• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 17, 2011

Lindt’s Lindor Truffles has updated its TV campaign and packaging in time for the holidays.

The new TV ad, scheduled to run through the holidays and the first half of next year in the U.S. and 28 other countries, continues to feature the “Do You Dream in Chocolate?” theme and Lindt’s “Master Chocolatiers.”

The key change is a greater emphasis on the consumer’s direct experience of the “smooth, melting” chocolate, notes Danielle LaChance, marketing director, Lindt USA. The ad, from the Gotham agency, shows a woman savoring the chocolate, with voiceover copy such as “When you break its center, Lindor’s smooth center starts to melt … and so will you.”

The package designs still use the familiar color schemes that connote the different varieties of the truffles, but the design elements have been streamlined. The window now has a more modern “s” shape, and the brand’s familiar lace motif curves around it. The candy “pour” graphic has also been updated.

The updated packages began to appear in Wal-Mart and Target in September, and will gradually replace packages on retailers’ shelves nationwide.

While television continues to be Lindor’s primary marketing channel, the brand also employs online, social media and PR outreach, reports LaChance.

The new television ad is posted on the Lindt Chocolate USA Facebook page and on YouTube, along with humorous outtakes of the cast and crew demonstrating the right and wrong ways to eat the truffles (“Biter or melter … which are you?”).

On its site, Facebook and Twitter, Lindt also is promoting a fall recipe contest, in which fans submit original chocolate dessert recipes for a chance to win a year’s supply of its chocolate and other prizes.

Lindt’s site offers fans the ability to become consultants or host parties featuring its chocolates.