Final Project for "Advanced Brand Strategies" class: Analysis of the company and suggestion for the future. Parsons The New School for Design | Spring 2014 | Professor Erin Cho

1. FINAL PROJECT
Jean Wojciechowski & Pedro Veneziano
Advanced Brand Strategies
Professor Erin Cho

2. COMPANY
Cacau Show is a brazilian company and
the biggest fine chocolate chain in the
world. It provides quality chocolate at
accessible prices.
It was created in 1988, a time where the
brazilian chocolate market had only
cheap, mass produced chocolate and
expensive, imported ones. Cacau Show
positioned itself in the middle.

3. COMPANY
Alexandre da Costa, the owner, realized that there was a gap in Brazilian chocolate market.
High-class consumers were able to buy from several artisanal/imported chocolate brands, while, on
the other end, industrialized/mass-produced chocolates were sold to all social classes through
supermarket chains and food sections at department stores. So Cacau Show entered in the middle
lane, providing high-quality chocolate at accessible prices.
quality/reasonable price artisanal/expensivemass produced/cheap
Chocolate market

4. The company, since its inception, have a very lean operation model, with low costs, aggressive
pricing, high-quality products and creative marketing. Characteristics that made Cacau Show able
to reach this new brazilian economic force - driven by Brazil’s economic growth, 20 million people
have joined Class C between 2006 and 2008, making a total of more than 90 million consumers in
this segment.
Economy
COMPANY
Rising middle-class
$
$$

5. Instead of only launching new collections in holidays, Cacau Show makes changes in their shelves
throughout the whole year - changes that goes from small new packages to launches of new flavors.
By doing that, Alexandre da Costa believes that customers will keep coming back to the stores and
the brand will be more engaging.
Products
COMPANY

6. It operates in a franchise model, with
more than a thousand stores open
throughout Brazil.
The company sells all sort of chocolates
(bonbons, tablets...) with different shapes
and flavors. It also sells cookies, alfajor
and, more recently, coffee and desserts.
However, the main star, that boosted the
company is the 1 real (0.45 dollar) truffle.
COMPANY
Franchises

7. COMPANY
The brand’s image is constructed around its
own history and tradition.
From its very start, the brand successfully
managed to create this image in consumer’s
mind and in the heart of brazilian people.
Brand creation is, for me, coherence. Year after year, we
show our consumers what we are and what we want to be:
a company that sells products with handmade soul produced
in large scale, and with the proposal of being a happy and
democratic brand.
Alexandre Tadeu da Costa
Cacau Show Owner

8. COMPANY
The brand’s magic happens at a more unconscious level, where consumers who buy their
products gain a certain satisfaction and status by avoiding regular chocolate bars and pieces
that you can find at any supermarket. The brand is also highly attractive when it comes to
presents, since it is an inexpensive option that works for almost anyone.
Branding

9. COMPANY
Cacau Show’s marketing strategies and
communication are always focused on their
target public: easy understanding campaigns,
always straight-forward and focusing on the
product itself, where most of the time there aren’t
many concepts or contextualization involved.
Marketing

10. COMPANY
For the future of the brand, Antonio da Costa is planning to buy a chocolate factory in Belgium (the
land of artisanal chocolate, according to him). By doing that, da Costa would be able to sell
chocolate in Europe, “ There are a lot of opportunities to be explored there. ” Also, with this option
of having a belgian factory, Cacau Show would be able to sell belgian chocolate in Brazil for a
lower price.
In terms of the future of the chocolate industry, the next step may rely on cocoa fermentation. A
new trend in cocoa farms technology, which is basically adding flavor to the seed of cocoa itself
through the action of certain bacteria, similar to what happens with wine or coffee production. The
future of chocolate may follow the steps of wine and coffee markets, creating a culture of
degustation and professional chocolate-tasters.
Future

11. Our idea is to create a new brand that
would step into the luxury chocolate
market and would push this vision of the
future of chocolate that the owner has.
FUTURE
The company is planning on buying a factory
in Belgium - tradtion in artisanal chocolate
Cacau Show doesn’t have a great
share of the brazilian luxury chocolate
market
The owner believes that the future of
chocolate may follow the footsteps of
wine and coffee.
I’m finding cocoa flavors (...).
These aromas result from cocoa
fermentation, which is a brand new thing

12. PROPOSAL

14. The main idea of the logo and its visual identity is
to add luxury to the brand. The single line around
the name adds involvement and creates a notion
of exclusivity around the brand. The star on the
bottom creates a connection with Cacau Show and
tells the consumer that this brand has kept the
best star exclusively for him. The association
between these two brands is intentionally subtle
so that consumers don’t create undesired
connections between them.
PROPOSAL
A show is good, but a
spectacle is far beyond that.

21. PROPOSAL
This new brand would be a luxury one, but we wanted to seek the new meaning of luxury nowadays,
instead of repeating what others companies have done.
Luxury nowadays
Rank related to what you know, not what you have Brand as way for the customer to learn
Knowledge
Where the chocolate comes from,
how cocoa is grown
Customers are more informed and want brands to
inform even more
Awereness

22. PROPOSAL
Luxury nowadays
Show the effort, the craft involved in the
process
Human, artisanal aspect. Move away the idea of
mass produced product
Care
Ritual Do something at the store that you can’t do
somewhere else
Experience

23. PROPOSAL
Awareness
Besides the tradional packaged
chocolates, our customer would also
be able to purchase in bulk. This
would bring an ecofriendly, human
touch characteristic to the brand.
Bulk purchasing

24. PROPOSAL
Knowledge/ Experience/ Care
During the bulk purchasing, the clients would receive samples and a specialist would help them choose chocolates,
suggest flavors, explain the process of how different subtleties in texture and flavor are obtained, health implications
discuss about the product. In the end, the customer would receive cards explaining the details of the
chocolate/product he bought.
Educating customer

25. PROPOSAL
Craft/ Effort
Greeting cards would establish a more direct, personal dialog with the customer.
Labels would come with hand-written information about the products to give a unique and human feel.
Greeting cards & Hand-written label
Maestro Dobel tequila’s small batch production is noted by
handwritten date and bottle numbers, as well as distiller name.
Mast Brothers greeting cards

26. PROPOSAL
Knowledge/ Care
A biannual event that would bring chocolate specialist around the world to teach and would invite customers to
Event & report