‘Turbocharging’ its mission: Why Tony’s Chocolonely is now investing in paid media
Until very recently, Tony’s Chocolonely had never spent a penny on paid media, preferring to use earned and organic channels, however, it became ‘impatient’ with the pace of change and has now changed tack.
Tony’s Chocolonely is a brand that had shunned paid media, preferring to engage its consumers through earned and organic media. Recently, this changed, with the brand beginning to invest in paid media in a bid to grow its reach and “turbocharge” its message.
The brand’s mission is to eradicate slavery and exploitation all throughout the chocolate supply chain. It sees its products as a means to do this. Tony’s Chocolonely head of marketing for the UK and Ireland Nicola Matthews says the brand had become “impatient” with the speed at which it was able to spread its message and mission.
Previously, the brand has been focused on “high quality” interactions with consumers.
“With experiential, for instance, you might meet 10,000 people and they each go away knowing your story, and they get a bar of chocolate and it’s really high quality,” says Matthews. “But when you can put paid media out there and maybe reach 15 million people, that’s the reason we’re starting to dabble with it.”
