Tony’s Chocolonely UK&IRE: Using search data to tap into brand lore across socials
Tony’s Chocolonely is a Dutch chocolate brand, known for its unequally divided bars and brightly coloured wrappers, who exists to end exploitation in cocoa, fighting poverty, child labour and deforestation.
The challenge
Tony’s Chocolonely wanted to grow their TikTok and Instagram presence with content that consistently performs. Tony’s has a committed fan base, but the accounts were not yet showing up where chocolate shoppers actually search and discover. The brief: serve the serious fans and reach brand new audiences at the same time.
Our approach
We let search behaviour drive the creative. Together we built a strategy rooted in TikTok and Google search data, looking at how people were already searching for the brand and for chocolate, so the plan followed what audiences actively care about on the platform.
Search-led strategy: mapped TikTok search behaviour around the brand and the wider chocolate category, then built the content pillars from what people were already typing in.
- Two core distinctive formats were created:
- ‘Case Files’: Tony’s lore and chocolate searches brought to life in the office.
- ‘Cocoa Uncovered’: the same lore and questions in an on the street format, high energy and unfiltered.
- Brand lore as an engine: recurring subject matter that gives serious fans reason to return and new audiences an easy way in.
- One consistent space: we ran consistent formats across TikTok and Instagram to build memorability.
The results
The result has been incredible with the TikTok following and engagement doubling over 6 months. The TikTok and Instagram accounts combined now sit at 210k followers, 15 million views and 2 million engagements to date.
One of the best performers, driven by popular Google search terms, drove over 6 million views across TikTok and IG. This leaned into brand lore directly and is now ranking in top results on TikTok and Google searches.
Edutainment-led content has improved audience sentiment by making people more aware of their impact in a fun and engaging way and the UK account is now the most popular Tony’s account across the globe.
📈 210K+ followers
🎥 15M+ overall video views
❤️ 2M+ engagements
What the work delivered
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