Before 1999, Godiva chocolates were seen as the leading gourmet chocolate brand. However, they decided to expand their business and push into Barnes & Noble bookstores, which had the consequence of reducing the perception of their brand as a premium boutique. For the first time, their chocolates contained preservatives and then started facing stiff competition from ultra-premium brands that contained such fanciful ingredients as violets and black sea salt.
To fix this, Godiva started development of a new product with the mission of creating a popular, lustful chocolate experience for young women. They created a blended chocolate drink exclusively available within Godiva stores, marketed as an almost sinfully decadent and seductive beverage.
The beverage design attempted to leverage many senses - the on-the-spot creation of the drink involved blending Belgian chocolate chunks, fresh raspberries, and cream (mouth watering yet?). Think about it - it involves sight, hearing (the blending), smell, taste, and touch (texture of the drink).
The name given to this product was Chocolixir - it spread to 152 Godiva shops around the world by 2008. It restored Godiva store foot traffic and harnessed all 5 senses of customers to encourage them to indulge. Again, multisensory integration!
