The NEWTREE Blog

Current Mood: Happy

Branch by Amélie from NEWTREE

Our today’s post was written by NEWTREE’s employee Amélie who has recently returned from her trip from Tuscany. It’s written in French, and it’s Amélie’s account about the rare beauty of Tuscany, its scents that awaken senses, and its beautiful trees. Enjoy!

Voici un extrait de mon journal de bord lors d’un récent voyage non loin du paradis…

Cet été, j’ai eu l’occasion de découvrir le sud de la Toscane. Je vous entends déjà dire « ah oui, la Toscane ! Florence, Sienne, Pérouse, la vallée du Chianti, … ». Et bien non, détrompez-vous. La Toscane est riche de bien d’autres trésors…

Mes vacances avaient pour destination la Maremme, dans le sud de la Toscane. Cette région est particulièrement connue pour ses vaches, ses sangliers et sa douceur de vivre. J’appellerai l’endroit où j’ai séjourné « mon maquis toscan » . « Maquis » on peut le dire car la terre est sèche, aride et de cette belle couleur rouge chaleureuse qui donne envie de la toucher, de la caresser.

Mais ce qui m’a le plus plu, c’est cette odeur qui flotte dans l’air. Une odeur suave et ronde de figue ! Qui n’a jamais chapardé une figue au détour d’un chemin ? Et bien moi, ce n’est pas tant de la saveur du fruit dont je raffole mais de l’odeur qui émane de l’entièreté de cet arbre aux feuilles gigantesques même si les fruits ne sont pas encore mûrs.

De nombreux autres arbres jalonnaient également les environs : pommiers, poiriers, pruniers, oliviers t ce beau chêne à la grande envergure qui nous protégeait de son ombre.

De beaux souvenirs en tête…

Tags: scent of Tuscany, trees in Tuscany, Tuscany

Current Mood: Playful

Branch by Benoît from NEWTREE

I guess every entrepreneur sometimes goes through breakthrough moments when, after a long period of very hard work, your team’s creativity, aspirations and passions come together and result in something great.

For a small and growing business such moments can occur quite frequently, and I guess I could write a whole series of blog posts about them. However, one particular moment comes to my mind, not only because it was great fun and resulted in a very popular product, but also because many people are curious to know more about it.

So this is the story of Sexy, one of our most popular chocolate bar flavors.

Some time ago, NEWTREE had the inspiration to combine two kinds of natural plant essences – guarana (read more about guarana here) and ginger – into a new chocolate bar. The whole team as well as those of our friends who had a chance to taste the new chocolate in “avant-première”, loved its zesty taste. The combination of guarana and ginger was very special and very innovative, and we wanted to find a good name for this product.

Both guarana and ginger are considered to be aphrodisiacs, substances that are believed to heighten sexual desire. So, it was obvious that we needed to come up with a very “aphrodisiac” name which was nonetheless simple and understandable to all.

On one rainy Brussels day, our whole team gathered in a meeting room, surrounded by flipcharts and pots of freshly brewed coffee. Needless to say, our new chocolate was in abundance, for everyone to sample and get inspired.

The brainstorming turned out to be a fun event, since everyone seemed to be quite passionate about the product. Many interesting ideas of how to name our new product ended up on the flipchart, but I had a feeling that the best name was still to come. Finally, somebody (and I can’t even remember who that was!), shouted out, “Sexy!”.

Many people laughed, others raised their eyebrows. I liked the name, but needed to be convinced that it was for sure the one!
And there was a lot of convincing to be done.

Our creative agency at the time was against the name. Our partners in the US thought that Sexy chocolate would surely not be a hit there. Even one of my uncles told me, “Just think about your grandmother who’ ll turn in her grave if you call your chocolate Sexy.”
Even though there was so much resistance to go ahead with the name Sexy, my intuition told me it would be the right choice. I was not alone, there was also a group of other employees who thought that Sexy was a good idea.

And look at Sexy cholocate now! It’s definitely one of the most popular chocolate bars that we sell around the world! Knowing that Sexy makes so many people happy not only because of its delicious taste but also its name, makes me happy. And by the way, knowing my grandmother, I thought she’d definitely support me in this choice of the product name.

This is the story of Sexy.