Divine
Chocolate Marketing Timeline
| Easter 1999 | 150g bars of Divine were sold in all Body Shops marketed on TV advertisements starring the comedian Ben Elton. |
| April 1999 |
Divine Chocolate was awarded Millennium Product status by the Design Council for having an innovative company structure based on fair trade principles. Divine Chcolate was included in the 'Spiral of Innovation' display at the Millennium Dome, Greenwich. |
| October 1999 | The Company won an award for Ethical and Fair Trade Practices at the World Food Awards. |
| November 1999 |
A leaflet explaining the story behind fairtrade and Divine chocolate was sent to all Iceland stores. A special promotion ran through Sainsbury/Christian Aid when 342 out of 400 Sainsburys stores stocked Divine. Two representatives from Kuapa Kokoo visited the UK and took part in a series of meetings and talks. |
| December 1999 |
The youth programme 'Newswround' sent a young reporter out to Ghana to cover the story of Fairtrade and Kuapa Kokoo. The first ever fairtrade advent calendar was sold in fair trade shops, along with a Millennium Munchdown calendar (sold through The Body Shop). |
| January 2000 |
Edinburgh launched as first Divine Town. Soon followed by Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Bristol & Brighton. Nationwide Competition launched through the childrenšs programme 'Live and Kicking' to design a wrapper for a new fairtrade chocolate bar. The winner visited Ghana and Kuapa Kokoo & elements of her winning design were incorporated into the final wrapper for Dubble. |
| March 2000 |
Fairtrade Fortnight: lots of in-store events and promotions through supermarkets, The Body Shop, events to raise awareness-including advertising and publicity. The Co-op and Divine together launched the first supermarket joint label fairtrade product, a snack sized 45g milk chocolate bar, available in every single Co-op store. At the time of the launch this joint branded bar was outselling leading chocolate bars. |
| April 2000 | A smaller 45g Divine bar was launched, and Student Union outlets took up the bar for sale at universities. |
| September 2000 | The Day Chocolate Company launched its web-site. |
| October 2000 |
Dubble was launched the first ever fairtrade chocolate bar especially for children. Massive media coverage including a double page feature in The Sun, cover-mounted bars on Match & Smash Hits. Comic Relief fairtrade education pack available free to all UK schools. Dubble stocked in most supermarkets and high street stores such as Blockbuster - taking fairtrade into new retail territory! |
| November 2000 | The first company newsletter was printed and sent out The Day Chocolate Company exhibited at the Global Fair and the Good Food show. |
| January 2001 | Sales of Divine bars through the Christian Aid-backed 'choc shop' initiative reach 70,000 bars sold. |
| February 2001 | The Divine cocktail - the Divinitini - is launched at The Sanderson Hotel in London - later to be featured in Elle magazine. |
| March 2001 |
Fairtrade Fortnight with hundreds of events up and down the country to promote the message 'Wake Up to Fairtrade'. Comic Relief's Red Nose Day - Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4 is 'sponsored' in a unique deal by Dubble fair trade chocolate. |
| April 2001 | Company sponsored the Scottish Ghanaian Infusion Festival in Edinburgh The Company along with Comic Relief won the Hollis Award for the Most Effective Use of Sponsorship in the Education category for their Pa Pa Paa teaching pack. |
| June 2001 | The Company sponsored the African Oye festival, in Liverpool. |
| October 2001 | A major fair trade campaign at UK Universities was launched by the Company. |
| November 2001 | Darkly Divine, a plain chocolate bar was launched at the Good Food Show in Birmingham. |
| January 2002 | Debate in Parliament all about Kuapa Kokoo and fair trade. |
| February 2001 | British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accompanied by the Ghanaian President John Kufour visited a cocoa farm belonging to one of Kuapa Kokoo's members Launch of Divine Mini Eggs, made from milk chocolate, wrapped in purple foil with a red heart. |
| March 2002 | Sainsbury's launch own-labelled 100g dark Fairtrade chocolate supplied by The Day Chocolate Company whose story appears on the wrapping. |
| April 2002 |
The Co-op launched a jointly-branded (Co-op/Divine) Fairtrade Crispy White Chocolate bar. Exhibition held at The House of Commons opened by Clare Short and organized by Linda Gilroy MP focusing on The Day Chocolate Company business model and Fairtrade. |
Go to the news section of Day Chocolate Company site for full information of events.