Godiva

Godiva was ready to launch its first product outside of the food category; a series of scented candles, crafted with the aromas of its signature chocolates. The company was keenly aware that its legacy customer base thought of it as a maker of fine chocolates, not home fragrances. This meant that a packaging approach was needed that would leverage Godiva’s brand equity—to successfully position the new product in a highly competitive category and create a visual language for future product line extensions—without confusing its customers.

We designed a packaging program that featured established elements of the Godiva brand and introduced the five fragrances; raspberry ganache, milk chocolate truffle, white chocolate magnolia, black almond truffle, and peppermint bark. We employed the same custom-made Gmund paper that wrapped the company’s famous chocolate boxes, and designed a graphic version of their classic grosgrain ribbon. Spot gloss varnish was used to reinforced the notion of chocolate drizzle, and colored borders were used to indicate the different scents. The initial set of five candles was extended to holiday-themed versions with new scents, as well as a set of matching travel tins.

The packaging design and product launch were a complete success. Sales exceeded initial goals, and the line was rolled out in major retailers across the country. Without confusion.