Ricola Yodel Box

The Project Deliverables

Experiential Marketing, Sampling, Customer Engagement, Product Trial, Social Media Marketing, generating more Followers Fans and Likes

Ricola's Swiss heritage is an essential ingredient in their global success. To reinforce their international positioning and unique product identity, the sweet manufacturer approached Noise with an idea for the launch of an international promotional campaign that would take the Ricola brand to consumers all over the world – and take consumers all the way back to the brands roots - Switzerland.

The ambitious campaign centred around a touring 'Yodel Box' featuring Walter, a friendly Swiss yodeller, who would invite consumers to 'yodel themselves to Switzerland'. The goal was to reach new customers across Europe and worldwide and to promote Ricola sugar-free sweets as an authentic, relevant product for the health-conscious consumer.

We were entrusted with taking the campaign off the drawing board and running the first Yodel Box event in the world here in the UK. We laid the groundwork, ironing out glitches and creating a smooth-running process for the activity in London, so that it could be rolled out again and again in other countries. 

It was a challenging brief with many logistical hurdles to overcome, but we really enjoyed working with Ricola again. And the results speak volumes - literally!

Sugar-free success for Ricola

The Project Deliverables

Experiential Marketing, Sampling, Customer Engagement, Product Trial, Social Media Marketing, generating more Followers Fans and Likes

2016 began with a media storm over the sugar tax, a mounting awareness of the health impacts of high sugar diets and the usual annual rush to start the New Year with a health kick. For Ricola, a Swiss sweet manufacturer who have been making mouth-wateringly tasty sugar-free sweets for over 20 years, the national backlash against sugar presented an unmissable marketing opportunity. Naturally we helped them to make the most of it.

Ricola wanted to boost their brand profile in the UK and raise awareness of their sugar free products. Noise developed a promotional campaign that delivered on these goals through a combination of a live sampling event, social media activity and a nationwide press campaign. It was captioned as the 'Ricola Sugar Swap'.

Standing out in the crowd

The sampling experience was planned, to tap in to consumers' New Year's healthy eating resolutions. For two days our enthusiastic team invited shoppers in the Arndale Centre, Manchester, to swap their sugary snacks for a free packet of Ricola sugar free sweets. To attract the attention of shoppers in one of the UK's busiest shopping centres Noise knew that the sampling had to be supported by an eye-catching, branded stand and an energetic team of staff.

We have worked with Ricola on sampling events for many years, and we know the brand inside out. We drew on this experience to design a stand that featured playful giant versions of the company's distinctive square packets and highlighted Ricola's health credentials with imagery of alpine landscapes and an intrepid climbing gardener.

Ricola Sampling

The Project Deliverables

Experiential Marketing, Sampling, Customer Engagement, Product Trial.

Sampling at Leading Travel Industry Event

Ricola is one of the most innovative manufacturers of herbal sweets in the world. As well as being a successful global brand, Ricola is a genuine Swiss family-run company. It has its headquarters in Laufen, near Basel, Switzerland and is proud to rank among the top 20 Swiss brands. When an exciting opportunity came up to collaborate with Switzerland Tourism on an exhibition at the World Travel Market Show, Ricola jumped at the chance to show off their country of origin and their unique products to the world.

The Noise team have a long relationship with Ricola so when they asked us to manage the World Travel Market Show promotion we understood exactly what the collaboration would mean to them. The World Travel Market Show is the most highly regarded global exhibition of its kind. Over 50,000 visitors stream through the doors of London Dockland’s ExCel Centre each year to explore the very best destinations, brands and products that the travel industry has to offer. The goal of the promotion was to market the Ricola brand to an international audience while supporting the Switzerland Tourism team in presenting the best of Swiss hospitality to the world.

A taste of Switzerland

To attract visitors in this busy arena Noise organised free sampling of Ricola products. We recruited, trained and managed a team of staff to hand out free samples to visitors approaching the stand. Over the whole three day event, the supply of sweets never faltered and neither did the team’s smiles. They welcomed thousands of customers to the Switzerland stand, acting as friendly ambassadors for the country and the Ricola brand.

Memorable marketing

Sampling is only a good investment if it is accompanied by a memorable experience that ensures people remember the brand as well as the freebie.

To maximise the marketing opportunity for Ricola, Noise arranged formal branded uniforms for the sampling team. They also trained the staff to communicate central marketing messages during their interactions with visitors by repeating key phrases such as: "sugar free"," tooth friendly", "only 6 calories" and emphasising the unique ingredients “containing 13 Swiss Herbs” on every occasion.

The result was a highly successful brand promotion activity for Ricola and a seamless collaboration with an important partner.

Noise Agency has continued to deliver this activity at all Swiss Tourist Board Events ever since!