Seattle Chocolate, based in 1991, almost met its finish only one decade into enterprise after the Nisqually Earthquake destroyed its manufacturing facility.
Jean Thompson, one in every of a couple of dozen of the corporate’s traders on the time, stepped in to put it aside. She grew to become the proprietor, salvaging the machines and transferring operations to a different location. Six weeks later, when the CEO stop, she assumed that place too — and by no means regarded again.
Within the greater than 20 years since, the corporate has grown from about 35 to 75 staff, does roughly $20 million in annual income, offers 10% web income to fund initiatives to enhance the lives of cocoa farmers and have become carbon impartial in 2022.
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Now the corporate is present process a daring, imaginative rebrand, introduced earlier this month — and altering its title to Maeve.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Maeve
“In different areas, whereas we may get distribution, the shoppers did not pull it off the shelf.”
Thompson had by no means appreciated the title Seattle Chocolate, noting it felt too limiting and regionally tied. ”The info was there that we did rather well in our personal yard, within the Pacific Northwest,” Thompson explains, “however in different areas, whereas we may get distribution, the shoppers did not pull it off the shelf.”
However the firm had been Seattle Chocolate for over 20 years. Thompson thought the time to revamp its title had come and gone.
Nonetheless, a dialog together with her daughter Ellie Thompson, the corporate’s model supervisor, modified her perspective. “She mentioned, ‘I really like Seattle Chocolate, nevertheless it’s not cool,'” Thompson remembers.
Thompson agreed, and desperate to make the model interesting to new audiences like Gen Z, she got down to give it a makeover.
“ I am an evergreen firm,” Thompson says. “I do not wish to flip; I do not wish to simply promote the corporate. I wish to spend money on it in a method that it is going to be round without end as a result of I believe that is once you actually could make a distinction.”
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“[It’s] this actually whimsical [design], and it virtually takes you to a spot of fantasy.”
Few folks know that the corporate is woman-owned, so that they wished to steer with a reputation indicating that, Thompson says. Nonetheless, touchdown on the corporate’s new title and branding took a couple of 12 months — and wasn’t with out its challenges.
Finally, Thompson labored with three totally different businesses on the rebrand. The primary company gave them a reputation that lots of people appreciated, however Thompson wasn’t bought. Ultimately, they could not get the trademark, so it was again to the drafting board.
A second company would assist with the model’s new title. Thompson quipped to the crew that the “chocolate goddess” had been searching for her by stopping the trademark, and that set them down a brand new artistic path: goddess names. “Maeve” was one in every of them — and it resonated on twin fronts.
“She is a first-century Irish warrior queen who believes girls are equals,” Thompson says, “and every time I inform that story, I am going like, ‘Wow. Novel idea.’ She additionally [hailed] from the area of Eire that my grandparents have been from. So I am like, I believe she’s my lady.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Maeve
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Thompson labored with a 3rd company to create the branding design that exists right this moment.
Now, Maeve’s colourful homepage, dynamic with illustrations of waves, a ship and a mermaid, invitations guests to “Include us to a faraway land” earlier than giving option to one other show that reintroduces Seattle Chocolate as Maeve, “the place moral meets scrumptious.”
“[It’s] this actually whimsical [design], and it virtually takes you to a spot of fantasy,” Thompson says. Chocolate itself is at all times an escape, Thompson provides, however Maeve’s new branding affords shoppers one other layer of escapism: replete with “tongue-in-cheek” product descriptions and a enjoyable solid of characters.
“You may construct an entire fantasy world,” Thompson explains. “[The agency] even developed a map for us. We wish to blow the doorways off of how chocolate’s ever been marketed earlier than.”
“You must observe your intestine since you are setting the course for this particular firm.”
A number of elements have helped Maeve pull off an efficient rebrand to date, based on Thompson.
First, Thompson made positive to contain groups throughout the whole firm within the course of from the very starting. It was essential to get any fears and considerations out within the open so that they may very well be addressed, Thompson says.
The crew additionally needed to analyze each facet of the then-current product line. The reevaluation led to some modifications, like swapping the “truffle” designation to “bonbon” and axing sure flavors that have been cumbersome to provide. Permitting ample time to refine the product providing — which took about three years for Maeve — helped lay a strong basis for the rebrand.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Maeve
Speaking the change to the corporate’s loyal prospects was additionally important and generally difficult.
Shoppers within the Pacific Northwest who’d beloved the chocolate for years felt considerably “betrayed” by the title change, Thompson explains. Maeve has met the “little little bit of unfavorable blowback” with a promise to offer the identical high quality product and dedication to its values.
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A essential lesson Thompson’s discovered over the course of Maeve’s rebrand — and one she recommends all entrepreneurs take to coronary heart — is simply how essential it’s to take heed to your instincts.
“You must observe your intestine since you are setting the course for this particular firm,” Thompson says. “You’re the engine. Should you do not belief your self, then you are going to misstep and be mad at your self. Should you belief your self, [even if] you observe your intestine and also you fail, [at least you can say], ‘However that is what I assumed was proper.'”