Pladis’ chief marketing officer Ahad Afridi is on a mission to deliver happiness in every bite across multiple brands across global markets.
“My mission and focus area is making sure that our brands have strong platform ideas around them, that they are relevant for consumers today,” says Afridi. “That they bring to life something special and address a consumer need in some way, and that they’re growing as part of the business.”
The Pladis portfolio includes: Godiva, Turtles, Carr’s, McVitie’s and more, snack brands that have been around for more than a century. This year, Godiva turned 100 and the brand celebrated with a 2D animated film that tells Godiva’s story through its place in consumer’s lives across the decades and is narrated by Leighton Meester (Blair from “Gossip Girl”). Meester has an iconic scene in “Gossip Girl,” in which she cries into her pillow and says her only friend is Lady Godiva. Working with Meester on the social-first campaign is designed to connect to new audiences.
“The way it’s been built is truly to deep dive into cultural relevance and really engage with consumers to show what Godiva is most famous for,” says Afridi.
The idea behind the campaign is also to make the brand more accessible and make consumers understand that Godiva is not just for special occasions. Brand Innovators caught up with Afridi from his office in New York to talk about Godiva’s 100th anniversary, showing up in culture and what he learned working for PepsiCo. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Godiva just celebrated a huge milestone. Can you talk about how you approach celebrating 100 years of a brand and how you think about the next 100?
Godiva is not the oldest brand in our portfolio, but reaching 100 years is a great milestone. The first thing you realize is there’s something special about the brand to be around and vibrant and still connecting with consumers after 100 years. The next realization is, what’s next? It was a chance to really reassess the brand and where it fits. We look at it as a 100-year milestone, but it’s really a time to reboot for the next 100 years.
We’ve looked at the past, trying to understand the history and look for the treasures within what the brand is, trying to figure out how to connect that in a relevant way with consumers today and architect it for the future. By architect, I mean where we want to be, what kind of product portfolio we have, how do we want to fit in consumers’ lives? The centennial anniversary of the brand is an opportunity to engage directly with consumers to reinforce what the brand is about.
You mentioned that Godiva is not the oldest brand in your portfolio. What are some of your older brands?
In the UK, we have some very old brands. We have McVitie’s biscuits, which are around 150 years old. And one of its products, the Digestive, just celebrated its 100-year anniversary. We have Carr’s Crackers as well, which is over 200 years old and is one of, if not the oldest packaged cracker brand in the world. It comes from Carlyle, UK. In the US market, we have the Turtles brand, which is 110 years old. Godiva is the younger sister of these brands.
Talk to me about how you think about showing up in culture and what that means from the brand perspective.
It’s a really important consideration for us. The first part is what do we want to be? What’s our mission? What are we trying to do? And then how is reflected through different cultural touch points. Godiva is a premium quality Belgian-styled chocolate artistry craft. It’s considered a luxury brand. But we want to dispel the notion that it’s a luxury brand that’s exclusive for certain people or certain places at certain times. We’re trying to make sure that people know and experience that the brand is more accessible than you may think. It’s not just for certain special occasions. It’s for a broad range of occasions.
Godiva has this heritage of being a part of holiday culture, Valentine’s Day culture, those big special moments, which is very relevant for the brand. But it doesn’t have to be a gift. It can be a self-treat for yourself or something you share with others. We are trying to help people realize it’s not just about special moments, but it’s about making moments special for a broader range of moments, which means it can be more every day. We are trying to have different products that cater to those occasions.
Our mission is to bring that to life and help consumers know that. We have a new product called Masterpiece. We launched that a few months ago with a campaign that has a very culturally relevant celebrity spokesperson Leighton Meester who helps kind of bridge some consumer cohorts or generations with her broad appeal and helps the brand cater to younger consumers as well. We’re also using her in a really clever way across the centennial hundred-year anniversary campaign as well.
Can you talk about how you think about connecting with consumers in a fragmented media landscape?
It’s a fragmented world, fragmented media world. It’s not like we’re looking back at days where we used to broadcast just on network TV. That was never the Godiva model. Godiva’s real way of engaging with consumers historically was through the products, the occasions, through the boutiques. Today, it’s more about bringing products to life on platforms like social media. We’re expanding our presence across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. That’s an important growth platform for us.
We also have partnerships with external partners. We’re doing a partnership with an external brand, United Airlines. It’s also their 100 year anniversary. We’re doing some activations in their Polaris lounge and on some of their first class flights. We have a phenomenal roster of chefs that we work with at events that we’re starting to use also on social media so that people see the specialness of the brand and the products.
Sampling events are really important. We have a pink Godiva truck, which goes all the way back into Godiva’s history after World War II. We’ve used that here in the U.S. for some sampling events in high traffic areas. The thing about Godiva is it’s an experiential brand. It’s not a brand that relies on talk. It’s a brand that relies on being part of the experience. And that’s what brings it to life.
Can you tell how your experience at other brands has helped shape your perspective in your current role?
I worked all around the world with Pepsi, including the U.S. market. I’ve also been at Pladis for quite a while. I’ve led marketing in multiple countries. In each one of these roles, there are different challenges and opportunities. I try to bring that expertise to Godiva. We have a great team here that has a lot of experience on the brand. We’re just trying to make the brand as strong as possible for the next 100 years. The other thing that I’ve learned along the way is to realize that no matter what your experience, you never have all the answers. It’s important to rely on good teams and to hear them out. We’ve got a fantastic team. We have great agency partners. We work well together and that helps us mobilize the brand. We’re on a mission to grow the Godiva brand to make it stronger, reinvent it through pivoting and rebooting it for the next 100 years.
