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Innovafeed announced two strategic partnerships with U.S. pet food companies Jiminy’s and Arch for the rollout of its "Powered by Hilucia" cobranding on Jiminy’s Good Grub Dog Food and Arch’s Insect and Plant Recipe Dog Food.
According to the company, products featuring the "Powered by Hilucia" label will be available on Jiminy’s and Arch’s websites, Amazon and throughout major pet food retailers. Specific retailers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Hilucia, a portmanteau of Hermetia illucens, the scientific name of the Black Soldier fly, is Innovafeed’s brand for sustainable and performant ingredients for animal and plant nutrition that was soft-launched earlier this year. The company said it represents the convergence of Innovafeed's pioneering industrial technology combined with the natural properties of an insect that brings high-qualitative nutrition.
According to Innovafeed, the "Powered by Hilucia" label is designed to raise awareness about the benefits of Innovafeed’s model, including the lower environmental impact — requiring at least 50% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional protein and oil sources — and the superior nutritional profile of the Hilucia Protein and Oil for Pets products, which contain 60% protein and essential fatty acids for optimal pet health, respectively.
“Our consumer research shows that simple education is crucial for the adoption of insect-based pet food, and once pet parents overcome that initial hurdle, they keep coming back," said Sean Madison, director of Global Pet Food & North American Growth at Innovafeed. "The Hilucia brand has been a way for us to both meet consumers where they are by using the new brand as an educational focal point, as well as providing us the ability to refer directly to Innovafeed’s uniquely pioneering industrial model within our partners’ value proposition to consumers as opposed to insect farming more generically.
"We believe that rolling out these consumer-facing brand partnerships will further contribute to promoting the adoption and growth of the insect pet food industry, and we couldn’t have found more forward-looking partners to kick things off with than Jiminy’s and Arch," added Madison.
Broader initiative aimed at educating consumers
In addition to the front-of-pack label, the partnerships are aimed at providing clients with pedagogical contents on the quality of the ingredients and their benefits for their pet animals. Consumers will be able to find detailed explanations on the back-of-pack, educating them about the advantages of choosing products "Powered by Hilucia" ingredients.
Educating pet food consumers is vital, said Innovafeed. A consumer survey conducted by the company in October 2023 with 509 U.S.-based dog and cat owners revealed that after brief and simple educational prompts, the percentage of owners completely or very likely to feed their pets food with insect protein increased from 23% to 32%, while those not at all likely fell from 43% to 22%.
The company said this collaboration with Jiminy’s and Arch is just the beginning, and Innovafeed is actively working on expanding its partnerships, with more brands set to join the "Powered by Hilucia" initiative soon.
Beyond on-pack cobranding
The collaboration between Innovafeed and its "Powered by Hilucia" partner brands goes beyond the on-pack label, said the company. Together, they will leverage a variety of marketing and consumer-oriented collateral, including dedicated stories across websites, social media platforms, and in-store activations, to engage with pet consumers directly about the benefits of Hilucia-powered products.
“We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Innovafeed and are committed to going beyond traditional on-pack cobranding," said Anne Carlson, CEO of Jiminy's. "One dynamic way we’ll achieve this is by creating engaging educational content for social media, including TikTok. This will elevate our consumer conversation, fostering meaningful, informative engagement with our audience.”
The collaboration provides significant advantages for all partners involved and for the budding insect pet food industry more broadly. According to Innovafeed, Jiminy’s and Arch will benefit from its expertise in insect-based ingredients, research investments, and other strategic initiatives such as the Hilucia Pet Council — a regular meeting of the minds gathering brands, academics and other experts to share best practices and ideate on the next phase for the industry. The result of all of these efforts will support the brands in their mission to meet consumer needs for sustainable and high-quality pet food, all while creating a compelling story for brands both new and old to join the insect pet food movement, said Innovafeed.
“We’re beyond excited to partner with Innovafeed and to benefit from their expertise, high-quality products, and positive impact to create an insect-based pet food that redefines pet nutrition for the betterment of both the pet and planet," said Gabriel Huertas del Pino, cofounder and CEO of Arch Pet Food
Adapted from a press release.
