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Ritter Sport and Haribo are joining forces for their first-ever UK collaboration, combining milk chocolate with fruity sweets in a new limited-edition chocolate block.

The Ritter Sport x Haribo Balla Bites is a 100g block featuring Ritter Sport's signature milk chocolate alongside the fruity chew of Haribo Balla Bites.

The product will launch nationwide from September, rolling out across thousands of retail outlets.

The collaboration is being supported by what Ritter Sport describes as its largest-ever UK retail activation, with more than 4,500 branded shipper displays planned across stores.

A further 21,000 distribution points across grocery, wholesale and convenience are expected to stock the product, with the activation designed to introduce more than one million new shoppers to the Ritter Sport brand.

Benedict Daniels, managing director of Ritter Sport UK & Ireland, said the collaboration was intended to create a product that was “genuinely surprising and fun”, while supporting the brand's growth in the UK block chocolate category.

“This is much more than a product launch. It is a major investment in growing the Ritter Sport brand,” he said.

“We're putting millions of limited-edition bars into the market, expanding distribution and giving retailers a launch that's designed to excite shoppers and bring new energy to the category.”

Phil Murphy, chief marketing officer of Haribo UK & Ireland, said the partnership combined the fruity chew of Balla Bites with Ritter Sport's chocolate to create a new way for consumers to enjoy the two brands.

The launch will be supported by a ‘Happiness Squared’ campaign, centred on the idea that consumers are seeking small moments of enjoyment in their everyday lives.

The campaign will run across multiple retail touchpoints, with the companies aiming to maximise in-store visibility and encourage shoppers to try the collaboration.

Ritter Sport said the launch will see millions of limited-edition bars enter the UK market as the two confectionery brands seek to drive trial and excitement within the category.

Founded in 1912, Ritter Sport is a family-owned German chocolate company, while HARIBO was founded in Bonn in 1920 and now operates 15 factories worldwide, supplying sweets to more than 120 countries.