MORE CHOCOLATE!

The Chartered Institute of Marketing Kent Branch Annual Lecture transported over 200 marketers into chocolate heaven recently! Guest Speaker, Mark Palmer, Marketing Director of Green & Black’s organic chocolate, explained how Green & Black’s brand has been transformed from a little known specialist product into a global premium chocolate experience.

The Green & Black’s brand is both organic and high quality, the name originates from ‘green’ as in organic and ‘black’ for high cocoa chocolate content. Mark explained that from day one, Green & Black’s has been a fusion of ethical and premium with organic being “part of the brand’s DNA; indeed every bar sold since Green & Black’s started in 1991 has always been organic.”

The audience of enthralled marketers learnt how in the late nineties, Green & Black’s chocolate moved from being sold in specialist health food shops to supermarkets as interest in organic products by consumers grew, demand having been accelerated by health and food issues surrounding BSE and GM foods.

In 2002 the brand was repositioned with more emphasis on premium quality with new packaging playing an important role in attracting new customers. Green & Black’s became an indulgent luxury brand whilst retaining ‘organic’ as its key point of differentiation. Green & Black’s approach remains ethical too, with emphasis on its Fair Trade buying arrangements with cocoa growers in Belize and compliance with US organic certification standards. But most of all, Green & Black’s ensures product consistency, with its chocolate known for its intense taste and high (70%) cocoa solids content for an “exceptionally chocolately experience.”

Mark gave many marketing insights of great value to marketers in the audience. He explained how Green & Black’s segmented its customers; how customers were helped to discover the brand (giving away over six million sample bars of chocolate in five years has helped!) and how it uses the language of wine and food rather than candy and snacks.

Overall Green & Black’s has remained true to the brand, whilst conducting one of the most successful repositioning exercises of any consumer product. It has stuck to what it does best rather than following market convention and in so doing has created one of the most distinctive and desirable brands. Now with the backing of Cadbury Schweppes, global expansion beckons.

Mark then encouraged the audience to sample Green & Black’s and 200 people had the opportunity to taste those intense flavours for themselves. It was worth the wait!.