Tony’s Chocolonely revives campaign educating consumers on its mission highlighting cocoa supply chain inequalities
The New Tony's Chocolonely countdown calendar has hit British shelves. Pic: Neill Barston
Dutch-founded confectionery impact brand, Tony’s Chocolonely is setting out on a fresh campaign surrounding its Christmas releases, to educate chocolate fan on the company’s original vision as it set out to tackle the ongoing major issue of child labour in cocoa supply chains, writes Neill Barston.
As the company noted, since launching five years ago in the UL, many consumers have found themselves misspelling or pronouncing the business as Chocoloney, rather than lonely – which stands for its hard-fought quest to raise awareness of broader human rights and environmental issues within the sector.
Notably, as Confectionery Production has previously covered, Founder Teun van de Keuken (known as “Tony” in English) started the company to raise awareness of inequalities in chocolate supply chains – a journey that was very lonely, with “Chocolonely” thought to capture both his mission and the personal drive that launched the brand. Its campaign, goes live today, and will be prominent with advertising around London from next week.
It comes as the business has launched a renewed series of festive favourites including its big advent calendar, and bar varieties including milk chocolate and gingerbread, Tiny Tony’s Christmas pouch of miniatures, a smaller countdown calendar, as well as a rainbow tasting pack featuring a total of six small bars that offer a full taster of the complete range from the company.
Notably, the brand’s story began when Teun, a Dutch journalist, uncovered a news story that exposed forced labour in cocoa production—an issue he felt should be front-page news. Together with a a team of journalists attempted to raise awareness of this via a segment on Dutch news show KVW, but when the story didn’t make the impact they expected, Teun took a bold step and launched the first-ever Fairtrade traceable milk chocolate, which became the now renowned brand.
As the company acknowledges, there is only so much it can do alone, which led it to open its sourcing model, the 5 Sourcing Principles, to any other company who wants to use it, calling it Tony’s Open Chain. This industry-led initiative supports chocolate brands in transforming their cocoa supply chains to become sustainability frontrunners. Now, with 20 Mission Allies – including Ben & Jerry’s, Waitrose, Pip & Nut and Feastables.
This story is still unfamiliar to so many, so Tony’s Chocolonely is launching a cheeky OOH and social campaign across the UK to help people pronounce the name correctly—because it actually does matter, and no one wants to write it wrong on their Christmas list.
Jacqui Grimsey-Jones, Head of Marketing at Tony’s Chocolonely said: “We’re always thinking of new ways to raise awareness and inspire people to act and it felt natural to shine a light on our story and name during such a key time for choco sales. This Christmas, we want everyone to embrace our mission and join the movement for exploitation-free chocolate. It really is easy, let’s get the name right: Chocolonely, the impact brand that exists to end poverty, child labour and deforestation in the cocoa industry with damn tasty chocolate made from ethically sourced cocoa beans.”
