We were talking to people who have heard of dark chocolate but not tasted it. Uninitiated into the world of dark chocolates, they don’t know what to expect from it in terms of eating experience. Also, for a milk chocolate loving country, dark chocolate is an acquired taste.

We had to encourage them to explore the uncharted, unfamiliar world of Amul dark chocolates. We had to make them cross a barrier and show them what lies on the other side. We had to make them imagine the taste of dark chocolates even before they ate it. We had to de-mystify dark chocolates while keeping their mystery intact.

So, using the rarest of variants, the 90% Dark chocolate, we created posters showing a world filled with intrigue and mystique, seducing people to be a part of it, to come and get a glimpse of what lies on the other side.

We used the product itself, the delicious looking Amul chocolate bar, as the strongest visual element. We created a visual world of literally 90% dark rooms, penetrated by sharp light coming through a missing tile of chocolate (that's eaten?). Though a window, a cellar and a roof. Literally throwing light on this mysterious world, seducing people to come in and get a glimpse.

The images were produced in CGI.

We launched the poster campaign in the stores in Jan 2018. The communication impacted the sales immediately. The sale of dark chocolates in Amul Preferred Outlets grew by 45% in three months of the campaign period against the previous three months’ period when there was no campaign.

India is a milk chocolate market. Dark chocolates barely constitute 10% of the chocolate category. National and International Chocolate brands here, have dark chocolates as a tiny part of their offering.

Amul, India’s largest dairy brand has been making milk chocolates for over 30 years. Last year they introduced a wide range of premium dark chocolates including the rare 90% variant. This range constitutes more than 50% of their chocolate portfolio therefore it’s a business imperative to grow dark chocolate as a category.

So how to make a milk chocolate loving nation move to dark chocolate?

Amul, being a farmers’ co-operative, has shoestring budgets for advertising. Moreover, since dark chocolates are a small category, we didn’t have budgets to use TV as a medium. Amul has a network of about 9000 retail stores called Amul Preferred Outlets and about 1800 ice-cream parlours. These 10,800 outlets became our touchpoints.