Ferrero’s Golden Touch in Travel Retail.
Sergio Salvagno Interviewed.
Ferrero’s Golden Touch in Travel Retail.
12 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
It’s difficult not to admire what Ferrero has achieved in the global confectionery market and in travel retail. As you will hear from Sergio Salvagno, Travel Market GM, Ferrero is the second biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world, where product quality, innovation, fun and diversification combine to deliver an ever-increasing range of iconic brands – globally loved and sought after. This is a very dynamic company and this interview is all inclusive.
Peter Marshall (PM): Welcome to TRunblocked.com Sergio Salvagno. Can we start this conversation by briefly recapping the company’s history?
Sergio Salvagno (SS): The history of the Ferrero Group is the story of a tenacious Piedmontese family and of success through three generations. From 1946, brothers Pietro and Giovanni Ferrero worked together in the family’s small pastry shop to create products that would define Ferrero’s name.
Pietro was the driving force behind the innovation and creativity that would later give his son, Michele Ferrero, the platform to launch the Ferrero company we know today. Pietro was renowned for his love of experimenting – he was affectionately known as ‘the scientist’ by his friends, always working to find new flavours and textures to surprise and delight at the pastry shop in Alba, Italy.
His brother Giovanni was the commercial genius of the two, helping to set up a national sales network that allowed Michele to test and introduce new creations across Italy.
The Ferrero Group is now one of the world’s largest sweet-packaged food companies with over 35 much-loved brands, such as Kinder®, Nutella®, Ferrero Rocher® and Tic Tac® sold in more than 170 countries.
PM: How important is Travel Retail to you and what percentage of your business does it represent?
SS: Travel Retail is of strategic importance to Ferrero – offering us global exposure and brand awareness to international travellers. Significantly boosting visibility for our brands – and particularly new product introductions to a diverse customer base, travel retail enables us to offer unique and exclusive versions of our iconic brands and to capitalise on the gifting opportunity that this channel provides. The airport environment also enables us to engage directly with consumers through high profile activations and promotions in a way that we cannot always do on the domestic market, reaching a wide range of nationalities and cultures in one place.
PM: When we met at TFWA Singapore, it became clear that you are creating a fresh dynamic for the business. Gifting and sharing have always been the drivers for you, but there is a lot more. Let’s start with the Ferrero Rocher Iconic Golden Gift Tin.
SS: We see premium gifting as a key opportunity in the travel retail confectionery market and it is one we have worked hard to engage with through our iconic Ferrero Rocher brand. The Ferrero Rocher Iconic Gift tin is a perfect example. This travel retail exclusive SKU features a premium golden tin of Ferrero Rocher, which creates the perfect gift. To create a more sustainable offer, shoppers can scan a QR code on the packaging sleeve for inspiration on how the tin can also be upcycled to create a beautiful decoration.
We further highlighted our Ferrero Premium Chocolate brand – including the new Iconic Gift Tin – with our ‘Add Your Golden Touch’ campaign, which ran during the key Holiday period from November 2024 to January 2025. This initiative, designed to drive spend and elevate the gifting experience, was implemented with our key retailer partners in Paris Orly, Oslo, Luxembourg, Vienna, Madrid and Barcelona airports. Passengers who purchased two products from the Ferrero portfolio were eligible to receive a €50 voucher for Booking.com. This campaign was supported by a comprehensive marketing strategy, including media exposure, brand ambassadors, and targeted advertising, to ensure maximum visibility and reach.
More widely, we are seeing demand for gifting across the whole spectrum and Ferrero recognises the potential for the confectionery sector to deliver exciting gifting products for consumers of all ages. Among the innovations we have recently released in this regard are the travel retail exclusive Kinder Mix Koala, which combines a sweet treat with the iconic Kinder flavour, with a cuddly toy which will enchant younger travellers, and the Kinder Chocolate PENCIL CASE, which takes the beloved brand beyond the confectionery sector to provide a beloved lifestyle offer. Digitalisation also remains a key topic and our new online platforms offer gaming and creative opportunities that create exciting experiences for shoppers both in-store and at home.
The key recipe in this market remains unchanged: new products with the same high-quality ingredients, addressing different needs for different targets with a special focus on a gifting category for all our brands.
PM: You’ve been making moves into the wider food category with the recent introduction of the Belgian best-selling Delacre biscuit range. What prompted this and what listings have you achieved so far?
SS: We believe that the travel retail channel offers very good opportunities for sales in the broader food category and, in particular the biscuit category. Biscuits make a great gift for a number of reasons: they are universally enjoyed as a treat across many different cultures and age groups. Their broad appeal makes them a safe and appreciated gift choice. They can be beautifully packaged in decorative tins, boxes and baskets and are easy to customise for travel retail, enabling exclusivity for the channel as a whole or with regional and seasonal specialities. Last, but by no means least, they can cover all price points and need-states from snacking/self-consumption to premium, gifting items.
In recent years, Ferrero has worked hard to leverage the potential of this under-developed category in travel retail with its ground-breaking La Biscotteria concept, which initially incorporated Nutella Biscuits, Kinder Cards and Nutella B-Ready, and has since been expanded to also include Kinder Kinderini, Kinder Happy Hippo, and Kinder Duo. These international biscuit brands hold significant appeal for a wide range of passengers, and we still see huge further potential to expand and develop this concept in the global travel retail channel.
In addition to these international biscuit brands, we also see opportunities in certain markets for local products, as highlighted by the travel retail debut of premium Belgian biscuit brand Delacre. Alongside other ‘local jewels’ such as Royal Dansk, Fox’s and Paterson’s, Delacre has been earmarked to underpin our new Fine Biscuits category, created to further leverage the untapped potential of these products, while satisfying shopper demand for quality and innovation.
Established in 1870, Delacre is renowned for its high-quality biscuit portfolio, crafted using authentic Belgian chocolate. It has been a certified supplier to the Belgian Royal Court since 1879. Fittingly for such a well-known Belgian brand, Delacre made its debut within the global travel retail channel at Brussels Airport in summer 2024, supported by high-profile merchandising displays, featuring the brand’s impactful signature green livery. The units showcase a carefully curated selection of Delacre’s best-sellers, and invite travellers to “Take a piece of Belgium with you”.
The Delacre portfolio incorporates a wide range of refined biscuit creations that combine authentic and delicious Belgian chocolate with traditional French pâtisserie specialities, to create sweet treats that are ideal for every occasion.
Perfect for sharing and gifting are the biscuits assortment of the Tea Time 300g, Tea Time 500g and the premium Royal Tin, created to celebrate 10 years of King Philippe’s reign. These selections are complemented by premium self-consumption options such as the Marquisette 175g and Biarritz 175g lines; the classic chocolate chip Cookies collection, along with the Caramel Intense and Sablé Fondant, perfect for sharing moments.
The initial launch of Delacre at Brussels airport has been very encouraging with sales contributing to the growth of the overall category.
PM: I guess the beauty of your product portfolio is that you have products that have a broad appeal for all ages and pockets. Kinderini is another good example of this where, here again, you recently introduced a biscuit line. How’s that going?
SS: The travel retail roll-out for Kinderini has been in stages. The initial ‘pre-launch’ has been very well received, helping to grow the overall category. The Kinder brand is so well known and so loved – the introduction of the first milk and cocoa ‘Kinderini’ created a lot of excitement and interest with the fun ‘expressions’ designs. It’s the perfect example of a snack option for travellers that combines convenience with the trusted taste of Kinder.
Following on from this initial success, Kinderini is now being launched globally and to amplify this introduction we will be creating an exciting AR-experience exclusively in GTR through Applaydu, Kinder’s own digital platform filled with thematic islands where children can freely explore various universes to free their imagination.
For GTR there will be an exclusive new Kinderini island called EMOTIVERSE, designed to help children develop their emotional side through engagement and digital games.
PM: And what of Nutella? Your Nutella Wall “Give a Nutella Smile” campaign was clearly a very inclusive activity. What were the results?
Nutella is an amazing brand and a true icon. For six decades millions of consumers around the world have brightened the start of their day with Nutella, as the brand has become an ambassador of positivity and smiles, an icon of happiness and pleasure. Nutella’s story is an inspiring one of invention and passion, rooted in entrepreneurship and innovation which has taken the brand from humble beginnings to being a global player.
The success of Nutella in travel retail is another example of the potential of foods beyond confectionery within the channel. As a brand it lends itself very well to gifting via travel retail exclusives, and to high-profile activations that engage positively with travellers.
The #GiveANutellaSmile celebration launched on World Nutella Day 2024, on 5 February, with the release of a series of limited-edition Nutella jars including a travel retail exclusive range, each featuring special messages for shoppers, including “Celebrate with Nutella” and “I love you”, creating the perfect gift for friends and family. These sold out in the three airports where we ran the supporting activation: Luxembourg, Dubai and Milan.
The special digital campaign invited shoppers who bought a limited edition 350g jar to use a QR code that took them to a dedicated Nutella 60th Anniversary platform, where they could take a photo with a dedicated backdrop created for each airport. There was also the chance to win a special edition Nutella sweater.
The campaign engaged thousands of shoppers across the airports, with hundreds taking the chance to celebrate Nutella’s birthday with a dedicated photo. Luxembourg airport led the way, with hundreds of shoppers uploading their photo to the platform, and we received more than 400 overall. The photos submitted were used to create the online Nutella Wall – a unique, personal reflection of the brand’s mission to spread smiles among consumers across the globe.
Nutella gallery | Travel Market (ferrerotravelmarket.com)
PM: Just staying with airports, I was impressed by your “Travel is an Amazing Sport” campaign before and during the Olympics. How did that work for you? Were you able to gather important data from the mechanics of the activation?
SS: Travel is An Amazing Sport was a clever way to engage travellers with a different type of activation. It also created a unique opportunity for Ferrero customers to enhance their travel experiences with vouchers which can be used at hotels around the world through a landmark partnership with TLC Worldwide and Expedia.
The “Travel Is An Amazing Sport” campaign tapped into the focus on sport taking place during the summer with the Euro 2024 finals and the Olympic Games in Paris. The campaign ran through April and May at Frankfurt Airport to capture the attention of basketball fans and then rolled out to other European airports, including Paris Charles de Gaulle during July and August.
At each location, high-profile activation spaces gave shoppers the chance to fuel their sporting ambitions with Ferrero Travel Market’s range of globally beloved brands, including Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher. Every shopper who spent €20 at the dedicated Ferrero campaign pop-ups was able to upload their receipt to a specially-created digital platform and claim a reward of €20 in travel credits which can be spent on booking hotel stays.
The campaign leveraged the global appeal of Ferrero Travel Market’s amazing portfolio of brands and the sense of fun and play which is inherent to the company and its offer. The promotional spaces featured striking visuals and an engaging interactive element, with sporting competitions including basketball hoops to create a shared moment of enjoyment for travellers in-store.
The reception from consumers was excellent, particularly from families with children. The activation resulted in a sales increase, boosting average basket size and, of course, providing superb additional visibility for our brands.
PM: One apparent thread from everything you are now doing seems to be a positive intent to take more sustainable actions across your product range. What have you been doing in this respect?
SS: Sustainability is at the heart of Ferrero’s plans and the company is working hard to create an offer which appeals to the sustainable demands of the company’s travelling consumers. Guided by four key pillars – Protecting the environment, Sustainably sourcing high quality ingredients, Promoting responsible consumption and Empowering people – every Ferrero brand is taking a more sustainable approach to creating excitement for travelling shoppers.
At the group level, 90.7% of our packaging is now designed to be recyclable, reusable and compostable, and as a travel market, all our novelties are now designed according to these guidelines: for example, alongside the Ferrero Rocher Iconic Tin, the packaging for the Kinder Mix Koala, Kinder Surprise Paw Patrol and Kinder Chocolate PENCIL CASE are also specially designed to be reused and loved after use to reduce waste.
PM: What new things did you showcase in Cannes and what can we expect from you in 2025?
SS: We had much to talk about in Cannes this year and showcased a wide array of innovations to our retail partners, emphasising consumer engagement and sustainability across all categories.
The under-developed biscuits category remains a key focus, and our latest innovations have been crafted to help drive engagement and sales across the entire Biscuits and Confectionery category, always with the customer front of mind. The GTR debut of premium Belgian biscuit brand Delacre, which took place earlier this year will, alongside Royal Dansk, Fox’s and Paterson’s, underpin Ferrero’s new Fine Biscuits category, created to further leverage the untapped potential of this category.
For 2024/2025, we will continue the journey of the La Biscotteria concept with six brands encompassing nine products: Kinder Cards, Kinder Happy Hippo, Kinder Duo, Kinder Kinderini, Nutella B-ready, and Nutella Biscuits. Releases to date, including last year’s Kinderini, have been incredibly successful and have been major drivers of growth across the Ferrero Travel Market business.
Alongside the global launch of the TR exclusive Rocher Iconic Gift Tin we also presented a number of new products from our Kinder, Tic Tac, Raffaello, Nutella and Ferrero Rocher brands, all designed to tap into shifting demands from consumers in the market.
In January we will be launching new flavours in our Ferrero Tablets range alongside an extension to the Raffaello range, with the introduction of a new Raffaello 300g tin, which contains 30 coconut-flavoured pralines. This premium and giftable product taps into a key shopper demand and is presented in sustainable packaging which can be repurposed to meet shoppers’ desire to reduce waste in the market.
Other key reveals at the Cannes show included Tic Tac TWO, an exciting new extension of the Tic Tac brand and, importantly, its first sugar-free offering in the travel channel. This next-generation line is positioned to target younger travellers and other consumers seeking sugar-free confectionery. Initially, two Tic Tac TWO flavours will be offered: Strawberry & Lime and Spearmint (Fresh & Mild). Each box contains 38 Tic Tacs, all of which are double the size of traditional Tic Tac pills. In line with the target demographic, the Tic Tac TWO packaging and promotional material is bright, colourful and playful.
New Nutella innovations include the Next Destination pack. Perfect for gifting/souvenir purchases, this travel retail exclusive contains three x 30g jars of Nutella, each labelled with the name of a different country, to drive destination inspiration.
For younger travellers, several new Kinder permanent additions were previewed at Cannes. These include Kinder Schokobons White 288g and Kinder Mix Natoons Plushes, which combine a sweet treat with a cuddly toy. Travellers can now choose from a koala, panda or meerkat plush, which can be brought to life using the ApplayDu app for a complete ‘edutainment’ experience. These new products are available from January 2025.
The Kinder Chocolate 400g will be restyled in January 2025. It features the iconic Kinder Chocolate big pack with a customisable playset and Let’s Story – the new Audiobook platform within ApplayDu, which allows families to create their own stories, or rediscover classic fairy tales.
In line with Ferrero’s environmental objectives, in April 2025 the company will introduce a new Kinder Mini Chocolate pack 460g, a new Kinder Mini Bueno pack 400g, and a new Kinder Happy Moments Pack 337g, all presented in fully sustainable polypropylene packaging.
PM: One last question, Sergio. If there are three things you want to communicate to the trade – just three – what would they be?
SS: Firstly, the importance of sustainability. At Ferrero, sustainability is at the heart of our operations and we are proud of the significant progress we’ve made in reducing our environmental footprint. I would urge our partners to visit both https://www.ferrerosustainability.com/int/en/ and https://www.ferrerotravelmarket.com/Sustainability-Ferrero-Group to better understand both our achievements so far and our goals for the future.
Secondly, the opportunity of the biscuit category. As we continue to innovate, the biscuit category presents an exciting growth opportunity where we can leverage our brand strength and drive incremental sales for the industry.
Lastly, I would stress to our partners the increasing importance of digital as an essential driver to engage with a globally diverse audience and build long-lasting connections. The airport environment is ideal for digital interaction offering a captive audience, often with high levels of dwell time. Many airport passengers are tech-savvy and comfortable with digital technology and platforms and are increasingly expecting and looking for immersive and engaging experiences. Airports also have the ability to support large-scale, high impact digital displays from LED screens to interactive pop-ups which provide incredible visibility for brands.
