This semester I am taking a class on Branding and Identity. Although not very far into the head space, I’ve had some exposure to Brand beyond just logo and hey, I have half a brain on me.

That is why last night didn’t work.

As a favor for a friend, Mandy (a friend of ours) hosted a ‘healthy chocolate’ party for a product called Xocai.

I am quite naturally a big cynic, so like every old sales party, I sit through it for laughs and free samples and never buy a thing. They make me edgy but are rather amusing at the same time.

The Xoçai logo speaks of energy and probably runs on par with something like Powerade. I don’t particularly like the logo, it’s too slasher or samauri sword and you cannot pronounce the product name…

But then comes the antonym of marketing. Xo̤ai Рan angry, energetic power logo is being marketed tuperware style with the swishy happiness of sharing the chocolate we all love.

I don’t eat chocolate for energy. I eat it because it feels good, is comfort food and it goes exceptionally well with coffee.

Xoçai is non-guilty healthy chocolate, there isn’t a problem with that – but their sales pitch attempts to plug the chocolate of enjoyment while their logo simultaneously demands that you eat it on the run, just doesn’t work.

So if brand encompasses logo, lifestyle, marketing and generally the whole package, then Xoçai doesn’t really cut it. The fault here lies with a lack of collaboration between, design, marketing and business strategy.

…it doesn’t really taste very good anyway.