Lindt, actually Lindt & Sprüngli, is a Swiss chocolate maker founded in 1845. The company makes premium quality chocolate, offering a large selection of products in more than 100 countries around the world. Sometimes the taste of their high-cacao-content bars is a surprise for consumers, which presents them with an opportunity for education and some fun marketing.
Positive Themes
Consumers love Lindt’s “great flavors” and cite two dozen of them as their personal favorites. Dark chocolate, mint and white chocolate got the most mentions.
- Lindt Excellence Dark chocolate is amazing, and with mint intense, it’s even more amazing! (source)
- i know this will sound weird but i think that lindt white chocolate truffles taste like butter flavored warm vanilla ice cream and it is amazing! sooo tastey! (source)
- Just sat and stared as hubby ate one whole Lindt Hazel Nut bar. Is there any sugar free chocolates out there for me????!!!!???? (source)
“Delicious” is the next most-common theme, including its variants “yummy,” “mouth watering,” “divine” and many others.
- Ooooooooh my goshness!! This lindt chocolate is like heavenly smooth and tastes so good, sip of coffee to wash it down aaaand TaDA!!! im in heaven! (source)
Chocolate lovers also appreciate the smooth and creamy texture of Lindt.
- Love all lindt chocolate – so creamy and smooth – nothing quite like it! (source)
- Ok everyone! If u have not experienced the smooth filling best tasting Lindt-Lindor Truffles, GET IN YOUR VEHICLE NOW! Drive to the closest store and get them! Sit in ur car…dont even drive away! (source)
Posters frequently comment on the “great quality” of Lindt chocolate.
- Brachs is not refined very well either. It is all in the quality of the chocolate first and foremost, then the rest of the ingredients in said chocolate. Lindt is a far better finer quality chocolate. It is a German brand. The others are made in this country.(source)
Not that anyone needs more reasons to eat chocolate, but in case they do, consumers point out a few, like that it “cures sickness,” “contains fruit pulp,” and is “good for health.”
- Ms-Know-It-All tells me that 90% cacao. LINDT dark chocolate has helped relieve her dry-eye problem. Apparently it also helps hydrate the skin. If you love your sweets, this will taste bitter, it is an acquired taste, that usually means reducing your sweet intake as well. (source)
Negative Themes
Not everyone likes the taste of Lindt chocolate; some find it has a “bitter taste,” others say it’s “too sweet.” But it’s important to note that Lindt makes many products, so it’s likely that the “bitter” and “too sweet” comments are not about the same type of chocolate.
- There was a lot of discussion as everyone compared their notes after tasting. Trader Joes Dark Pound Plus chocolate may have gotten the most votes, but tastes varied and everyone’s preferences were different. The least favorite was the Lindt bar with 85% cocoa. It has the lowest sugar level, and sure enough most people found it a little bitter. The Divine dark chocolate tasted the sweetest, even though the sugar level of the three ~70% cocoa bars was pretty similar. (source)
- @qtfan The Lindt 85% is a bit too dry for me..the 70% a bit too sweet…;P. (source)
Some consumers find Lindt expensive—although, as we have with other products, we find even-handed consumers who admit a product can be expensive for good reason.
- I used to like it, but it seems lacking in cocoa now. Lindt is far better. Lindt really is the best, but it’s also incredibly expensive. I only ever buy large quantities of it when I have to find a present for someone and I don’t know what they’d like… (source)
- Nutrition . These are candy, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being healthy. Lindt Lindor truffles are surprisingly good, though, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are dark sweet chocolate, vegetable oil and sugar. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies. (source)
Just as many consumers singled out favorite flavors, many others singled out flavors they really didn’t like.
- I hate eating the Lindt’s white truffles. It feels like I am eating plain butter. (source)
- Wealthy Hobo. i have some mint lindt chocolate. it tastes oddly fruity like theres no mint . its very odd. 48 minutes ago | Joined: June 2010 | Days Active: 140 . (source)
Insights
Regarding the negative comments about taste: Many of them were from consumers who found a chocolate bar with 85% cacao too bitter. Well, it is bitter, which is an acquired taste and is the reason many chocolate connoisseurs buy it. But if you’re tasting various chocolate types and are expecting sweet chocolate, it could prompt a negative comment.
Lindt may have an opportunity here to educate American consumers on chocolate and how the different percentages of cacao affect its taste. In their marketing communications, if they can let buyers know ahead of time that a dark chocolate bar with high cacao content won’t be as sweet as a milk chocolate bar, they may be able to head off some complaints from consumers taken by surprise. Frankly, though, this is a communications effort better undertaken by a trade association of fine chocolate manufacturers rather than by a single brand, since it affects the entire category.
One more thought on marketing the high-cacao-content bars: Lindt could do a fun advertising campaign that chides consumers in a good-natured way for not being ready for the bitter taste (“You can’t handle an 85% bar!”) while alerting them that these products don’t have the sweet taste Americans expect from chocolate.
Lindt has branched way out from plain milk chocolate into a couple of dozen flavors, and that meets with consumer approval. It gives people a way to indulge personal taste preferences and still stay within the Lindt family.
Regarding the “expensive” negative comments: Most are tempered with the admission that the chocolate is a premium product and worth the higher price. This is a case where the premium price reinforces the premium perception, so it’s only a negative comment in the sense that consumers wish such a good product cost less so they could buy it more.
