A TRunblocked.com Profile.
Elisa Fontana Interviewed
A TRunblocked.com Profile.
9 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
Haribo and Goldbears – what a business! 1000 products across 100 countries, producing 160 million Goldbears every day. This is our first major editorial with the company and Elisa Fontana, Director Marketing and Trade Marketing Travel Retail, gives us the full inside story that lies behind this remarkably successful brand.
Peter Marshall (PM): Welcome to TRunblocked.com, Elisa. Can we start this conversation with you providing a brief history of the company. It’s now over 100 years, a great achievement.
Elisa Fontana (EF): The HARIBO story began in 1920 in Bonn, Germany, when our founder Hans Riegel launched his own confectionery company, beginning with nothing more than a sack of sugar, a marble slab, a stool, a stove, a copper pot and a rolling pin. Over a century later Haribo is one of the world’s most popular confectionery brands and it remains a family-owned firm. Now operating production in seven countries and on sale in over 120 countries worldwide, we employ over 7,000 people across our teams.
Although we currently have more than 1000 products in the global portfolio, the Haribo brand is probably best known through the famous Goldbears, one of Hans Riegel’s first products, created in 1922. Inspired by a popular fairground attraction of the 19th century, Hans Riegel developed the ancestor of the Goldbears with the “Dancing Bears” in 1922. At that time still made of gum arabic, the “Tanzbären” (meaning “tame bear”) he created were a little larger and slimmer than today’s Goldbears. However, cheerful, bright colours and fruity flavours were part of the DNA of HARIBO fruit gummy bears from the very first generation. It’s an absolutely remarkable product that has seen hundreds of different iterations in colours, flavours and packaging, yet it always maintains its core identity and authenticity as the gummy at the very heart of Haribo. As such, we’re very protective of the Goldbears – every single one of the 160 million we produce each day!
PM: Just how important is the TR sector? What percentage of your business does it represent?
EF: We remain a proudly independent business, free of shareholder pressure, so that we can keep making decisions with future generations in mind. In this context, we’re not able to share specific performance data but I can say that we ended 2023 with a very positive end of year, underpinned by incremental growth that went way beyond post-pandemic recovery. That growth was comprehensive across turnover, volume and market share. We expect 2024 to continue to be a year of consolidation of last year’s growth.
The travel retail shop window has a powerful global reach and we strive to present travellers with an engaging and satisfying choice of Haribo products, including a regular stream of travel retail exclusives and a strong emphasis on localised special editions, such as packs that celebrate leading destinations across the world and also modes of transport in our latest launch, the Travel Parade, (3 x 100g) sharing pack – just perfect for fans of the movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’.
The global sugar confectionery market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.45% over the next four years, according to a report by Market Research Guru. Despite rising health concerns from authorities, 15% of global sugar confectionery consumers have increased their consumption, according to research from Innova Market Insights, while 65% have maintained their level of consumption. More than half of sugar confectionery consumers say they eat it because it tastes good (52%) and to make themselves happy (37%). These findings are useful because, within travel retail, we believe the sugar confectionery segment has immense untapped potential, currently accounting for only 5% (Source: M1nd-set/Q1 2024) of the wider $6.88 billion confectionery and food category. To attack these opportunities we place a strong emphasis on consumer research, particularly in understanding variations in preferences and behaviour, either by consumer profile or by region etc.
We focus strongly on data research to ensure that we have a clear sight of the consumer segments that signal the strongest potential for growth, most often led by self-consumption, sharing and the continued importance of gifting. In response to customer needs we have established a strong, creative pipeline of innovations in targeting each market opportunity, and this response can be built on trusted traditional Haribo favourites and exciting launches with new flavours, textures and formats.
PM: Can you share some examples?
EF: Of course, Gen Z displays a particular interest in sour flavours and we have developed a series of product innovations to meet their needs, such as introducing sours into our GIANT ROULETTE packs and especially the HARIBO & MAOAM Duopack Sour, launched earlier this years as an exclusive to the travel retail sector – and it’s already delivering a very strong performance. With high penetration rates across all markets, this SKU is now among HARIBO’s top five best-selling products in travel retail.
Sour brands have been around in confectionery since the 1980s but continued innovation has seen their popularity soar with Gen Z and Millennial consumers, both key targets for HARIBO in GTR. According to m1nd-set, the Gen Z group in particular is driving the growth in the confectionery category, accounting for 35% of the sector’s shoppers, ahead of Millennials (30%) and Seniors (33%).
This year has seen several notable line extensions that are performing strongly, delivering growth at a global level. These are the DUO PACK SOUR, an extension to the popular PARTY line, along with PICK & PARTY and MAOAMIXX, all demonstrating the popularity of sharing as a purchase driver. Additionally, mix and match promotions on these three items are strong performers. Our Halal range is also helping to grow our business and we continue to increase listings in relevant markets, notably in AMEA.
PM: 1000 products across 100 countries. That’s some going. Yet, as you’ve said, Haribo is still always innovating, always introducing new ideas, new variants. The Friends and Party Halal pouch is a good example. What was the rationale behind this and how has it progressed?
EF: Whatever the product we create, our emphasis on choice and innovation is fundamentally focused on giving the customer what they want. The example you mentioned – The Friends & Party Halal pouch – reaches a specific consumer segment by addressing their dietary and cultural needs, making Haribo accessible to them for the first time.
The creation of the Friends & Party pack is designed to echo the best practice and sales success of our first party pouch, Pick & Party. This is our best seller, which has quickly become a success wherever listed thanks to the visual appeal of the packaging, the variety of the content – 5 different products – and the “portionable” offer, being all products wrapped in mini bags of 10 or 12g. However, as we utilise pork gelatine in many of our recipes, this new offer was not suitable for the Middle East region. To reach this customer segment we innovated a process with our halal-compliant factory to develop a similar concept that could address this consumer segment’s needs. Our approach obviously worked as the new pack quickly became a big success. Nevertheless, we never stop our search for innovation and we aim to satisfy as many consumers as we can, which is why, for example, we are also developing a wider range of vegetarian and vegan options too.
PM: The Gummi Golden Bear smile is unique. It grabs attention. In 2021 you established World Gummi Bear Day on April 27. What events happen on that day?
EF: World Gummi Bear Day (27 April) was established in 2021 in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the creation (1922) of the original Goldbears by Haribo’s founder, Hans Riegel. It’s all about the global celebration of a confectionery icon – we produce 160 million Goldbears per day! – making it one of the most popular confectionery items on the planet.
We use the commemorative day to celebrate the brand’s extraordinary heritage but also as a theme for product innovation and limited editions to mark the day. For example, our blue blueberry flavour Goldbears was released to celebrate 100 Years of Goldbears in 2022 and is now a regular favourite among consumers. Each year, we use this commemorative day to inject new ideas and fun, such as last year’s first-of-its-kind social media video broadcast, “Good News Goldbears,” celebrating a series of HARIBO-themed good new stories.
We also drive further engagement with HARIBO fans by encouraging them to make their own contribution to the day. For example, the HARIBO Facebook and Instagram pages showed only good news videos, compiled from fan-generated content, influencer collaborations and brand-produced news skits.
PM: Back to business. Your website prides itself on its CSR, principally and correctly focusing on Food Safety and Ethics. But what about sustainability? Haribo produces some 160 million Golden Bears daily and it’s almost all in plastic packaging. We are seeing moves from major players in the confectionery market towards paper packaging. What sustainable actions are you currently taking or planning?
EF: As with many other companies, Sustainability is an ongoing journey for HARIBO and the issue of plastic is a challenge that we are working hard to address. Right now, the packaging of most of our pouches does contain plastic as this material is currently the only way to guarantee product freshness and meet legal quality and safety standards, as well as consumer expectations on product integrity. But we are vigorously exploring and developing new technologies to reduce single-use plastic. On the positive side, the pack’s mini foils are mono-layered, so they are fully recyclable, while the MAOAM Bloxx wraps are made from paper – but we are determined to do much more.
Our strategy is focused on respect for people and the planet. We are continually seeking ways to advance and ultimately achieve credible steps in our sustainability practices, especially in the high food safety, quality and ethical standards adopted in the selection of all the raw materials and packaging used in the production of our beloved products.
As an example, our new HARIBO GIANT ROULETTE travel retail edition uses recycled cardboard for the tube and 54% less plastic compared to the original version of the product. The foil we use for the pack is also mono-layered, so it is fully recyclable.
Looking to the future, we are working to improve our environmental footprint across all our operations, based on three pillars:
- We want to avoid and reduce packaging wherever possible without affecting product safety and quality.
- We are committed to further increasing our recycling rate. Currently, 95% of our products have a recyclability of nearly 100%, and we are continuously working to reach 100%.
- We are aiming to ensure our packaging uses alternative and recycled materials where possible.
PM: And so, as we move towards another TFWA Cannes, what can we expect to see from Haribo this year?
EF: We will be showcasing a strong pipeline of innovations addressing a broad coverage of regions and consumption profiles. From gifting to vegan, from halal to FDA compliant, we will make sure that we address as many needs as possible to continue on our mission to extend the sugar confectionery category in the stores.
Alongside new product launches we will also present our customers with the first results of our campaign “Uncover more Fun with HARIBO”, which we started rolling out this summer. In supporting the travel retail industry this is our biggest investment to date, with HPPs running across the busy holiday period in Europe and amplifying the excitement of the Summer Olympics in Paris.
The key objective is to drive footfall and conversion, culminating in-store with the Giant Wheel of Fortune activation, and this is live this summer with a major HPP with Lagardère at Paris Orly and with Baltona at Warsaw Airport. In the next step we are also investing in additional visibility and brand fun at airports in Ibiza, Mallorca and Copenhagen. In October the campaign moves to Dufry stores in Argentina to leverage the growing appeal of HARIBO in the country.
The Wheel of Fortune HPP at Paris and Warsaw is a physical game that engages consumers to spin the wheel and win a GWP HARIBO-branded cotton bag or HARIBO luggage tag with the famous Goldbears illustration. In fact, no-one loses as there are consolation prizes of packets of Goldbears minis. We also have a digital game accessed via a QR code where shoppers (age 13 and above) can interact and have fun with the chance to win prizes that can be claimed in-store.
With accessible price points and strong impulse appeal, I’m certain that HARIBO can play a major role in growing the influence of the sugar confectionery in reshaping the future of the entire confectionery category in travel retail and driving growth.
PM: One final question, Elisa. If there are three things you want to say to the business now, what would they be?
EF: I’d actually choose just one thing – data! Data is the accelerant to unlock stronger performance at absolutely every link in the chain, every stage of the process, creating huge benefits for both the supplier and the retailer. It’s simple; the more data we share, the more we mutually benefit.
Data is essential for business development in any consumer brand or company. Unfortunately, in travel retail, it is not easy to access and, ultimately, we believe the industry is held back from achieving its full potential. HARIBO works with passenger data, our own sell-out data – purchased direct from our retail customers – and we also rely on trade associations for added market intelligence on consumer trends.
We do also commission our own category-related, customised research to better understand the dynamics of the sugar category in travel retail. However, none of this is as efficient as sharing access to the bigger fact-based, macro picture of consumer likes and dislikes – and it is a source of frustration for the supplier community.
