Hitting that sweet spot

Hotel Chocolat are a British chocolatier and cocoa grower, with over 100 stores in the UK and 33 stores in Japan. They also have an online offering in the US.

They have always been seen as an affordable luxury, delivering a delicious range of chocolates – perfect for gifting. Over the years the popularity of the likes of M&S (with the Percy Pig range), have grown dramatically – which has impacted sales.

Hotel Chocolat wanted to explore the development of their own range of characters, so they could rival Percy Pig and add more personality instore and to their branding – especially around their gifting products.

The characters were based on four of their current chocolate ranges available and were named the ‘Chocolate Chums’. They were a rabbit, penguin, bulldog and robot. 

Sadly the project ended up being shelved, because of the financial impact of the Covid pandemic and Brexit.

CLIENT: Hotel Chocolat   AGENCY: N/A 
SCOPE: Art direction, character design

Numerous playful styles were explored, with the key focus of the characters being their personalities and versatility.

We also explored how the characters would interact with each other and in other environments, as the eventual goal was to have them within their own storybook for children.

Packaging designs were also creating to showcase the impact the designs could have on-shelf.