Swiss herb drop manufacturer Ricola arrives at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference (2-6 October) with a new packaging design for its products.

The design upgrade, set to showcase in travel retail from Q4, is intended to cement Ricola’s stand-out shelf appeal and popularity within travel retail.

It has been led by renowned London design agency Lewis Moberly to reflect a more confident, contemporary stance for the assortment.

Alongside a modernised logo, there is now a greater emphasis on the Swiss herbal confectionery company’s slogan ‘Made with Swiss Alpine Herbs’.

Reflecting on the thinking behind the upgraded design, Ricola CEO Thomas P. Meier said: “We needed to showcase our natural attributes and delightful taste properties and at the same time ensure consumers can navigate an extensive range with ease. Our strategy is seamless with the new design direction, which quite simply makes Ricola more of what it is, and always has been.

“Staying true to the essence of the brand was very important. Ricola prompts pleasure through its affinity and commitment to nature – a brand for everyone, everyday, everywhere.”

Packaging costs skyrocketing

The new-look design arrives at an opportune moment for Ricola, with the brand’s performance in European travel retail particularly strong at present with sales ‘far above expectations’, it notes.

This has been driven mainly by the 75g sugar-free tins and its new 90g tins with sugar.

That has been important, as the company – like others in the industry – contends with a period of significant macroeconomic adversity.

Andreas Reckart, Vice President Sales Middle East & Travel Retail for Ricola AG, said: “The sourcing of packaging material has become a challenge and prices of both raw materials and packaging materials have skyrocketed.

“Prices for the shipping of products remain high and the availability of shipping options is very volatile. Finally, the prices and uncertainties on the energy market also complicate our own manufacturing.

“These challenges will remain with us for some time but the long-term outlook is now once again bright for Ricola in the travel retail channel, as traffic in airports across the world moves back towards pre-pandemic levels, especially in Europe.

“The return of meaningful levels of passengers in Asian airports is eagerly anticipated, as that part of the world is an important part of our planned expansion going forward. We are very much looking forward to meeting with our customers in Cannes, both the ones we’ve been seeing regularly and the ones who we were not able to meet since the pandemic.

“We look forward to introducing our stand visitors to our great new packaging, alongside the established range of Ricola products – an authentic herbal confectionery taste of the Swiss mountains – of which we are fiercely proud.”

Ricola is exhibiting at Mediterranean Village, N9.