I was recently asked by Matchstick.ca to participate in a blogger/influencer outreach program they were hosting on behalf of Dove Chocolate. I love chocolate so was delighted to be asked to play along. So, here is what they sent (all photos link through to bigger versions on flickr):
In addition to all the chocolate in varying forms and flavours, there were some non-chocolate gifts: a wine glass with "Dove" on it, a journal and a foot care kit. These were all presumably to fit with the theme of "Pleasure That's All Yours" but realistically, I'm never going to use a wine glass that has someone's logo on it. Also, it's funny to me to send a blogger a physical journal. But the foot care kit - delightful!
Some of the chocolate was for me to keep and some for me to hand out. My friends really liked visiting that week :) I handed out about a dozen of the "purse packs". Now, I know we're supposed to be all enviro friendly and all, but I have to say I really like the packaging of the purse packs. And I really like the size of the pieces in the purse pack - because sometimes, all you want is a bite of chocolate.
From a taste point of view, I feel their new "dusk" flavour (intended to be in the middle of the chocolate spectrum between milk and dark is a big winner. I actually prefer dark chocolate; however, if I'm going for a quick chocolate hit, I don't want such a serious chocolate. "Dusk" wins because it isn't as cloying as the milk and gives me just enough sweet to be satisfied.
At this time in the promotion, there wasn't a lot of use of social media. Matchstick did start a Facebook group for Pleasure Pack recipients, but the limitations of FB prevented any meaningful connection. Something that I thought would have been interesting for Dove to do as a way to tie their new packaging into a social media app is to do something around their little sayings on the inside of their wrappers.
You can see above (and a larger picture here) that they have, in both French and English, "pleasure advice" on the inside of the wrapper: use a good moisturizer, take bubble baths, don't answer the phone - all very postitive, self-care messages.
What would really have been neat is if a) that were also a FB or other widget (there are plenty of apps on FB that give you a quote a day - could be built along those lines), but also if b) the self-care ideas were user-submitted and then voted on by the community. And then the most popular ones get printed.
So, Dove Chocolate, if you're looking for more social media marketing ideas - I'm all YOURS! But only if you send more chocolate. Thanks to Matchstick and Dove for inviting me to participate!