Zora is on a mission to champion West African cocoa and empower female farmers. In a space dominated by major corporations, the creative challenge was to create a brand that seamlessly blends purpose, ethics and a luxurious sensory experience.
Strategy
Ethics meet indulgence
The chocolate industry is deliberately opaque, obscuring people and places that make the chocolate in favour of promoting shiny wrappers and drumming gorillas. As an African female-owned brand, Zora is challenging the white European and male-dominated narrative that has governed the industry for decades. We crystallised the brand’s pledge for change in the form of a manifesto that appears across various key touchpoints – the website, packaging and even on the chocolate bars themselves.
Brand expression
Free of clichés, yet authentically African
The brand expression draws from unapologetically bold and vibrant colours with strong cultural ties to West Africa. A sophisticated and crafted visual identity, combined with a purposeful and passionate tone of voice, balances an evocative world of indulgence with a deeper narrative of provenance and impactful purpose.
Impact
Launched in the US, making an impact in West Africa
Zora is a brand making an impact. Partnering with cooperatives in West Africa such as ABOCFA, Uncommon Cacao, and 5150 Chocolate, the brand is helping to give farmers a voice, safe working conditions and a living wage. The purchase of each bar also funds one school day for a girl in rural Ghana.
Working with the ico team has been nothing short of phenomenal. From the brand guidelines to the gifting strategy and website design. The end result truly captures the essential elements of a powerful voice advocating for impact and change, in tandem with a modern aesthetic that encapsulates Ghanaian culture and tradition.
