Godiva’s Ahad Afridi on marketing chocolate as an everyday indulgence

Ahad Afridi, CMO for the Americas at Pladis, owner of Godiva, shares how the legacy chocolate house’s “hundred-year reboot” is reshaping the brand for a new generation of snackers, particularly millennials and Gen Zers. Episode TranscriptPlease note, this transcript may contain minor inconsistencies compared to the episode audio. Damian Fowler (00:00):I'm Damian Fowler.Ilyse Liffreing (00:01):And I'm Ilyse Liffreing,Damian Fowler (00:02):And welcome to this edition of The Big Impression.Ilyse Liffreing (00:09):Today we're joined by Ahad Afridi Chief Marketing Officer for the Americas at Pladis, the company behind the Godiva brand, those premium chocolates we all live.Damian Fowler (00:20):We're diving into Godiva's bold new campaign, featuring Leighton Meester portraying the legendary lady, good diver, a modern spin on an iconic story of courage and individuality.Ilyse Liffreing (00:31):We'll talk about how the brand is trying to stand out ahead of the holiday season and how Pladis is evolving its brands for the next generation of snackers.Ahad Afridi (00:40):Let's get into it. It's a comprehensive launch. It's a launch of a new product within the Godiva range called Masterpiece, but it's also the start of a brand reset. And so part of this has an eye towards the now of launching this new product that's great, but also towards activities that are going to happen over the next one year. Godiva turns 100 next year, and so what we wanted to accomplish was the first big step in this centennial, what we call re-imagining of the Godiva brand.Speaker 2 (01:17):Yeah, that's a legacy brand for sure.Speaker 3 (01:18):And happy birthday as well.Speaker 2 (01:20):Thank youSpeaker 3 (01:20):A hundred years. Thank you. Thank you to Godiva. On behalf of Godiva, I'd say thank you.Speaker 1 (01:26):Yeah. In that hundred, how would you define what Godiva stands for as a legacy brand over that century?Speaker 3 (01:34):Godiva is a premium chocolate brand. It's been called a luxury chocolate brand, but we prefer to call it premium because it makes it more accessible, which we can talk about a little bit more. It's a Belgian heritage brand. Belgian chocolates are different than the normal. Speaker 2 (01:51):That’s good, in my opinion,Speaker 3 (01:53):Different than the normal chocolate milk-based chocolate, but it's just great tasting, high quality chocolate that you feel great giving to others as a gift and having for yourself as well.Speaker 1 (02:08):So just to ask you about this specific campaign, what made you wanted to bring that legacy as it were up to date? Is that the right way of putting it into today's culture through this campaign?Speaker 3 (02:18):Yeah, in a way. Let's say it's a hundred year reboot because turning a hundred, you have to celebrate your heritage, but reposition for the future. So it's about getting contemporary, bringing some of those traditional values and equities of the brand, but modernizing them for today and starting this, what we call re-imagining with totally new offerings coming over the next one to two years. We've started with what we call Masterpiece, and Masterpiece is a small chocolate piece that comes in a bag with multiple pieces in there, and it's great for sharing with others or treating yourself. So this is the first step. We've just launched this now it's in the market. In the next few weeks you'll see a totally reimagined what we call gold box and truffle box, which is high-end premium chocolate in specialty stores and on the giva.com website where we've totally revamped chocolate and got new offerings in that. So that's coming over the holiday period, Valentine's Day, there'll be another new collection coming next fall. Towards the end of the next year, we'll have some more gifting chocolates available that will be broadly available. And that's the start. And then after that, in the year 2027, we've got other exciting things coming in. So it's a sequenced campaign. Speaker 2 (03:47):Good timing for the holiday season, I'm sure.Speaker 3 (03:50):Exactly, exactly. Holiday seasons are important for us. Every day is important for us, but the holiday seasons are very important for us. Yes.Speaker 2 (03:58):Can you describe a little bit of the campaign itself and what viewers might see and experience as they witness the campaign?Speaker 3 (04:06):Yeah, I guess the first thing you'll see is a wonderful cinematic traditional sort of advertising, which has got some drama in it. It's got wonderful aesthetic, but at its heart it's a product centered ad and the product is celebrated in there, the taste of that. So that's let's say the hero piece or the centerpiece. But in addition, what you'll see is a lot of social content in different variations. You'll see different versions in digital tv. You'll see a billboard coming later, so some nice still art coming there. Now what's unique about this is we didn't look at it as just a specific campaign and a point of time. We ...