Sweet Godiva Suite Choco-Full of Treats

This article, Sweet Godiva Suite Choco-Full of Treats, was featured in the New York Daily News on January 30, 2008.  The write up features a promotion that Godiva Chocolatiers does every year for Valentine's Day.  This year in particular, Godiva is taking their yearly promotion to the next level, giving away a night's stay for two in a suite at the Bryant Park Hotel in New York City.  This suite is not just any suite though, this suite is being specially designed at the Bryant Park Hotel in honor of this promotion and practically everything in the room will be adorned with chocolates.  For a chocolate company, Valentine's Day is a big one and this is an opportunity for the biggest chocolate lovers to experience their dream hotel suite. 

Godiva plans to deck out the entire room in chocolates.  They plan to "bring the chocolate experience to life" by "adorning armchairs, sofas, and lamps" while also displaying bonbons on the chandelier hanging above.  This room is literally a chocolate lovers dream however it is only temporary and will be dismantled after the guests stay the weekend.  This is actually a huge undertaking for Godiva to create a hotel suite that will last only a weekend and one where only two people will utilize it.  Godiva really wants to make their brand the go-to chocolate retailer for Valentine's Day and similar occasions such as anniversaries and birthdays.  

Godiva could very well cement themselves as the Valentine's Day chocolate brand because they have been doing a promotion similar to this one for years.  In fact in other boxes of chocolates Godiva  supplies coupons for 1-carat diamond rings and specialty bracelets the same way this hotel suite is given away.  This promotion really encourages people to purchase Godiva chocolates for Valentine's Day because anyone in North America has the chance to open up the box and find a coupon for one of these expensive gifts, making that day even more special.  Also with the boxes of chocolate going for around 23 dollars a box and up, you know that even if you don't find a coupon there are still quality chocolates to enjoy.

I really feel that this promotion occurring year to year puts Godiva at the top of the chocolate market.  What other brands are taking the next step and offering something other than their product as an incentive, or going as far and giving free diamond rings out to their loyal customers.  This promotion puts a lot of pressure on the other brands to offer an incentive to buying their chocolate, especially during a holiday such as Valentine's Day where getting chocolates has become an expectation.  Through this promotion Godiva is also displaying the high level of sophistication and class that they have established for themselves in the past 80 years of service.  In addition, Godiva making this promotion a yearly benefit, has probably gained them new customers and media coverage.  The promotion initially started with diamond rings, then bracelets, and now a chocolate hotel suite, so it will be interesting to see what extravagant prize Godiva will come up with for next year's Valentine's Day.

"Sweet Godiva Suite Choco-Full of Treats." Yaniv, Oren.  January 30, 2008.  Daily News (New York).