Ghirardelli Gives Out One Million Chocolates

This month, and throughout the month of April, one million Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares will be handed out to people in a number of major metropolises as part of a promotional campaign that is the largest undertaking in the brand’s history.

The campaign, “A Million Moments of Timeless Pleasure,” turns on highlighting one million everyday occasions that would offer a reason to unwrap a square of chocolate and indulge.

The program is developed by integrated marketing firm Smith Brothers Agency and includes an online sweepstakes, a 10-city sampling tour, promotional packaging, in-store displays, an online banner campaign and a month-long, consumer-generated Times Square billboard.

The sampling tour will hit 10 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. As each of the one million consumers is handed a piece of chocolate they will be encouraged to enter a sweepstakes, the anchor of the program.

Consumers who enter the sweeps will submit a “Ghirardelli moment” or a description of when they enjoyed their free sample. They can also enter again each day chronicling other Ghirardelli chocolate moments. The grand prize is a trip to one of four world famous squares, including New York’s Times Square, San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square, London’s Trafalgar Square or Venice’s St. Marks Square. People who play are also entered to win thousands of instant chocolate prizes, including bags of Ghirardelli Squares and Ghirardelli gift baskets.

At the dedicated Web site visitors will find information about the sweeps, which ends Oct. 31, and a live Web cam of thousands of people’s “moments” that are being broadcast on the gigantic Thompson Reuters and NASDAQ digital billboards in Times Square this month.

“This is an element of the campaign we’re really excited about,” Lindsey Smith, co-creative director at Smith Brothers, said in a release. “What better way to show how much people love Ghirardelli than to put their moments up in bright lights in Times Square? What’s more, people who don’t live in New York can go online, see their posted moments and enjoy their five seconds of fame.”

Under a social element, people can follow the tour on Twitter @GhirardelliTour to find out where the tour is stopping.

A number of other marketing elements support the campaign that all drive consumers to the Web site, including point-of-sale displays, online banner ads and in-pack promotional inserts and packaging.