Outside the Chocolate Box

Looking to hype a client's new product in a fresh, attention-grabbing way? Have a bunch of holiday promotions coming up and are a little stuck on ideas? What about an incentive program that needs just the right twist to make it stick? If you're looking for answers to any of these questions, you might want to consider working with chocolate.

Versatile, fun and indulgent, done right chocolate can solve a number of marketing problems like little else in the industry. As with any other item, there are infinite ways to be creative with it, but if you're looking for a head start, here are six distinctive ways to make the most of chocolate promotions.

1. Use a Size Gimmick
Watch network news for a weekend or two, and you'll notice that Americans (or perhaps just TV news producers) have an odd fixation with oversized food. Every once and a while you'll see a story about a Volvo-sized hamburger or a sub sandwich as long as a football field met with wide-eyed field reporters and a crowd full of slack-mouthed, hushed onlookers. And while you may not have the budget for a boulder-sized truffle or to-scale chocolate T-rex, there's nothing wrong with providing a big hunk of the sweet stuff to get a little attention.

Rhonda Delaney, sales and marketing manager for Chocolate Chocolate, Blaine, Wash., gave one example of putting size to work, a promotion that used a large bar in a contest to generate end-user hype. "We have one customer that annually holds a contest with their customers to produce a video showing how they broke apart the 2 lb. bar," she said. "We have seen some really entertaining and creative ways to accomplish this." Contest or no, going big may be a great way to get some attention.

2. Harness your inner Michelangelo
From chocolate rabbits to the Mona Lisa, there isn't much that can't be sculpted in chocolate. A boon for detailed imprinting and logo-placement to be sure, but chocolate sculptability can also really shine in another area: making treats in really weird shapes.

"We had a medical device manufacturer launching a new product and we created a replica in chocolate," said Delaney. "Our client told us there was no marketing piece left unopened!"

3. Drive Behavior
Let's face it, people are basically dogs with less hair and marginally better grooming habits. When you want to train a dog, you don't give it a lanyard or T-shirt with the command written on it, you say the command then give it a treat. Why not stick with proven behavioral psychology and do the same with incentive programs?

"We have a customer that uses our 2x3" wrapper bars for their safety program," said Delaney. "Each wrapper promotes a particular safety goal and they have had marked increase in awareness, resulting in less accident claims."

Mike Shulkin, president of Chicago-based A La Carte, gave another behavior-reinforcing incentive example. The promotion used A La Carte's new chocolate message bar pop as a reward for salespeople at a retail chain, giving it out each time they sold a specific high-end product. "Hidden in the chocolate was a dollar denomination that the sales person turned in for the cash prize which varied from $10.00 to $500.00," explained Shulkin. "Because the dollar amount was hidden on the stick inside the chocolate, the sales staff enjoyed the chocolate and the suspense in finding their prize."

4. Party with Style (and Secondary Branding)
Howard Cubberly, vice president of corporate sales, Astor Chocolate, Lakewood, N.J., suggested setting up chocolates as hors d'oeuvre to be decorated with the client's desired message. He described an event where some of Astor's chocolates were used in such a way. "At an in-store event, [the chocolates] were displayed throughout a retail store for customer to enjoy at their leisure," he said. "Along with the outside logo, it featured an inside imprint with a message to customers."

5. Bribe the Bigwigs
Expensive or elaborately crafted chocolates can carry a powerful aura of prestige, especially when paired with careful packaging. This prestige is useful in a number of ways, but a specific one Cubberly mentioned was using chocolate as an impressive "reminder gift" to sway high-profile end-users. He cited an example of Astor's chocolates being used in a promotion designed to drive special credit-card signups, the chocolates being distributed to top executives and other high-profile people within the desired demographic.

Similarly targeting the important and deep-pocketed, Amy Brading, B2B sales for Ghirardelli Chocolate, San Leandro, Calif., noted that the company's chocolate gift boxes have been used by both casinos and car manufacturers to rope in new buyers.

6. Increase Survey Responses
Ida Beth Barner, director of business development for Maggie Lyon Chocolatiers, Norcross, Ga., described an instance where the company's chocolate was used to improve survey response rates.

"One promotion we did for a car dealership had the customer satisfaction survey recreated in chocolate," she said. "Of course, all of the excellent boxes were checked on the chocolate survey so that the customer would be encouraged to fill out the form with excellent responses. This was mailed to customers on a monthly basis who had purchased new cars," explained Barner. "We enclosed a self-addressed paper survey along with the chocolate survey. The customers were thanked for their business and asked to take their time and fill out the survey. The response rate of the surveys that were returned went up dramatically."