Those who know me know that I am a big fan of chocolate. There is always chocolate in the cupboard at home, I drink hot chocolates at cafes, my friends give me chocolates as gifts, and I’ve even been paid in chocolate for certain projects in the past. I think about chocolate a lot.
So perhaps it isn’t a huge surprise that I might have some ideas for new chocolate products, even if I’m known more for my love of computers and mathematics.
This idea was originally submitted to the Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International, Inc. (the parent company of Cadbury) on December 19, 2022. After receiving no acknowledgment, I resent the same letter (with an extra idea) nearly two years later, on October 24, 2024, to the President of Cadbury Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Since I have yet to receive even a basic acknowledgment, it appears that Cadbury has no interest in the idea – or the good courtesy to respond. Therefore, I am now sharing these ideas with other companies out there who may be interested in bringing this idea to life.
I was eating some chocolate M&Ms some time back and I thought, why are there no real competitors to M&Ms? I mean, in Australia we have Smarties (Nestles), which are a bit like M&Ms without the “M”, though associated with children more than anything else. And I know there are some cheap knock-off products with lower quality chocolate inside. But what about companies like Cadbury? I know that in India Cadbury have something called “Gems” which are a bit like Smarties as I understand it. But I don’t see much competition here in Australia. Can no one compete with Mars and their M&Ms?
The Pitch
So here is the pitch I originally made to Cadbury:
- A new chocolate in candy shells.
- Slightly larger than M&Ms, but not comically so. Say 10%. With the advertising pitch that they have “more chocolate, less shell”.
- Many colours. Some special colour packs that I will discuss later.
- Each chocolate is imprinted with an emoji.
- The product is called “LOLs”. Pronounced “Lolls”.
The Name
The name is significant. “LOL” being internet shorthand for “Laugh Out Loud”, and associated with emojis, in particular “😂”. There is also an Australian significance, as in Australia we call confectionery “lollies”. Though not a common shorthand, this could be shortened to “lols” and used in advertising campaigns such as, “Pass me the lols mate”, and people would understand the connection (probably works in the UK too).
In other markets where the term “lolly” is not used, the LOL connection still exists because of the emojis. Further, you could take advantage of terms used in other counties when selling in those markets – for example, in Thailand you could call them “555s” (in Thailand “5” is used to indicate laughing as it sounds like “ha”, so people will write 555 in text messages). Similarly, in Korea you could call them, “KKKs”, as that is how they will often write the equivalent of “LOL” (to do with the sound of laughter in that case).
The Design
There are lots of different emojis that could be stamped on these chocolate shells. You can employ graphic artists to make yours look similar to the ones that exist, but also unique to your company’s brand. In my example I just used Apple-style emojis in outline form. But you could easily do similar but make them yours.
There are a large number of permutations and combinations you can use here. First, there is colour. You can make a wide array of colour shells depending on pack, region or event. For example, red and gold for Chinese New Year, with dragon, fireworks and other emojis. A huge hit would be some lowbrow toilet humour, with a packet of brown LOLs stamped with the famous and hugely popular “poo” emoji. In the case of Cadbury it would also be cool to have a special “Cadbury purple” LOL. Maybe it is a rare LOL also only seen in small numbers? And Mars couldn’t copy that colour as Cadbury has a trade mark on it, I believe.
Second there are the emojis themselves. Not only are there a large number of emojis, but you can make some rarer than others so people try to collect the rarities. And as mentioned, you can have different LOLs in certain packs related to a theme, making for increased marketing awareness and improved sales. Pretty much how Mars is forever making new varieties of M&Ms, though you have a visual advantage with the emoji designs.
This is before even considering different types of chocolate that could be inside the shells (as M&M varieties are known for).
The Execution
I realise the stamping of emojis may be difficult, and so you might need your engineers to come up with a way of doing it economically on small chocolates, but I’m sure it is possible (Mars do it with the “M”, and I recall a company in the UK used to do letters of the alphabet; but yes, I realise an emoji is more complicated).
Make this a reality. All I ask is that I am known as the originator of the idea (I get mentioned in Wikipedia), and I get some free samples. LOL! 😀
Jamie