Case Studies
The Madelaine Chocolate Company
Brand Strategy, Naming, Logo +Identity, Website
Madelaine Chocolate Novelties has been a family owned and run business for 60 years. Located in Far Rockaway, Queens, they’ve been producing those precious foiled chocolate novelties you’re so used to seeing on special occasions and during holiday seasons. Madelaine has been hugely successful, but for years they’d only done a minimal amount of branding and marketing, which had resulted in many people loving their product but not knowing who made it. For their 60th anniversary they wanted to revitalize the brand and define their presence in the chocolate industry.
Brand Strategy - The Name
“One of the first things that we noticed about the company was the lack of brand personality. Madelaine had a really rich heritage, and as a family owned business there was this unique chemistry and jovial atmosphere. Everybody at the factory – from managerial staff right down to employees – genuinely loved what they were doing. Although I guess that’s what happens when you’re surrounded by chocolate all day!”
—Sam Edwards, Creative Director
Regardless of endorphin production, the day-to-day spirit in the factory was something we wanted to capture and translate. Madelaine doesn’t just produce chocolate novelties; they make an array of panned and bar items. We felt the old name, Madelaine Chocolate Novelties, was limiting, so we set about capturing the spirit and technical ability of the company.
“It was a small name change, but made a huge difference,” says Bradley Skaggs, Creative Director on the project. “It’s amazing how a simple move transformed the perception of the company from novelty manufacturer to more artisanal and authentic. During the research process we discovered that the word ‘novelties’ had ‘negative and somewhat downmarket connotations’; hence we set guidelines on how Madelaine would speak about their chocolate.”
Brand Strategy - The Message
The renaming of the company helped us to strengthen and define the brand strategy.
“Madelaine has been a part of US families for 60 years. It’s funny because many of the staff – including myself – have been buying and eating the product for years. It seemed only natural to make this Madelaine’s unique selling point.”
—Bradley Skaggs, Creative Director
The use of heart-warming lifestyle images strengthened the personality of the company where previously Madelaine had focused on manufacturing.
“Sharing Every Chocolate Moment Since 1949”
We reworked the tagline and went through Madelaine’s photographic archives to resurrect some of their fantastic images and help solidify their company history, message and position.
The Logo
Over Madelaine’s 60 years in business, there was little change to the logo and no consistent color palette. One key request was to strengthen their brand and create a standardized logo that could be used on everything from chocolate coins and gift bags to foiled Thanksgiving turkeys and Santas.
“We didn’t want to totally change the logo. We needed to preserve the charm of the brand, but update the look and feel.”
—Joe Guzman, Senior Designer
The “M” played a central role in the logo development. Madelaine would often isolate the “M” and use it in patterns on much of their packaging. Therefore the aim was to make the “M” as recognizable and elegant as possible. It had to be engaging when isolated, but also blend in with the full Madelaine name.
When it came to colors, we felt that we needed something warm, luxurious and of course engaging. The color also needed to be able to work alongside almost every other shade and tint you could think of, due to Madelaine’s sub-brands and seasonally produced chocolate. “We decided on a rich purple with a lavender complement,” says Jonina Skaggs, Art Director on the logo project. “We felt that a rich purple with lavender was fresh yet sophisticated and suited the palette of milk and dark chocolate really well.”
See more on the identity here
Transitional Website
www.madelainechocolate.com
The Madelaine Chocolate Company website had primarily served as a trade website. Users would only visit the site to see product availability and make orders for trade purposes. Redesigning a product intensive website is no easy task, so we updated the home page to reflect the “lifestyle approach” that Madelaine would be taking and also the corporate colors and logo on the remainder of the site. It’s a work in progress, but like Madelaine we can’t wait for the relaunch!
