Madagascar chocolate
Earlier this week I wrote about Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin, and posted a love poem from Madagascar at Words Without Borders, in honor of Valentine’s Day.
Now, by one of those odd convergences, Seth Godin and Madagascar and Valentine’s Day have come together again. Godin says he doesn’t do consulting, but apparently he’s been talking to the people who make Madécasse Chocolate, “the only imported chocolate made on the continent with local beans.” (Well, Madagascar isn’t technically on the continent, but it’s considered part of Africa.)
As it turns out, Madécasse is based in Brooklyn, not far from where I live, and the chocolate is sold, among other places, at one of my favorite independent bookstores, McNally Jackson.
At any rate, Godin’s point is that you can’t market effectively by being all things to all people. Pick a story and go with it.
For example, the Madécasse story about made by Africans in Africa is very powerful, at least as powerful as fair trade, if not more (they keep four times as much money in Africa by selling a bar as they would if they just sold beans to other companies).
If that’s true, then why not put your workers on the label? Big beautiful pictures that would be an amazing juxtaposition against all the other abstract stuff in the store. Tell me the story of the worker on the back. Make each one different and compelling. Packaging as baseball card. I wouldn’t put a word on the front, just the picture. Now I not only eat something that tastes good, but I feel good. You’ve made it personal. The story on the back is about a real person, living a better life because I took the time to buy her chocolate instead of someone else’s. When I share the chocolate, I have something to say. What do you say when you give someone a chocolate bar? This package gives you something to say.
The illustration I’ve borrowed here is apparently Godin’s idea of what the Madécasse package should look like. I think it works, and I’ll be interested to see if the company goes with the idea.
Actually, I prefer the current packaging to that which Godin proposed. The current wrapping is tasteful and features a line drawing of a farmer. The product is being marketed based on its quality, not primarily as a do-gooder venture, although of course the origin of the chocolate and the benefits to the producers is interesting and will induce some consumers to try it. The “baseball card” approach strikes me as potentially extremely tacky (Collect the natives.). It could turn people off, just as do those Christian charity commercials,in which the spokesperson is walking through a shantytown accompanied by a contingent of adorable native orphans.
There was one that particularly irked me:
Little So-and-So has no shoes!
I always feel like responding,
Why don’t you take off yours and give them to her!
Back to Godin, maybe my problem is with the execution, not the idea itself. I don’t like the photo idea; it’s too in-your-face and to me, somewhat disrespectful. I myself would be more receptive if the front of the package were the same but on the back there was a nice line drawing in the style of the logo. An illustration, not a photo. Underneath, there could be a caption, “This is one of the people who produced this chocolate. To learn about her and others who work at Madécasse, and to find out how this unique chocolate provides a livelihood to scores of Madagascans, visit us at ___.”
That would be interesting, but aren’t a lot of “altruistic” products marketed that way, anyway? So what’s new about it?