Salon du Chocolat: Festival of everything chocolate
I am sure the above advertisement would resonate with many of the 90s kids where we wanted to live in a world filled with chocolate cars, trees, fruits, and even normal day-to-day items, and then we grew up and found out that isn’t possible. But, what if I told you that there exists a space where confectioners from around the world come and put their best chocolate exhibits forward? Indeed a dream come true, The Salon du Chocolat is the world’s largest event dedicated to chocolate with over 500 participants and 100,000 visitors expected during the 5 days of 2020 event.
How it all started?
The idea of creating a chocolate show came suddenly to Sylvie Douce at a dinner in 1994, and she discussed this idea with François Jeantet, a food critic. After initial reservations, they went ahead and inaugurated the 1st edition of Salon du Chocolat on 28th October 2995 at the Eiffel Branly convention center. This event was a huge success with 40,000 visitors. Word began to spread and when they held the show in New York in 1998, audiences queued up over five blocks, which brought the traffic in entire Manhattan to a standstill! Since its inception, it has had over 11 million visitors, 28,000 participants, held in 17 countries, and 34 cities.
The concept
The main idea of the event is to celebrate the love of chocolate in all its forms by hosting the best chocolatiers from around the world to showcase their art and depict trends in pastry and chocolate. It is an exceptional forum highlighting the savoir-faire and creativity of the entire sector. The highlights of the festival are the various competitions, chocolate exhibits, and the most iconic of them all, a chocolate fashion show!
Apart from this, you can savor the Pastry show, Chocolate Bookshop with author signings, demonstrations, conferences, etc.
The Fashion Show
Without a doubt, the most iconic is the Chocolate fashion show which has models walking down the runway wearing chocolate fashion garments — real couture masterpieces made out of chocolate! Brilliant designers like Max Chaoul & Philippe Bernachon, Stella Cadente & Jean-Paul Hévin, Angélique Godey & Stéphane Bonnat, and many more showcase their finesse through the chocolate garments at the show.
Why should brands leverage this opportunity?
The Salon du Chocolat Festival is an event that hosts approximately 15 events per year, drives 1 million visitors, and €25 million of media coverage. The following points demonstrate the reasons that companies can use the event to market themselves.
- A great platform to showcase the brand and build awareness through which brands can drive sales pre and post-show.
- Brands can launch and test consumer responses immediately and effectively and maintain relationships.
- Brands can understand the trends from the chocolate industry and gain key customer insights.
- The user-generated content from the event will help the brands gain exposure in a niche community too.
- Brands can find new business opportunities and forge partnerships with other industry professionals.
Final Thoughts
Salon du Chocolat does hit the sweet spot for consumers, producers, and brands with its engaging activities and immersive experience. If you are a chocolate connoisseur, you should definitely try this experience of a lifetime(You should even if you aren’t). The event has yet to arrive in India and honestly, I am hoping it does soon. In which city in India, do you think the event should be hosted, and what activities could be held that relate to Indian culture? Leave your thoughts in the comments, would love to hear them!