Darrell Lea launches a sweet campaign with Melbourne Spring Fashion via XPO Brands

XPO Brands has revealed the launch of its experiential campaign for iconic confectionary retailer, Darrell Lea. Tasked with leveraging Darrell Lea’s partnership with Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MSFW), XPO decided to do something a little different.

In the lead up to MSFW, XPO developed the Darrell Lea Emerging Designer Award, with $10,000 up for grabs. To enter, aspiring Australian fashion designers were tasked with creating a glamorous red carpet dress, inspired by Darrell Lea confectionary.

The top 5 semi-finalists’ designs were featured in New Idea; with 3,200 readers voting for their favourite design. The designs were then handcrafted by the XPO team, using real Darrell Lea confectionary, ready for the MSFW runway.

The XPO team worked with MSFW in the unseasonably warm Melbourne weather that saw the marquee’s temperature rise to chocolate melting temperatures.

Says Sally Tobin, managing director of XPO Brands: “The winning dress was created out of 3,000 Darrell Lea Chocolate Almonds that we hand-drilled and hand-threaded to bring the dress to life. It would have been easy to simply sample Darrell Lea’s new range at the event, which we did, but we wanted to leverage the partnership further and create something more memorable. As a result, we’ve been rewarded with tremendous audience participation, whilst generating significant press coverage for Darrell Lea.”

The five dress designs are on display at the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week Hub in City Square with the winning design being revealed yesterday.

Says Nicole Waters, marketing manager of Darrell Lea: “We are delighted to announce Victoria Mott as the creator of the winning dress. Victoria collected her award, vowing to invest her $10,000 in a Paris fashion course. XPO truly harnessed our Melbourne Spring Fashion Week partnership in a unique way, bringing it to life with their bare hands. It’s been one of our favourite and most significant campaigns to date.”