Mondelēz International is pondering a “transformation” for its 114-year-old Toblerone chocolate brand; it didn’t take long to coalesce on a strategy: double down on what makes the brand unique in a crowded field.
Mondelez examined its portfolio carefully for ways to modernise some of its best-selling brands, such as Toblerone. It announced in December that it would sell its developed-market gum business, including brands such as Trident, Dentyne, and Chiclets, in developed markets for $1.35 billion.
Mondelēz’s goal is to keep its brands top-of-mind for consumers by incorporating redesigned packaging, making ingredient changes, or shedding light on the company’s efforts to increase its sustainability.
These changes are especially important in today’s environment as Mondelēz and other food companies increase the price of their products. Having something new or novel gives the product added value for the shopper and makes consumers more likely to buy.
What motivated the biggest brand shift in decades?
Toblerone, which was created in 1908 in Switzerland by Theodor Tobler, has built its longevity on having a chocolate brand that eschews the shape, taste, and packaging of its competitors. And for the most part, it’s worked.
In addition to its distinct triangle shape, Toblerone has a crunchy, smooth, and chewy texture that is different from other chocolates. It also has a ubiquitous presence in airports and other travel establishments that generates widespread recognition among consumers—roughly 73% of people in the U.S. have heard of the brand, Mondelēz said.
But despite the high level of familiarity, when shoppers are asked to name a chocolate brand that they are thinking about or want to purchase, the percentage plunges to 3%, according to the company.
For years, conventional brands received much of the attention in the industry, but premiumization as a whole has infiltrated many facets of food and beverage. Chocolate has proven to be no different. Mondelēz saw a chance to win in the premium chocolate space by changing Toblerone’s packaging and reshaping how the company marketed the brand at stores and promoted it on social media.
Even as Mondelēz overhauled Toblerone, the company was careful not to disrupt what the brand stood for or its heritage. Instead, it wanted to build on its key strengths. It’s a big reason why the changes occurred exclusively on the outside of the package. Mondelēz was adamant that it wouldn’t alter the taste, texture, or appearance of the Swiss chocolate.
To bring the chocolate brand back to its roots, the snacking giant modernized the packaging and went back to the more original typography. It also enlarged the Toblerone brand name so that it spilled over the edge of the triangular package.
An image of a wedge of the triangle-shaped chocolate was placed in the centre of the Toblerone name on the packaging, which purposely covered up the E and the R in the brand’s name—a move typically shunned in marketing circles. The carefully choreographed design served to bring the chocolate front and centre and underscored the brand’s disruptive perception, Rees and Wong said.
The new package launch so far has shown signs of paying off and given Mondelēz confidence that it will be successful in other markets, Wong said. In the United Kingdom, where the new packaging was first launched in the third quarter of 2022, the brand has posted “significant premium market share gains,” she said.
The updated Toblerone packaging is scheduled to make its way to shelves in the third quarter of this year.