Chocolate Board of Canada
SCOPE OF WORK:
Naming
Brand Strategy
Brand Identity
Brand Book
Packaging Design
Retail Strategy + Design
Social Strategy
Asset Design
The Brief:
Chocolate Board of Canada is the authority on chocolate.
An existing Canadian chocolate company was looking to hit the market with an elevated brand that would resonate with Canadians and tourists alike. To establish national treasure status, we needed to create a brand that would be both a source of pride for Canadians, and aspiration for the global chocolate industry.
To establish CBOC as a truly Canadian brand, we needed to identify what Canadians recognise in themselves and what visitors see in us.
The brand itself was committed to producing hand-crafted chocolate and confectionery using the highest-quality ingredients. The pillar of quality reminded us of the country’s monarch connection, which gives the culture a veil of formality. While Canadian’s self-deprecating sense of humour plays against a charming, small-town earnestness.
And so, Chocolate Board of Canada was officially formed. Once a bureaucratic body enforcing the standards of Canadian chocolate excellence, CBOC would now produce and sell their chocolate and confectionery to the world.
The Opportunity:
The official role as an authority on chocolate resulted in the brand adopting bureaucratic-inspired language and visuals. A hand-drawn monogram and suite of badges and seals are used across the brand to stand in as an official stamp of approval.
For the colour palette, the primary brand colour, orange, was used as an ownable, independent signature from an otherwise bureaucratic body.
The Result:
But, despite the official optics, Chocolate Board of Canada is a rather scrappy department. Yes, they have authority and a valiant mission to establish Canada’s chocolate and confectionery as the highest quality in the world, but they are also happy to celebrate Canada. There’s an earnestness to CBOC’s identity thanks to the inescapable Canadian-ness of the Board. Through social, CBOC commemorates local Canadian storytelling and small-town histories. The humans behind CBOC are always visible, irrespective of the Board’s parliamentary chocolate authority.
From the store interior to the packaging, the in-store signage to social, Chocolate Board of Canada is enriched by the narrative of the brand world, while never losing sight of the consumer’s needs and business objectives. The brand has emerged onto the scene with a fully flushed out history and personality that results in a holistic brand experience. The brand guardianship offered across our agency’s service capabilities has brought the brand to life in a way that assumes the posture of a heritage brand and national treasure.
For Chocolate Board of Canada’s first retail outpost, located in a heritage building in downtown Banff, the interior design strategy was infused with traditional details that signalled craftsmanship and modern twists that elevate the overall brand experience.
