I read Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" last week in preparation for a gig as a chocolate taster for Scharfen Berger. I imagined an endless table of delectable treats that would give me a chocolate high and keep me awake all night.
When I got to the marketing research firm I was led to the room where the tasting would take place. I saw a few plates of truffles and several plates with four squares of chocolate marked W,X,Y and Z.
There were some small water bottles as well as a plate of saltines on the table.
We were told that our conversations would be taped and we were being watched by some people who were behind a darkened glass window. It was sort of creepy. I looked above me and saw three short gooseneck mics pointing in various directions and each one had a tiny red LED light on them.
We discussed various ad copy which used generic terms like "hand crafted, and highest quality" but no where did I see "mixed by a chocolate waterfall"
W tasted "chalky". X tasted like Nestle's Crunch without the crunch. Y reminded me of a chocolate Easter rabbit and Z just tasted like good milk chocolate.
Next we looked at a bunch of truffles on two plates. The first plate had mostly round and curved truffles with various patterns and the second plate looked like the pieces that you might see on the surface of the Death Star. We all picked our favorites and discussed them. Just after that some guy with a digital camera came in the room. "I know I'm not supposed to do this" he said as he took a photo of the truffles. His face was very red like he had been drinking a lot. Maybe thats what they were doing behind that window.
Our next task was to rate packaging. On a large table was about 50 or so packages from all sorts of high and low end chocolate companies. I liked a French gift box the best and when I said that the Lindt bag "looked like it tastes like crap" an elderly woman sort of gasped.
Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't get to taste truffles. They looked good too.
We signed some sheet and they gave us a VISA gift card for our time.
I think I'll buy some new shoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment