chomp

How can a rebrand set the stage for a massive paradigm shift — and help an entire industry see what's truly possible? 

One-third of the world's food production goes to waste. When that food decomposes in landfills, it generates methane — a greenhouse gas up to twenty-eight times more potent than carbon dioxide. It is one of the most solvable problems in the climate crisis, and Chomp has spent over a decade building the technology to solve it: compact, modular, on-site anaerobic digestion systems that transform food waste into renewable energy and biofertilizer, right at the source. No hauling. No landfills. No waste. The technology is genuinely groundbreaking — the first manufacturer to commercialize anaerobic digestion at this scale. But the brand told a different story. 

Known as Impact Bioenergy, the name had credibility. What it didn't have was the power to communicate the truly transformational nature of what the company was doing: converting food into raw power, returning balance to the earth, redefining what waste even means. That's where we came in. 

CHALLENGE 

Impact brands carry a special obligation. Their integrity must manifest in every dimension of the brand experience — in their partnerships, in how they show up in the communities they serve, in the language they use with a corporate sustainability officer and a local government official and a community food bank director. 

The brand must embody its values inside and outside the organization, locally and globally. Chomp's core value is relentless innovation — a belief that the status quo is never good enough when there is a better way. The old brand spoke in the generic language of the industry. It described the problem and gestured at the solution, but it didn't ignite a sense of possibility. It didn't tell the story of a company that had miniaturized a technology once reserved for industrial dairy farms and brought it to university campuses, food banks, tofu factories, and residential communities. A new name and brand weren't just a visual refresh. They were the foundation for a paradigm shift. 

APPROACH 

Working through our ActionLabs process, we collaborated closely with the Chomp team to reimagine the brand from its foundation. The new name and identity needed to communicate three things with unmistakable clarity: What it is. A vital vessel for renewable energy — not a waste management service, but an energy generation system. How it works. Transforming food into raw power through the elegant, ancient biology of anaerobic digestion — nature's own mechanism, miniaturized and deployed at the point of need. Its overall impact. Bringing balance back to the earth — zero waste, carbon negative, with renewable energy and biofertilizer flowing back into the communities that generate the food. 

Naming and Brand Identity "Chomp" is the sound and sensation of the technology at work — thousands of naturally occurring microbes breaking down organic waste into energy, the way a stomach does, the way nature intended. The name is visceral, memorable, and alive in a way that "Impact Bioenergy" never was. It speaks in plain language about a genuinely extraordinary process, and it carries the company's spirit of relentless innovation without taking itself too seriously. 

We developed the full brand identity platform to match: a visual system and brand voice built to hold complexity while communicating with simplicity and conviction. Nomenclature and Voice Across Audiences Chomp's audiences span a remarkable range — from corporate sustainability officers evaluating ESG metrics and ROI, to university facilities managers, to local government officials, to community food bank leaders. 

Each audience brings different questions, different language, and different motivations. We drafted the brand voice and nomenclature framework to give Chomp the tools to speak with each of these audiences authentically, without losing the coherence and integrity of the brand across all of them. This is not easy to do — and it is exactly the kind of problem that a rebrand must solve to enable real growth. 

RESULTS 

• A new name and brand identity platform launched and rolled out as Chomp continues to build its team and expand manufacturing capacity for growth and scale 

• Customers now include the University of California San Diego, California State University Sacramento, Island Spring Organics on Vashon Island, and two Seattle food banks — a diverse portfolio that reflects the brand's multi-audience reach 

• Four million dollars raised from investors to scale manufacturing and expand reach to more communities, campuses, supermarkets, and food processors 

• Acquired by Martin Energy Group in 2025 — a global leader in anaerobic digestion and renewable energy— accelerating Chomp's ability to scale manufacturing, sales, and technology and serve a broader range of the food waste-to-energy market A brand built to hold Chomp's full complexity from community food banks to university campuses to corporate ESG programs — while communicating the mission with clarity, warmth, and conviction to every audience The most important thing a brand can do for a company with world-changing technology is get out of the way — and let the mission do the talking. Chomp's new brand does exactly that: it opens the door for every conversation the company needs to have, with every audience that needs to hear it. We are grateful and proud to have co-created it alongside such a brilliant team.