AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL: OPENING CAFÉ CHOCOLAT

Credits & Description:

Category: Retail and E-Commerce, including Restaurants

Advertiser: AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL

Product/Service: CAFÉ

Agency: BRANDBASE

Date of First Appearance: Mar 26 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: BRANDBASE, Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Director: Paul Alberts (Brandbase)

Creative Director: Marvin Pupping (Brandbase)

Client Service Director: Gilles Heybroek (Brandbase)

Project Manager: Jeanine Geurts (Brandbase)

Marketing Communications Consultant: Janneke Voorn (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol)

Passengers Marketing Manager: Patricia de Boer (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol)

Media placement: Press Event - POS - 26 March 2009



Describe the objective of the promotion.

The objective was to generate attention for the launch of Café Chocolat at Schiphol using just a fairly limited budget. We needed to generate more than €120,000.- of media value, positioning Café Chocolat as a high end ‘chocolate bar’ and boutique, offering a unique experience, and providing chocolate lovers with, surprising, delicious and exceptionally exclusive chocolate delicacies. It had to speak not to any chocoholic, but to women who are prepared to spend that little bit extra in order to obtain a product that fulfils their chocolate expectations.



Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Our creative concept being: It’s a big choc, we needed an idea that would make this both tangible and desirable to chocolate lovers far and wide. We therefore decided to create a PR stunt for the launch: a life-size statue and chocolate representation of Nicolette van Dam. Using laser beams, a body scan was made of the TV presenter, which was used to create a cast, which was subsequently filled with chocolate. Naturally the statue was made with the chocolate available at Café Chocolat, and after revealing our chocolate Nicolette, all the visitors could try a piece of her.



Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The campaign was a huge success. With a budget of just €40.000, the goal was to generate a media value of at least three times this amount.
The action was picked up massively by the media, one of the results being a spectacular ‘making-of’ special on RTL Boulevard and Shownieuws (Show News), resulting in a media value of €300.000 - a whopping eight times the invested amount. It also launched Café Chocolat as not just another shop in Schiphol, but as a unique chocolate experience and boutique chocolate bar that chocolate lovers have long been waiting for.



Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The campaign had to be unique and surprising, it had to scream chocolate, but above all, it had to be glamorous. One of the most beautiful women of the Netherlands, in Nicolette we found the ultimate personification of Café Chocolat, and one that was bound to generate maximum PR. The only thing then missing was the chocolate itself. We therefore brought the two elements together in a life-size edible statue.
By developing the statue with TNO, we were guaranteed a top quality, beautiful end product that would be in keeping with the image of Café Chocolat.