Marketing Matters

About a year ago, my teenage son decided to clean up his diet by choosing not to eat sugar or dairy. He has stayed true to that commitment. Recently I threw a party for clients that featured an organic chocolate fondue along with organic strawberries, pineapple and raspberries for dipping. 

I took it as a personal challenge to figure out a way to prepare the chocolate with no sugar or dairy. Since I've spent my career working in the category of wellness marketing, wellness promotion, eco communication and alternative advertising—and know plenty of leaders in various wellness companies, I figured that I had plenty or resources to draw from. As it turned out, I found the best resources lay within. I did what I normally do. I made it up as I went along.

Although I've had lots of requests for my sugar and dairy-free chocolate confection (which was a delicious and fudgey sensation) I'm sorry to say I don't have a recipe. The creation, like good advertising, was intentional yet intuitive. I started with organic cocoa, stevia, agave, fruit sweetened concentrate and a bit of Earth Balance butter substitute and the rest is history. I lined up a series of spoons at the counter and tasted as I prepared. Like good market research and a bit of refinement along the way—the taste of success couldn't have been sweeter.