Sep 3, 2010

Cocoa dream

I read yesterday an article in dailyguideghana.com - "Let’s Brand Ghana With Cocoa". Doesn't it sounds interesting?
I was recently talking to a friend about Africa. When you say Africa you say it like it's a country. The need to differentiate african countries is urgent. Especially for those who want to attract investments, tourism, industry development, grow exports and awareness. Generally talking - become a player and stop being the NGOs front for humanitarian actions. They can do more. And i think Ghana can do that (and many other countries). Because they have with what. Why is Belgium and Swiss the international chocolate producers?
If you read the article or just imagine it from the title, you will understand the proposal of branding Ghana as a symbol for cocoa (and vice versa). And the choice of cocoa is smart. They are a huge producers (the second world wide), and the cocoa product can be so easily adapt to a lot of concepts.

The only question here is what do you do if you're not the first one (the world first producer i mean)? I guess you could always say you are the best...

And then i see it flashing in front of my eyes:
Food: if you convince people that your cocoa is better, they will look for that on the package when they buy chocolate. Or you can start making chocolate yourself - african chocolate... (wild thing!)
Tourism: at least 3 festivals a year to celebrate cocoa (harvesting - people would come from all around the world to participate/work in the process), cocoa SPA, cocoa dance, cocoa fashion and it goes on.
Production: from soap to furniture and you can make them all be "cocoa". And maybe a cocoa beer or wine would help people get in the atmosphere.
Imagine cocoa as a life style. And a national brand.
I think it's a good option. Go for it guys. Be smart, make it happen. You need good design, a plan, infrastructure and an international talk.

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