The Great Experience vs. The Incredible Experience
Posted by Todd Buckton on Wed, Oct 21, 2009
Hershey Foods has an excellent experiential environment they call the Great American Chocolate Tour. It does a great job of replicating a tour through the actual Hershey plant, from storing and roasting the cacao beans to conching the chocolate to wrapping the finished bars.
The tour engages all the senses including the smell of chocolate and of course, tasty samples at the end. Millions of people take the tour yearly, and it has played to rave reviews for over 35 years. I had the good fortune of participating in the Great American Chocolate Tour and also taking a tour of the actual Hershey Plant in one day.
The difference was amazing. With the increasing numbers of people who want to experience Hershey they have created a great replica of the factory experience. But it is a facsimile. Inside the actual plant you wear a hairnet and safety glasses. There are fork lifts whizzing by and bells going off for break time and everywhere are men and women with a purpose: to make arguably the best chocolate in the world. One of my fondest memories of the tour was the woman who sealed the cans of Hershey's chocolate syrup. She told me how proud she was to seal those cans that would go all over the world; into milk, recipes and on ice cream.
The Great American Chocolate Tour was a great experience. The actual plant tour was an incredible experience. And it was real. Hershey has created a great way to involve consumers in the chocolate experience in a safe, consistent, repeatable fashion. They create many brand advocates in the process. But if you get an opportunity to go behind the curtain to the real thing, do not miss it. You'll get a feel for what really drives emotional experiences and why they can be so powerful.
Chocolate Tour photos: envisiondotnet
Hershey Factory photo: Eric Beato