Ritter Sport’s travel retail confectionery delivers key sustainability focus
Premium chocolate brand Ritter Sport has targeted the travel retail sector with its latest packaging design concept, placing sustainability as a core strategic focus, writes Neill Barston.
The German-founded company revealed that it is set to target this key market segment with fresh branding featuring across its major product lines, aiming its latest lines at the environmentally conscious traveller with redesigned paper-based packs.
Its new ‘Taste Chocolate in Full Colours’ campaign for trade media this autumn amis to deliver an emotive positive message, while the new colourful and travel themed branding design has been created to underscore the firm’s commitment to its exclusive travel retail product range.
The shift from plastic to paper and rougher cardboard packaging, which plays into a more natural look and feel, represents the brand’s enduring focus on sustainability, with a focus on creating a tactile, environmentally mindful design.
Formed in 1912 and providing distinctive splashes of colour across the confectionery landscape since the mid-70s, Ritter Sport has been working on redefining its travel retail exclusives offer in a crowded market.
Ritter Sport’s colourful packaging makeover is focused on design elements derived from a propeller logo; a colour code which is related to the respective flavour varieties contained in the pack; while the signet logo, with the recognised colourful world map, distinguishes the exclusivity of the products for all travellers at a glance.
Sustainability is at the heart of Ritter Sport’s drive – already a key component of the brand’s philosophy for the last 30 years. Ritter Sport wants to further communicate its sustainability purpose: doing the right thing to create really good chocolate. A first step is the on-pack QR communication where space has been created on all packaging. Travellers have the opportunity to learn about Ritter Sport’s sustainability engagement via a quick scan of their
device. Core topics are 100% certified sustainable cocoa supply chain (including the new Rainforest Alliance logo), as well certified packaging material FSC, climate neutral company and a lot more.
By 2025, the brand wants to complete its updated packaging journey from plastic to paper and for its entire range of chocolate bars or individual choco cubes and minis to use fully recyclable plastic foil wraps and pouches. The company’s goal is to use Ritter Sport packaging made from renewable raw materials that are in harmony with man and nature and can be recycled as a valuable material.
The new design of the exclusive travel retail packaging aims to position Ritter Sport as the most colourful, impactful and sustainable pioneer in travel-retail confectionery. Ritter Sport is also working to create a holistic brand experience for travellers.
Nicole Miltenberger, Marketing Management Travel Retail for Ritter Sport, said: “We felt it was time the Travel Retail Edition range really stood out with its own packaging concept. The new exclusive design celebrates Ritter Sport’s hero products. The propeller logo design aims to be more colourful, more impactful and more exclusive. We wanted to translate the emotion of travel and wanderlust into a new colour coded design and packaging concept that encapsulates the sustainability that Ritter Sport stands for.”
“To be a finalist of the Travel Retail Awards voted by shoppers in September 2021 with the Ritter Sport Choco Cubes Pouch (50 pieces) confirms our ambitions and demonstrates that we are going in the right direction to fulfil consumer needs,” continues Miltenberger.
