The sweetest festive activation: Inside Tony's Chocolonely's Christmas campaign
Tony's makes an impact this festive season with a unique blend of ethical gifting, humour, and creative activations.
Nobody does Christmas quite like Tony's Chocolonely. If there is one Christmas activation to watch and learn this year, this is it! The perfect marketing mix of unique seasonal products, a shopper marketing strategy with creative and interactive elements, humour and clever branding to connect with consumers, and leveraging influencers and social media.
Tony's Chocolonely is a long-standing client of Creatisan's. Working together on many creative brand activations, like an extension of Team Tony's, Creatisan brings an understanding of their brand goals to each activation. However, the basis for every campaign is having the right product, and Tony's have nailed it... Our agency can't take any credit for that (although we are always happy to test their chocolate out)!
Tony's Chocolonely is a go-to choice for ethical gifting during the Christmas season, with a diverse range of festive products, including seasonal specialities (Milk Chocolate Gingerbread is this year's special chocolate bar), themed bars with playful names and lots of gift packs. Their Christmas offering also includes advent calendars that not only contain chocolate but also share important information about their mission with consumers.
With the UK Christmas confectionery market worth over £2 billion and growing 5% annually* standing out is no small feat. Tony's Chocolonely achieves this through a shopper marketing strategy with creative and interactive elements, specifically targeting consumers at the point of sale or during their shopping journey. This is where Creatisan comes in, helping them to influence purchase decisions and drive sales with a focus on the spirit of giving at Christmas.
Creatisan worked with Tony's Chocolonely to activate the brand in their selected retailer's key locations. Focusing on two premium retailers: the department store John Lewis, specialty local grocery store Village Wholefoods, and Nathalie, an independent café and deli in Mayfair, London.
The project kicked off in October with a cool concept and installation in John Lewis Oxford Street - a 'build your own gift pack' display unit. A fun intervention with a straightforward process to encourage conversion in-store while also making the interaction engaging and enjoyable. The result was an instant sales uplift and a memorable experience for customers. Next, smaller 'build your own gift pack' gondola trays were delivered and installed in nine other John Lewis stores.
For the Village Wholefoods activation, Creatisan worked with Tony's to produce stunning window wraps for their Clapham and Islington stores. As well as serving as cost-effective, eye-catching advertisements to attract the attention of passersby, they are also enticing customers to enter the store by highlighting Tony's Chocolonely Christmas gifting offering. The wraps have already delivered a high return on investment by utilising existing space without the ongoing costs associated with traditional advertising.
Nathalie offers fresh, balanced, and beautiful food on the go and is a perfect fit for Tony's Chocolonely cafe activation, focusing on food sourced from local suppliers and sustainable packaging. Creatisan designed and installed a wrap inside and out - a versatile marketing tool that not only boosts visibility and brand awareness but also provides enhanced customer experience to drive Christmas gifting for Tony's.
In addition to retail activations, Creatisan collaborated with Tony's Chocolonely to design and deliver giant PR boxes for retail buyers and influencers ahead of the festive season. Packed with the Christmas collection and advent calendars, these beautifully curated send-outs were assembled and fulfilled by Creatisan's warehouse. The unboxing experiences flooded social media, amplifying Tony's brand recognition and reach. This organic content creation connects Tony's with millions of potential customers and does so at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.
To support all the other below-the-line festive marketing activations, Tony's Chocolonely uses its fantastic humour and clever branding to connect with consumers via the brand's social channels. Their recent campaign aims to correct the common mispronunciation of their name (it’s “Chocolonely”, not “Chocoloney”), which they cleverly leverage as part of their identity. This playful approach helps reinforce brand recognition while educating consumers about their ethical mission.
Creatisan loved being part of this project - a Christmas campaign gold standard for combining impactful marketing with ethical values. It's no wonder Tony's Chocolonely are one of the fastest-growing confectionery brands in the UK, and it's exciting to be a partner on their journey.
