Let’s start with a little bit of contextualization and history. Suchard is a Swizz Chocolate Company founded in 1826 by the so called Philippe Suchard. Independent at the time, the company has been acquired by the american group Mondelez International in 2012. Suchard is known to make different products such as the Sugus, the milk chocolate LA-DO-RE (french game play – l’adoré), the Milka milk chocolate, the Suchard Express (chocolate beverage), the Toblerone and the Rocher – certainly the most famous one associated to the brand name. We will today focus on this latter (the Rocher) and on how does Suchard use greed and especially sensuality with a little bit of humour to promote its flagship product.
Combining chocolate with sensuality is not very original. Some could even say it is a cliché. Actually, chocolate as always been seen as a synonym of pleasure, desire and envy. Therefore, the comparison to sensuality and sexuality is quickly made. What is more, chocolate has always been considered as an aphrodisiac nutrient. Thus, using sensuality to promote chocolate is quite an easy path to follow. The challenge is indeed to manage to use this cliché as a strategy in an original way.
The Rocher was launched in 1948. This little and single piece of chocolate is created in order to sublimize the moment you spend, lonely, with your chocolate. Since the beginning the Rocher has been seen as an individual chocolate gluttony and the brand managed to instaure a privileged relationship with its consumers. The Rocher is, for all minds, a solitary pleasure. In 1984, Suchard launched its first TV campaign : a young man isolate himself in his cabriolet to savour a Rocher Suchard listening to the tune of Only You. A single moment that goes with solitary pleasure. The brand then keeps going in that direction, adding a little bit of sophistication in the packaging but always relying on sensuality. But pleasure, sensuality and sophistication are not the only tools Suchard uses to promote the Rocher. Humour is also a key element of their strategy. Posters such as the following sum up well the communication strategy of Suchard.
Since then Suchard remains loyal to its humoristic sensual strategy and image (see the following TV spot). The humoristic touch enables Suchard to differentiate itself while pushing the consumer to yield to the temptation of greed. This is how Suchard has known how to make that sensuality-chocolate cliché original and un-insipid. Using the sensuality the brand compares the pleasure of lusts, ultimate pleasure and one of the most condamned sins, of the one you feel when eating a Rocher. Savouring a Rocher is not an alimentary action ; it is an experience of taste, of feelings and senses, pushing the pleasure to its maximum. And the humour touch comes like a cherry on the cake to reassure the consumer, that might feel guilty to have these kinds of envy, that this is ok.
Still today, this strategy seems to benefit the brand. Suchard is among the top 10 of the favorite chocolate brands in France. Suchard is seen as sophisticated and is most known and consumed by the 34-55 years-old. The Rocher has become one of the most famous product of the brand, and part of this success is due to a brand strategy well dosed out.
So let yourself go, relax and have a Suchard !
Chloé DEFRANCE
REFERENCES :
Suchard, la campagne. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.ladn.eu/news-business/campagnes/suchard-la-campagne/
Rocher Suchard, les bouchées doubles. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.strategies.fr/actualites/marques/r23624W/rocher-suchard-les-bouchees-doubles.html
Affichage : Rocher Suchard. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://www.strategies.fr/actualites/marques/r44364W/affichage-rocher-suchard.html
Les marques de chocolat favorites des français. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.lsa-conso.fr/les-marques-de-chocolat-favorites-des-francais-sondage-exclusif,204889
Le chocolat pour adulte. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.pubenstock.com/2013/suchard-chaud-sensuel-film-yr/
Corporate Website. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.suchard.at/
Featured image : Suchard. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.dragonrouge.com/fr/work/suchard
Image 1 : Le Rocher Suchard est fabriqué à Strasbourg. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://www.europtimist.eu/actualites/rocher-suchard-strasbourg
Image 2 : Pub de 1996. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from https://www.delcampe.net/es/coleccionismo/publicidad/pub-de-1996-chocolat-rocher-suchard-sexy-57660253.html
Image 3 : Publicité et humour sexuel; le Rocher Suchard, le retour du plaisir. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2016, from http://archeologue.over-blog.com/article-publicite-et-humour-sexuel-le-rocher-suchard-le-retour-du-plaisir-46575206.html
Sochoko 