Last month Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) celebrated its ‘Swissness’ with a Toblerone Sense of Place activation at Zurich Airport, in partnership with Dufry.

The campaign was created to mark Switzerland’s National Day, an official holiday which takes place annually on 1 August.

The distinctive display featured familiar Swiss icons and design elements. The month-long interactive event aimed to bring some of the holiday’s traditional celebrations into the airport environment for travellers to enjoy.

The activation’s bold red-and-white colour scheme was inspired by the colours of the Swiss flag, accented with hints of Toblerone gold.

Showcasing a Sense of Place with Toblerone

Cardboard mountains were installed to evoke the Swiss Alps – a common tourist destination. The central placement of a full-size chairlift referenced the country’s popular winter skiing activities, and provided a perfect photo opportunity.

Other key elements included a large Toblerone bar, inscribed in gold with ‘Tobler’, to pay homage to Swiss chocolatier Theodore Tobler, who invented the Toblerone bar.

The activation’s product offer showcased the Toblerone Switzerland Sense of Place collection, featuring various Toblerone bars and Tinys.

Mondelez WTR first pioneered ‘Sense of Place’ in confectionery in 2015. According to a July 2022 study by m1nd-set, 23% of travel retail shoppers choose to gift items that have a local touch, and 18% enjoy exclusive, limited-edition purchases.

Mondelez WTR Head of Customer Marketing Beatriz de Otto commented: “There is no brand better suited to celebrate Switzerland National Day than Toblerone. After all, this is the country where travel’s favourite chocolate bar was invented, so this is a very full circle moment for the brand and for Mondelez WTR.

“Through this incredible partnership with Dufry, we crafted a campaign that is designed to delight travellers with their favourite Swiss icons, a post-card perfect photo opportunity and of course, we have kept Toblerone as the star of the show.

“Our sophisticated Sense of Place packaging enhances the campaign and ensures consumers walk away with a special product – unique to the country and commemorative of their travels.”

Dufry Global Category Management Head for Confectionery & Food Philippe Moryl added: “Dufry is dedicated to creating dynamic moments in the airport environment to delight travellers.

“Our latest partnership with Mondelez WTR stops people in their tracks and invites them to celebrate Swiss heritage at Zurich Airport. We are thrilled with the incredible design of this activation that nods towards the iconic culture and landscape of Switzerland. After all, it is home to Toblerone, a brand that is synonymous with travel.”

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