| EVENT REPORT 01.29.09 12:07 PM |
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| Suite Treats |
| Expanding on a Valentine's Day promotion it debuted last year, Godiva brought in designer Jonathan Adler to fill a suite at the Bryant Park Hotel with edible chocolate furnishings, artwork, and entertainment. |
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Consumer confidence may have hit a new low, but experiential marketers haven't given up yet. Less than two weeks ago, Godiva brought back its chocolate-themed lounge for In Style's Golden Globes after-party, and the company's latest bid for attention took place yesterday at the press unveiling of a chocolate-covered suite inside the Bryant Park Hotel. The candy-laden room—where the winner of Godiva's Valentine's Day competition will stay for a weekend—is a concept the company introduced last year. To beef up this latest effort, the chocolatier partnered with designer Jonathan Adler.
"For us the three days leading up to Valentine's Day are the biggest selling days of the year," said Godiva president and C.E.O. Jim Goldman. "Last year [the promotion] was a huge success, and when you have a huge success, you try to top it. Jonathan Adler brings it to the next level." |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | Individual pieces of chocolate form an enormous mosaic wall in the living room.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | The winners of Godiva's Valentine's Day competition will be the only guests to stay in the suite, which comes complete with a chocolate headboard.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | A screen dominates the living room area, which also includes a chocolate chess set and bowls of Godiva candy.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | Perhaps the most lavishly decorated section of the suite is the dining room.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | In imitation of Jonathan Adler's Bargello collection, hundreds of individual chocolates form a mosaic beneath the glass top of the dining table.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | Also in the dining room are oversize recreations of decanters from Adler's collection.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | Details like long-stemmed chocolate roses and chocolate candles add whimsical touches to the suite.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | Some objects, like the DVD player, are not made entirely of chocolate, but covered in it instead.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | In addition to vast quantities of chocolate, Godiva also showcases other products.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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 | Godiva also tapped Brooke Shields to bolster publicity for the promotion.
Photo: Emily Gilbert for BizBash |
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Designed by Adler and interpreted into chocolate by Los Angeles-based producer Larry Abel, the suite features a lavish display of Godiva products—integrated into various elements of the room and its furnishings—as well as pieces from Adler's housewares collection. Whimsical components like long-stemmed roses and a chess set, are intended to be played with. “Chocolate is fun, not serious,” said Goldman.
Having built a similar setting last year, Abel’s team came prepared for the unusual challenges the suite presented. Aside from making sure the chocolate didn’t melt, the crew also made last minute touch-ups to the design during the three-day setup. (Temperature changes caused the candy to expand and contract, and pieces molded together with little more than chocolate paste would sometimes come flying off the wall.)
In addition to the hotel stay, the promotion’s winner will receive a private chocolate tasting at Godiva’s Rockefeller Center boutique and a year’s supply of chocolate.
—Anna Sekula
RELATED TOPICS
Godiva, Jonathan Adler
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