Toblerone and LePub Amsterdam unveil “Never Square” brand platform, advertising the new diamond-shaped Truffles
Mondelēz International has officially announced the return of Toblerone, an original icon with a future proof long-lasting vision of product innovation and category disruption through a new type of premiumness. The 115-year-old iconic chocolate brand is back with a new strategic platform and creative campaign leveraging on originality and heritage, along with the launch of its new gemstone-shaped Truffles, made of smooth velvety chocolate with tiny pieces of crunchy honey and almond nougat.
“Never Square”, the brand platform ideated by the creative agency LePub Amsterdam, wants to inspire people to look at conventions and standards with a cheeky, progressive, and grown-up point of view – just like the brand’s founder Theodor Tobler encouraged in 1908. In fact, when the chocolate industry only proposed squared-format bars, Toblerone boldly launched a triangular-shaped-product, proving since the very beginning the brand would have never adhered to the standards.
The new unveiled brand signature, “Never Square”, mirrors this spirit, aiming to show exactly the attitude that questions standards, encourages uniqueness and champions those who dare to be different. Towards this goal, Toblerone and LePub Amsterdam collaborated with fashion photographer Manu Fauque, who has previously worked with celebrities, magazines and fashion brands. His keen eye brought a fun and bold twist to the progressive and premium brand – bringing a more editorial aesthetic treatment.
As first milestone for the “Never Square” platform, the brand launched a new unconventional product. Toblerone Truffles are an exciting combination of the original taste of Toblerone with a new, velvety smooth truffle center and bites of crunchy honey and almond nougat, wrapped in a unique diamond shape. The truffles recently made their debut in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and in the World Travel retail channel, before expanding to other countries next year.
The campaign to support this launch is disrupting the typical standards of luxurious jewelry advertising, by replacing valuable gemstones with the new “Truffles”. Portrayed as main piece of different jewels, and playfully reimagining some of the key characteristics of luxury, Toblerone made it less eternal and more delicious. A testing-ground for innovation in the category that is expressed through the enthusiastic and witty eye of photographer Zach Gold and director Alfred Marroquín, who unearthed a creativity that taps into the cultural mindset of gemstones, reoffering it in a distinctive way.
Mie-Leng Wong, Senior Vice President of Global Brands at Mondelēz, commented:”We are excited to introduce our new brand platform, ‘Never Square,’ which reflects Toblerone’s attitude. We believe that some standards could use a push for originality, and this is our way of inspiring people to do just that. We are delighted to embark on this journey of inspiring originality with Toblerone Truffles, the first newly-shaped chocolate in the entire history of the brand”.
Miloš Obradović, Chief Creative Officer at LePub Amsterdam, expressed his enthusiasm towards the chocolate brand adding: “Toblerone is a brand that has a place in culture, and we feel very fortunate to continue to build on this heritage. With the brand campaign, we looked at fashion brands and their visual language – then we merged it with the world of chocolate. For Toblerone, it’s mixing humour and fashion to make this platform come to life. The product itself is proof of originality, and we wanted to make that originality shine through in strategy and creativity
These campaigns, launched in September 2023, are designed to culturally shift the entire brand perception and positioning, which has been inspiring the value of bold difference since its birth. The campaigns have been launched on TV, social media, and out-of-home in the UK market first and will follow a global roll-out.
Le Pub was created by combining the renowned Publicis Italy (“#1 Creative Agency in World” – Adweek 2021, #1 Creative Agency in World” – WARC 2022, “#2 Creative Agency in the World” at Cannes 2021, “Most Effective Ad in the world” – Kantar 2021, “one of the best and bravest agency on the planet” for the Contagious Pioneers ranking 2022)& best-in-class data, media, and technology expertise from across Publicis Groupe.