Ritter Sport has recently launched the #DiscoverRitterSport campaign through the ‘Colourful World of Chocolate’ activation. In collaboration with Dufry and Zürich Airport, the month-long campaign will raise awareness of the company’s 30+ year sustainability efforts.
The German chocolate specialists hope that by using their beloved mascot, Don Choco the Super Sloth as the focus of their promotion, they can open the conversation around the brand’s culture of sustainability.
At Ritter Sport, we have a lot to say about our colourful, tasty chocolate and sustainability efforts for over 30 years, so an airport promotion was the logical addition to bring the brand’s purpose to life at retail POS. Using our cute sloth mascot and brand ambassador Don Choco as the central character for the promotion enables us to draw attention to the story behind our Cocoa farm at El Cacao in Nicaragua.
Kerstin Krüger. Ritter Sport Marketing Manager Travel Retail
The promotion features a colourful Cocoa tree, complete with fruit, as the focal point representing the company’s commitment to sustainable Cocoa farming. Once passers-by are drawn in, they are met with digital infotainment content that tells the brand’s story of how they achieved their recent carbon neutral certification in 2020.
Since 2012, Ritter Sport has owned El Cacao, a 2,500-hectare Nicaraguan Cocoa farm, helping them have greater control over their sustainability practices. In their own words, they want to “show that it is also possible to grow Cocoa under socially and ecologically decent conditions and at competitive prices at the same time.” Only 1,300 of the 2,500 hectares are used for Cocoa farming, while the other 1,200 hectares are made up of interconnected marsh and forest regions, allowing animals to pass through the protected zones unimpeded. The remaining 100 hectares are used for infrastructure.
As the topics of sustainability and ethical farming are at the forefront of discussion within the Cocoa industry, it is increasingly important for brands to raise awareness of their efforts in that regard. The #DiscoverRitterSport campaign is an aptly timed investment by the company, as otherwise uninterested consumers might now be intrigued by the brand’s ethical message.
This is a significant investment for Ritter Sport and we have worked very hard to bring together the key elements that the company stands for, notably the 30 years of sustainability that is embedded within the DNA of our brand and the quality of our chocolate, which uses only the very best ingredients. While we are rolling out the activation in two key airports during 2022, our plan is to have 2-3 other key locations for the concept in 2023, as we want to use this concept exclusively for the particular month in a specific location.
Jan Pasold, Ritter Sport Managing Director, Travel Retail.
