In fact, Hotel Chocolat's founder says: 'It's an emotionally charged food product that people are buying for the taste and the way it makes them feel'. With a decade of experience in marketing the emotional and taste benefits of luxury chocolates, Hotel Chocolat has established a distinctive brand image and built considerable brand equity.
On the mass-market side, Cadbury Dairy Milk (owned by Mondelez) continues to top the list of leading UK chocolate brands, with year-over-year growth. Mars and Nestle both have chocolate-bar brands in the top 10--and private-brand chocolates are also among the top sellers.
However, the competitive situation is about to change. Thorntons has been struggling for some time, caught between the upmarket brands and the mass-market brands. Now Ferrero has acquired it, which may lead to a new marketing strategy, not to mention a new positioning for the products and the retail shops. This will cause all the aspirational brands to work harder to connect with customers and reinforce loyalty.
So the hypothethical marketing plan for Lost Legends Luxury Chocolatier (which is included in my Essential Guide to Marketing Planning textbook) must be updated to reflect these important market changes.
