Over the past few years, Nestlé has made huge strides to ensure its environmental impact is limited, with its Cocoa Plan and collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance well documented. Focusing on sustainability, confectionery category-leading changes have been made to key brands through innovative packaging and a marked decrease in the use of non-recyclable materials.

For Nestlé, however, that wasn’t enough, and the Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa range was born, underlining its commitment not only to sustainability but also to innovation and to leading the regeneration of the confectionery category.

Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa launched as a travel retail exclusive in April. Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) is hailing the line’s launch—and strong collaborations with leading travel retailers—as one of the most important in the confectionery category to date. 

Aura Sanchez, Nestlé International Travel Retail (NITR) marketing manager, says: “Nestlé is well-placed to talk about outstanding products. Our brand portfolio speaks for itself and there is no doubt that we have the ability to appeal to all consumers in the category. Nestlé Sustainability Sourced Cocoa is in a class of its own. It not only speaks of our commitment to sustainability but also our ability to look beyond the current trends, to anticipate new opportunities and to meet the demands of emerging customer demographics. Fortunately travel retailers have been quick to agree, to support our plans by collaborating in activations and travel retail campaigns that are unparalleled.”

Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa effectively combines Nestlé’s Swiss chocolate expertise with sustainability and is a direct result of Nestlé’s work with the Rainforest Alliance to support cocoa farmers and their communities.

The Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa product line-up includes four 170g tablets, with Dark Chocolate, Blueberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts; Milk Chocolate, Raisins, Almonds & Hazelnuts; Milk Chocolate Cranberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts and Milk Chocolate & Hazelnuts flavors.

There are four 270gr tablets in Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate with Almonds, Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Almonds and a 426g Sharing Pouch is also available, containing approximately 45 individually wrapped pieces in Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts.

With a "Does Good, Tastes Great" tagline, Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa creamy smooth chocolate was introduced to travel retail at last year’s TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. The immediate response was positive, per the brand, and Nestlé International Travel Retail was quick to follow that interest through collaborations with leading travel retailers which have taken Nestlé Sustainability Sourced into the international market.

Aer Rianta set the ball rolling in April, followed by similar attention-grabbing promotions throughout Singapore Changi and in airports in Porto, Geneva, Athens, and London. Other locations, such as Doha, Muscat, Dehli, and Paris, are launching over the summer months and into September. Others, including Madrid, Lisbon, Shanghai, Dublin, and Istanbul will permanently feature Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa.

The Nestlé Sustainably Sourced cocoa campaign is disruptive and engaging, with colorful free-standing, shelf and counter-top units.  Campaign visuals also courage customers to discover more about Nestlé Sustainably Sourced beyond its great taste and how Nestlé is helping to improve cocoa families’ livelihoods through the Nestle Cocoa Plan and its major collaboration with RainForest Alliance. 

In-store campaigns, which focus on self-treating, sharing, and gifting, encourage customer engagement through sampling and personalization opportunities on pre-printed sleeves made from recycled paper. All promotions are supported across other touchpoints including online, via retailers’ websites and social media and across airports screens.

As part of NITR’s collaboration with Avolta, Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa features in the leading travel experience company’s Emotion+ consumer engagement program, ensuring greater reach, more awareness and increased brand visibility.

The Emotion+ program uses the power of data to deliver insights on travelers in the market, offering exciting ways to encourage engagement and increase brand impact throughout the entire travel journey. It creates awareness and builds on connections with customers in the travel retail space through Avolta’s website, app and social media as well as paid media.

“This Avolta program ensures that Nestlé Sustainably Sourced Cocoa is front of mind,” Sanchez says. “It’s innovative and bold, just what the confectionery category needs to ensure that products are noted, followed and ultimately purchased.

“Travel retailers have embraced the Nestlé Sustainably Sourced journey to date and this will continue with further activations as the brand not only stakes its claim in the travel retail channel but earns a name as a category leader. This is a brand which lives up to its ‘Does Good, Tastes Great’ tagline, a brand we are very proud of in travel retail and one which can only strengthen our relationships with our retailing partners,” says Sanchez.

Nestlé SA is on the current Candy Industry “Global Top 100 Candy Companies” list. Click here to view the current “Global Top 100” rankings.