Touring 90th Years of Excellence with GODIVA Media Tour
Official Chocolatier of Belgian Royal Courts, GODIVA Chocolatier steps into its 90th Anniversary in 2016. To celebrate this momentous occasion, GODIVA exclusively invited 20 selected media to visit their home in Brussels. The meeting was a delicious multi-sensory experience, breathtakingly bringing to life the rich history and craftsmanship, featuring GODIVA’s bold collections from past to present; presenting the sweetly nostalgic and cutting edge chocolate designs to astound guests from all over the globe.
Media Tour Day 1 - To kick-start the tour, guests delved into the brand’s rich heritage on the first day with visits to GODIVA’s most iconic stores, at Grand Plaza and Sablon. After a warm welcome drink of rich hot cocoa at the store, they were also treated to taste a few Belgium-exclusive chocolates. They were then taken to visit only one of two Chocolate and Cocoa museums in Belgium, owned by Mrs. Peggy Draps, granddaughter of GODIVA founder, Pierre Draps. The visit to the museum exhibited the history of chocolate, as well as brought to life the story of GODIVA. Peggy Draps gave an insightful tour of the museum, showing original photos of the birth of GODIVA in 1926, she explained how the young Draps family handmade, discussed and lived chocolate. This depicted the growth of GODIVA, and how it counted heavily on the passion, craftsmanship and innovation, inspiring every guest who attended. In the evening, guests were welcomed with a ‘Greater China Night’ with inspirational embracement of China’s culture, marking it a fabulous end of the first day of Brussels’ Immersion.
Media Tour Day 2 - The day started off with an exclusive GODIVA Factory visit. The GODIVA Factory visit was indeed a special treat, as outsiders would not have access to these exclusive areas. The 20 Media from Greater China were invited to learn about the chocolate making process, all the way from preparing raw ingredients, the design process, and the craftsmanship of each piece of chocolate. The media was blown away by the immaculate dedication to the art. The Signature Lait Café is a prime example, this chocolate was created in 1939 to commemorate the feather on Scarlett’s hat in “Gone With the Wind”. The media witnessed workers who have been working at GODIVA for over 20 years, hand paint the feather on each and every piece of chocolate.
After the tour of the factory, Chef Chocolatiers invited the media to a Special Chocolate Making session at the Atelier. Using a variety of ingredients, the 20 guests were guided to create their own masterpieces. At the end of the session, the Chef arranged the 18 pieces together, allowing the media to discover a fascinating surprise, the unveiling of the brand new packaging for the 90th Anniversary Collection, designed by Oli-B. The guests signed their names on the chocolate packaging, creating a unique memorabilia.
On that evening, 135 guests from all over the world were invited to an unforgettable event. The first layer of the event was the priceless exhibition of GODIVA’s Founder, Pierre Draps notebook and chocolate tools; these very pieces are where GODIVA all came together in the 1930s. Then guests migrated to the second layer, which was the epitome of GODIVA’s multi-sensory experience. Using sensory neuro-science, individual taste experiences were designed to showcase the decades of GODIVA’s collection. It featured five pods, which were each dedicated to telling the story and enhancing the flavour profile. When the right visuals, sounds, scent and texture comes together, it becomes incredibly powerful as it heightens are senses, making our experience much more memorable, engaging us emotionally. The highlight of the evening was the third layer, which represents the future. The Rose and Raspberry Sensory meal holds true to its theme, the multi-sensory dining experience positions GODIVA as true culinary artists, pioneering and in line with the latest gastronomic trends. Michelin-star restaurant, Bon Bon’s executive chef, Chef Christophe and the culinary team at GODIVA prepared the impressive dinner.
At the end of the night, all guests had a wonderful night with a valuable and meaningful gift - GODIVA’s Collection Anniversaire, containing eight of GODIVA’s most precious and iconic chocolates, alongside a brand new fresh, fragrant rose and raspberry-flavoured piece, presented to artfully showcase GODIVA’s tradition and innovative journey of GODIVA’s rich heritage. GODIVA’s CEO, Mohammed Elsarky made a note, “GODIVA have been creating beautiful chocolates for the past 90 years, with an emphasis on its craftsmanship. This is an important milestone for us and the Draps family, we hope to carry this tradition for generations to come, bringing GODIVA’s skills and innovation to chocolate lovers worldwide.”