I was first introduced to Nutella while travelling in Europe as a young woman — the thought of chocolate for breakfast was just too good to be true!
Today, the sweet treat remains a frequent visitor to our home, disappearing in the early hours shortly after waking.
The man behind the mysterious blend of hazelnuts and chocolates was the late Michele Ferrero, the creator of other chocolate wonders such as Ferrero Rocher, Mon Cheri, Kinder Chocolate, Tic Tac, and Kinder Eggs. Ferrero rarely gave interviews, but when he did, he talked about differentiation. In other words, his secret to having a net worth of nearly $27 billion was in offering a product with a difference.
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For Nutella, that was the discovery of adding vegetable oil to the traditional blocks of hazelnut and chocolate that bakeries had used. His father was the first innovator, but Ferrero had the defining moment and was a marketing wizard. It was a spreadable treat that could be afforded by everyone because you only had to add bread or biscuit to enjoy the taste of chocolate and hazelnuts.
The hazelnuts that fell from the trees in abundance in his native Italy were the foundation for relationships with area farmers. In the direct supply chain that was developed, the making of a globally recognized product supported the local economy. This is a great reminder to support local entrepreneurs. We never know where they may go in the future. It all starts with an idea and a little crazy experimentation. Who says the next global wonder won’t be started by the girl or boy next door?
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As for Kinder Surprise, those lovely little Easter eggs with a toy inside, this was in response to a belief that something special should be part of every day. Why not make it Easter every day? The idea of making a day special for all of the people all of the time reminds me of the philosophy behind Chapman’s Ice Cream, the cool Canadian treat. Its ice cream and other products are produced in a nut-free facility, which is its first point of differentiation. It also tastes better and has less artificial ingredients and is offered in sugar-free varieties. Most importantly, even after fire devastated its plant, the Chapman team rebuilt because it believed that every Canadian should have the opportunity to enjoy ice cream.
White chocolate was introduced by Ferrero in appreciation of families, especially young mothers. He knew mothers loved to reward little ones with a treat and the milky base of white chocolate treats were soon gobbled up by toddlers around the world. Again, by understanding your client and looking at who buys what rather than pushing what you have to sell, there is an opportunity to differentiate and dominate a market.
Most folks are looking for the big payoff when it comes to selling their product, but it is often the little moves that count. Success comes from sacrifice and kindness. Keeping in step with where people are in their lives allows you to fully appreciate the demographic in which you hope to sell. For Ferrero, that was fully evident to him after the Second World War when he tried to sell chocolate in Germany. The country was a mess and the people broken. In response he took his Mon Cheri chocolates out of the box and sold them singularly. The response was good but more importantly it developed a loyalty to the name.
Canadians also respond to the sweetness of chocolate and turn to it in times of trouble. Chocolate and lipstick sales always increase during recession because they are low-cost feel-good items. One of Ferrero’s competitors, Hershey, is also listening to the needs of the consumer. Hershey sees the writing on the wall and is going to gluten-free, GMO-free, high-fructose-free chocolate production. These decisions are not made lightly but failure to respond would bring about the same demise as has been seen in dry cereal consumption. Keep adding processed sugars and watch your sales shrivel.
The legacy of Ferrero is actually not in his chocolate although it certainly made him the richest man in Italy. The legacy was in his devout faith and his treatment of all his team — because without your team behind you, there is always a point when the entire tower can fall.
This is an important lesson for all businesses, family and otherwise. It is people who make you successful. Your team and your buyer both must be fully engaged and loyal to the product and to you.
We don’t always know who is behind products or if they were the invention of one man and owned by one family. But we do know when we trust a product and that we buy it because it is different from the rest. And we can always be encouraging of early innovators and entrepreneurs trying to come up with the next best thing to sliced bread. After all, the combination of sliced bread and a simple chocolate hazelnut spread has made food history.
