Águila Saint was a pioneer company in producing top-notch chocolate and cocoa-derived products. It was founded in Buenos Aires in 1880 by Abel Saint who started up with a small shop for roasting coffee which later also produced chocolate.

The company did so well that its founder decided to move premises from Artes 515 –nowadays Carlos Pellegrini street- to Santiago del Estero 1790, near Constitución Park.
Thanks to consumers’ support to Saint, the business grew strikingly and led its owner to seek a more appropriate place for the plant. In 1894, he bought a four-thousand square meter plot of land on Herrera street, between Brandsen and Suárez, in the Barracas neighbourhood. A factory was built to place the areas for chocolate production, coffee roasting, product packaging and dispatch.

The company opened points of sale all over the country and a manufacturing plant in Uruguay –in 1905- and extended its trading network to Paraguay. In 1923, the partnership became

a corporation named “Cafés, Chocolates Águila y Productos Saint Hnos. S.A.”.

In the 1920s, the Saint siblings started making ice-cream and became the leading Argentine producers under the Laponia brand they created.

In the mid-20th century, the success achieved in the production of coffee, chocolate and then ice-cream turned the company into a very important distribution and sales force, within a state-of-the art and highly productive industrial complex.

Between the 30s and the 70s, the company produced and marketed approximately 100 different products. It had its own infrastructure which allowed it to self-supply its plants with packaging material and the pertinent labeling produced at its own print-house. It also owned a tailor shop to sew the garments used by their staff. At that time the company had 1800 permanent employees.

Águila, the market and its products

Águila participated strongly on the cooking chocolate market. These chocolate bars were used to make a drink which was very popular in society in those days, as are currently the alcoholic beverages. Chocolate drinks were drunk every day, at any time, particularly at birthday parties, communions and at national holiday celebrations.

Each of the company's products had a different yield and dissolution capacity, among others, the traditional chocolate bar, the so-called Águila Express -curled or flaked chocolate-, and the famous Comprimido Águila which years later derived in a candy. Within its range of candies, Águila used to supply Nec Plus Ultra boxes of chocolate lentils, chocolate sweets, Chocolatines Águila (small chocolate bars with a clown on them which were usually given to children at circuses and cinemas), Nougatines, Chocolatin Friandise, chocolate cigarettes, Bombón Colibrí (coconut, vanilla, mint and strawberry-flavored chocolates) and Strawberry and Mint chocolate medals.

Águila used for baking

In the 1980s the brand was revitalized. Águila was threatened in its market strength due to a change in consumer habits and the appearance of cheaper sugar and powdered-chocolate-based substitutes.

However, the company was able to tap the threat and turn it into an opportunity and, based on a qualitative-quantitative market research, the brand was positioned to enter households as an ingredient for preparing cakes and deserts, with a new image and a diverse range of products targeted to consumers with greater or lesser experience and dedication to cooking.

That is how in 1982, the logo and labels of the chocolate tablet were redesigned and pink was used to identify the brand. This change was implemented by an important design agency which was awarded an international prize in the category of logo and brand streamlining. As from that year to date, Águila has been permanently active with new product launches, product line extensions and packaging redesign thus becoming a ”specialist” in this category.

Águila and its Advertising Campaigns

Although the company’s knowledge and background about the brand provided the product with an undeniable leadership, in the 1980s television started to be used as the most suitable means of communication, capable of conveying to the public at large the brand's personality, properties and validity. Successive, unforgettable campaigns were designed with the fondly called “Águila black-man” as centerpiece, quickly turning him into a brand reference, almost a brand icon.
Four different commercial spots were produced from 1982 to 1998, all of them recognized at the national and international levels. The first ”black-man" campaign made the Clio finals (New York) in the Foodstuff category and the three last spots won the Gold Pencil prize. These spots were called "Photography", "Family", "Girlfriend" and "Hot milk with a melted bar of dark chocolate (Submarino)".
At present Águila ranks within the Home Baking category and although it has the common features of chocolate: pleasant and tempting, it has the peculiarity of being related to family life. This is because baking is the predominant use for the product although it is being more widely used as a “household candy”.

Baking is an expression of love of housewives towards their loved ones, offering them the gratification of something home-made and Águila guarantees the expected outcome for such efforts.