Premier Foods, Coca-Cola, and Kellogg’s all picked up multiple awards at last night’s Product of the Year event at the Sheraton, Park Lane.
Rewarding the year’s most innovative products with the winners chosen by more than 10,000 consumers, Product of the Year is the UK’s biggest survey of product innovation and recognised as one of the industry’s most influential awards.
Conducted in association with Kantar, the winners are said to represent key consumer wants and changing habits.
Health and well-being products look set to dominate the supermarket shelves with a number of healthy eating products named Product of the Year including: Kellogg’s W. K. Kellogg vegan-friendly Plant Protein cereal; Richmond’s first-ever meat-free sausage; NESCAFÉ Gold’s dairy alternative lattes, and Optimum’s Rocky Road protein bar.
With people leading increasing busy lives, ‘ease of use’ is also becoming a significant determining factor in consumers choosing one product over another with a number of food & drinks brands meeting this need and scooping Product of the Year awards as a result.
This includes Premier Foods’ Sharwood’s Katsu Curry Wrap Kit; Kraft Heinz’s Creationz pouch range; Concha y Toro’s spritz-style wine drink in a can; and Arla Food’s Lurpak Butterbox.
“Lurpak Butterbox was a real labour of love for us to develop, taking several years to find an alternative to the traditional foil wrap,” said Stuart Ibberson, Senior Director for butter and spreads at Arla Foods.
“With limited innovation in the category for 60 years, it was time to give shoppers something new to counteract the frustrations of messy packaging. Being crowned the winner in the dairy category is Arla’s fifth successive triumph at the Product of the Year awards and even more special for us to win as it’s voted for by consumers. We are hugely proud to continue bringing new products and innovations to lead the way in dairy and meet ongoing demands of the public.”
Premier Foods was this year’s biggest winner taking home six awards in all, including ones for its Cadbury Dairy Milk Slices, Loyd Grossman Pasta Pots Range, and Mr Kipling Reduced Sugar Slices.
Yilmaz Erceyes, Chief Marketing Office at Premier Foods, commented: “Our six awards for some of our most iconic brands underpins the quality and breadth of the products available across our portfolio. Many of our brands have been household staples for generations and we are dedicated to constantly innovating with new products that excite shoppers and suit changing consumer trends.
“To have six of our new launches named as ‘Product of the Year’ in their respective categories is great recognition for the hard work of our teams. Being able to add the highly recognisable Product of the Year logo to our products offers additional validation to the care we take in creating top quality brands that people love.”
Meanwhile, commenting on Coca-Cola’s multiple wins, Kris Robbens, GB & Ireland Marketing Director said: “Innovation is at the very heart of what we do and who we are and we are thrilled to have scored the Product of the Year 2020 hat-trick! We are immensely proud of the three winning products and being voted for by the UK consumer makes it particularly special”.
As well as taking home a Product of the Year trophy, the winners also have the right to display the awards red logo which is claimed can increase in sales from between 10 and 15%.
“Innovation is often about those smart, small incremental improvements that have a disproportionately big impact on our lives,” said Mike Nolan, CEO, Product of the Year.
“All of the 2020 Product of the Year winners are boldly treading new ground, pushing the edges to help shape a future that is healthier, more responsible and just that little bit easier – innovations that are a direct response to the needs of today’s consumer.”
Full list of 2020 Product of the Year winners across 44 categories:
- Bladder Weakness, Always Discreet Liners to Go, Procter & Gamble
- Baby & Toddler Meals, Cow & Gate First Spoons Carrot, Danone Specialised Nutrition
- Baby Cereal, Cow & Gate Banana Wholegrain Porridge with Buckwheat, Danone Specialised Nutrition
- Cakes & Biscuits, Cadbury Dairy Milk Slices, Premier Foods
- Cat Food, Whiskas Pure Delight, Mars Petcare Ltd
- Cereal, W.K.Kellogg Plant Protein, Kellogg’s
- Coffee, NESCAFÉ Azera Coffee Bags, Nestlé UK
- Coffee pods, Costa Coffee Signature Blend Lungo Nespresso® Pod, All About Food Ltd
- Convenience Food, Heinz Creationz, Kraft Heinz
- Dairy, Lurpak Butterbox, Arla Foods
- Dairy Alternatives, NESCAFÉ Gold Dairy Alternative Lattes, Nestlé UK
- Dog Food, Harringtons Just 6, Inspired Pet Nutrition
- E-Cigarette, Vype ePod, British American Tobacco
- Feminine Care, Always Ultra InstantDry, Procter & Gamble
- Flavouring & Seasoning, Paxo Bake in a Tray Stuffing, Premier Foods
- Food Kit, Sharwood’s Katsu Curry Wrap Kits, Premier Foods
- Formula Powder, Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk Powder, Danone Specialised Nutrition
- Formula RTD, Aptamil Follow-On Milk Advanced Liquid with Pronutra, Danone Specialised Nutrition
- General Cleaning, Cif ecorefill range, Unilever
- General Household, Astonish Oven & Grill Cleaner & Sponge, Astonish
- Health & Beauty, Bio-Oil Dry Skin Gel, Omega Pharma
- Health Nutrition, Optimum Rocky Road Protein Bar, Glanbia Performance Nutrition
- Healthy Drinks, Honest Classic & Pink Lemonade, Coca-Cola
- Household Paper, Plenty Hand Towels, Essity Hygiene Products UK Ltd
- Hybrid Mattress, Simba Hybrid® Mattress, Simba Sleep
- Indulgent Treat, M&M’s Bars, Mars Wrigley
- Kids Food, White Choc Coco Pops, Kellogg’s
- Laundry Additives, Vanish Gold Stain Oxi Action Removal Gel, Reckitt Benckiser
- Laundry Detergent, Surf Coconut Bliss Liquid Detergent, Unilever
- Mattress, Casper Essential Mattress, Casper
- Meat Free, Richmond Meat-Free Sausages, Kerry Foods
- Men’s Razor, Gillette SkinGuard Sensitive Razor, Procter & Gamble
- Sauce, Loyd Grossman No Added Sugar Bolognese, Premier Foods
- Snack Pot, Loyd Grossman Pasta Italia Pots Range, Premier Foods
- Snacks, Mr Kipling Reduced Sugar Slices, Premier Foods
- Sparkling Wine, O’jos Spritz, Concha y Toro
- Teeth Whitening Kits & Strips, Wisdom Intense White Teeth Whitening Strips, Wisdom Toothbrush Ltd
- Toilet Tissue, Cushelle Ultra Quilted, Essity Hygiene Products UK Ltd
- Toothpaste, Oral-B Gumline Purify Toothpaste, Procter & Gamble
- Water, Aquarius Lemon & Aquarius Lime, Coca-Cola
- Whitening Toothpaste, Oral-B 3D White Luxe Blast Toothpaste, Procter & Gamble
- Wipes, Cheeky Panda Wipes, The Cheeky Panda
- Women’s Razor, Venus Extra Smooth Sensitive, Procter & Gamble
- Zero – No Sugar Drink, Diet Coke Twisted Strawberry and Exotic Mango, Coca-Cola.
NAM Implications:
- Key learning:
- Innovation counts
- …and counts
- …and counts
- Like nothing else, especially in unprecedented, flatline times…
