Godiva Goes Digital

Godiva Chocolatier now has its own mobile channel: Godiva Mobile for iPhone, supported by a website optimized for Internet-enabled mobile devices. The new application is intended to supplement the existing Godiva Mobile application for BlackBerry and extend Godiva to all connected cell phone users. A Godiva spokesperson said it would help them keep "closer to customers in the current economic downturn," allowing them to get a Godiva fix when the Dow plunges or that pink slip shows up in their mailbox.

The app was developed in partnership with Digby, the leading mobile commerce platform provider, and lets chocoholics install a Godiva Mobile storefront on their iPhone or iTouch, including the ability to integrate with their contact list (presumably to find out who has chocolate when they don't) and take advantage of a cell phone "wallet." The two companies have modestly declared their creation a "model for the mobile channel." The hype is a bit laughable considering how online and cellular content have not always been kind to marketers. Case in point: PepsiCo and its Tropicana division. While the beverage giant claims only a small portion of its consumers were displeased by its new packaging, comments delivered on the company's Twitter page were direct and punchy: "the new cartons stink." The Twitter whirlwind forced the firm to cave in and restore the old packaging.

The lesson appears to be that direct involvement of consumers through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can enable a vocal minority to dominate what marketers glowingly call a "conversation" with their consumers, one that in the right (or wrong) circumstances can degenerate into a rant or a lecture. Perhaps a better description might be a shouting match when the topic is controversial.

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