This year, the Products of Change Conference was lucky to have not one, but two keynote sessions, one of which was from Hannah Perry, foodservice manager, and Georgina Savva, trade marketing & events manager, for ethical chocolate brand, Tony’s Chocolonely.

Hannah begun the session by explaining quite how large and significant the global chocolate market is, not just to the economy, but to us as individuals, with 6.8 billion kg of chocolate consumed globally every year, of which the UK is the fourth biggest consumer, with 70% of the UK population buying chocolate every week, and 15% buying it every day.

Despite our reliance on chocolate, it isn’t a necessity, “It is a luxury item; we don’t need it, we consume it to treat ourselves, or to celebrate or if we’re feeling down,” said Hannah. But there is a less savoury reality behind the product that brings us so much happiness as consumers.

Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana produce 60% of the world’s cocoa across 2.5 million smallholder farms, which in turn have over 1.5 million children working illegally. This is the equivalent of one in two children involved in child labour in these regions. Tony’s believes that the root cause of this, and other issues such as deforestation in cocoa supply regions, all comes back to poverty, a perpetual state cocoa farmers are largely forced to live in due to the “inhumanely low” price of cocoa.

Only seven large conglomerate chocolate companies dominate a significant majority of the world’s cocoa supply chain, and it is in their interest to keep the price of cocoa really low in order the maximise their profits – and they have the power to do this when they are so dominant in the market.

But “Tony’s has found the recipe to ending child exploitation in the cocoa supply chain,” said Hannah, using five sourcing princples:

1. Traceability – without traceability there is no accountability.
2. Paying a higher price to farmers – other chocolate companies don’t talk about this or broach this enough; it is a complicated and a divisive issue. The pricing starts with the government-set farm gate price, which Tony’s and other certified companies then pay a Fairtrade premium on top of. Tony’s feels this still isn’t enough and pays an additional premium to reach the living income reference price.
3. This price is then locked in for a five-year contract with the farmers, meaning they know exactly how much they will be earning for their cocoa for an extended period of time, offering financial and livelihood stability. Locking in prices for as long as five years, said Hannah, is something usually unheard of in the cocoa industry.
4. Work to bring together co-ops to professionalise the farming system, share best practices and economies of scale.
5. Focus on quality of the cocoa, improving farm productivity, as well as diversifying income to allow farmers to have multiple sources for their livelihood rather than being dependent on one.

Following these sourcing principles has enabled Tony’s to bring child labour in its supply chain down to 1 in 20, from the 1 in 2 that it was before. While this is a significant drop, Tony’s knows it can, and should, be lower, in fact it should be non-existent. However, from the progress it has made already, Tony’s believes it will be possible to eradicate child exploitation in cocoa supply chains entirely in the long term.

Tony’s has set out a roadmap to achieve this, explained Hannah:

1. Create awareness – among the consumers and manufacturers of the issue that needs addressing and the solutions that are open to them.
2. Lead by example – demonstrate that substantial change is achievable and viable and exemplify best practice.
3. Inspire to act using Tony’s Open Chain – promote the transparency scheme and get companies on-board to further reach and impact.

Ben & Jerry’s and Waitrose own label chocolate bars are now part of Tony’s Open Chain, alongside other brands such as Albert Heijn, Aldi, Huel, Pip & Nut, and Featables, among others. This means each of these brands are using Tony’s five sourcing principles, said Hannah, to source all their cocoa. Tony’s knows it can only make a limited amount of impact on its own, so through inviting other companies into its Open Chain, Tony’s can extend the reach of its ethically sourced cocoa, and drive child slavery down further.

Georgina then took over the stage to offer the marketing perspective and explain how Tony’s has so rapidly expanded its reach and impact, as well as shared its story, in such a short space of time, answering the question: “How does a small chocolate brand from the Netherlands disrupt the industry from within?”

Unlike other companies, until now, Tony’s has had no paid media strategy, but “Our story and mission alone have been compelling enough to get us to the number one spot in the Netherlands chocolate market,” said Georgina.

“Our products are our number one marketing channel,” she explained, offering consumers bright and bold packaging amid a sea of purples and browns.

As well as its bright packaging, Tony’s is equally known for its distinct and unusual dividing ‘squares’ (in fact they’re anything but) on its chocolate bars, which represent the inequitably divided chocolate industry. While they still get a lot of complaints about this, noted Hannah, with a map of West Africa hidden in the design and its message so clearly laid out for the consumer, the decision to sell their chocolate this way is an immovable one and has added to the brand’s individuality and storytelling.

Similarly, when Tony’s first started selling its advent calendars last year, the team contemplated how it can perpetuate its unequal industry message in this new format. It decided upon unequally distributing its chocolates across the doors – so one door had none, while another had two. Its British customers got very upset about this digression, said Hannah, and Tony’s was flooded with complaints. However, with every complaint was an opportunity for Tony’s to respond and connect with a customer and explain the story directly to them about why their advent calendar is not equally divided.

As we know, and Tony’s continues to prove, collaborations are essential to sustainable industry progression. Tony’s has partnered with Ben & Jerry’s and launched collab bars inspired by ice cream flavours, as well as with Oxfam and Glastonbury to create limited edition bars sold in Oxfam stores, each offering the chance to win Glastonbury tickets.

These collaborations place Tony’s and its message on a much larger scale, perpetuating awareness of the issues and giving it a platform for its growth and shared message.

Tony’s also launched its snacking range Littl’ Bits last year in four flavours, for which ensued a UK and Ireland wide campaign using an arcade style game that was both interactive and educational. It also set up a Littl’ Bits ball pit in the window of Whole Foods High Street Kensington, another simple and creative way to get consumer’s attention.

Then when Tony’s launched first easter egg earlier this year, it set up a pop up, with a replica giant Tony’s easter egg, pointedly hidden in plain sight, to show it had “nothing to hide.” This attracted 2,300 visitors, and 108,000 references on social media.

Finally, Tony’s offers company branded chocolate bars for corporate gifting, so employees can have their company branding on a bar of ethically sourced chocolate, allowing Tony’s to buy yet more cocoa from farmers to meet this demand.

Georgina concluded that, once you know the reality behind chocolate, you “Can’t un-know the bitter truth.” She continued, “There is no playbook and we are building the runway as we fly the plane – striving to be different, go the other way, get uncomfortable, and have the courage to do it.”