behaviour, but they also expect authenticity. Sustainability has to become visible, tangible and believable through packaging itself.
Asked about the coming years, both agencies describe a future characterised less by revolutionary materials than by smarter design.
Humanisation will continue to reshape visual language. Connected packaging will strengthen relationships between brands and consumers. Premiumisation will demand increasingly sophisticated communication, while economic realities will continue to reward efficiency and clarity.
Perhaps most importantly, Argentine design appears ready to play a larger international role.
For years, the country's designers have learned to solve complex branding challenges under conditions that demanded creativity rather than excess. That experience now represents a competitive advantage rather than a limitation.
Argentina's packaging industry has long been shaped by necessity. Today, that necessity is producing something more valuable than resilience alone: a design culture capable of balancing emotion, functionality, commercial realities and increasingly sustainability.
If the conversations with Imaginity and Tridimage reveal one common insight, it is this: the future of pet food packaging will not be defined by materials alone, but by the relationships brands build with the people standing in front of the shelf—or behind the screen.
Read the full interview with
Hernán Gastaldi, Managing Partner at Imaginity
Read the full interview with
Hernán Braberman, Co-founder, Partner and Creative Director at Tridimage
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