Godiva taps digital for global branding campaign focused on founder

Dive Brief:

Chocolate brand Godiva has kicked off a new global ad campaign that promotes the taste and wonder of new tastes, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive. The brand has invested "multimillions" on the effort in order to ramp up sales from September 2019 and into 2020.
With the campaign, Godiva is looking to position itself as part of consumers' daily lives by encouraging people to treat themselves on any given day rather than just on a holiday or special occasion. The ads will run on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Refinery 29, PopSugar and BuzzFeed, among other sites.
The "Wonder Awaits" effort, which was created with McCann London, is a loose retelling on the story of the chocolate brand's founder Pierre Draps, who came up with his recipe for truffles in order to please his wife. The spot features the love story of two young people — a chocolatier and a chocolate fan — loosely based on Draps and his wife.

Dive Insight:

This is the first work that Godiva has released with McCann since hiring the shop last year to develop a single global brand strategy. The campaign is part of Godiva's plan to grow its business five times over six years, CEO Annie Young-Scrivner said in a press release about the news. To help it accomplish this goal, the brand will focus on "creating wonder and delight" for consumers in its boutiques, cafes, at grocery and retail stores as well as online, she said.

The new campaign is also making a big bet on digital media to get in front a target audience of younger consumers, underscoring how digital content can drive offline awareness and purchases. While Godiva is leveraging digital to drive brand awareness, chocolate brand Snickers is experimenting with ways to more directly engage with younger consumers via digital.

Godiva's previous "Chocolate Never Felt So Good" campaign focused on the sensuality of chocolate. The new effort keeps the concept of love in the story but instead brings the brand's heritage — Pierre Draps' story — into the fold, which could support more authentic messaging, which something that younger consumers are looking for in brands.

The effort comes as the chocolate industry is doing well. Worldwide sales for milk chocolate are projected to grow 6.2% by 2026, according to Transparency Market Research, when the industry's value will reach $95 billion, as reported by National Confectioners Association. Chocolate is the largest part of the U.S. confectionary industry making up 60% of candy sales and generating some $21 billion annually. Europe is the biggest market for milk chocolate consumption according to the report, with France and Germany bringing in 55% of European chocolate sales.