Over the last two decades, Product of the Year has championed innovation in all its forms with 10,000 consumers voting for their best loved products. Contender brands have ranged from household names such as: P&G, Mars and Birds Eye, to pioneering independent brands including TRIP CBD, THIS and [SHICKEN]. And unlike many awards, Product of the Year celebrates the quiet heroes of the everyday. Notable past winners have included: the innovative Lurpak Butterbox; Emma boxed mattresses delivered to your doorstep; Heinz Tomato Ketchup turned upside down and put into a squeezable bottle, mighty brand fusions like Mentos Fanta. Smart, simple and category-defining.
New categories are added each year to reflect the trends of the fast-changing consumer goods market as well as highlighting enduring themes. The winners receive the right to use the iconic red logo on their packaging which acts as a beacon to shoppers on busy supermarket shelves, but it also lives on in press coverage, TV ad campaigns and on billboards. This is one of the highest markers of quality in a consumer goods industry where competition is constant.
Innovation then and now
Only three years on from the much-anticipated ‘millennium’, 2004 was a year to remember. Black Eyed Peas dominated the charts, Shrek 2 was the year’s top grossing film, the Atkins diet was de rigeur and you couldn’t leave the house without spotting a pair of Uggs. The first ever Product of the Year UK was an early noughties FMCG dream: Pringle Dippers, Radox shower gel, Actimel Strawberry and Mr Muscle Multi-Task, to name a few familiar faces.
Twenty years on, times have changed dramatically and yet UK consumer appetite for innovation has remained…
Each year, Product of the Year commissions research among 10,000 consumers to unearth current up-to-the-minute consumer trends and the current year’s revealed some expected and some not so… ‘Gut health and probiotics’ was the top-ranking trend (31%) which reflects one of the most prominent themes of recent years. Kefir, kombucha and live cultures have made a strong play for consumers’ attention as we grow increasingly aware of the health benefits of fermented food and drinks. Plant-based (19%), low and no alcohol (15%), free-from (15%), grooming (13%), home delivered boxes (11%) and most curiously, protein alternatives including mealworms and crickets (10%), all received votes respectively. Notable vegan and vegetarian products this year included: [SHICKEN] Tikka Kebab Skewers, Birds Eye Green Cuisine Battered Fishless Fillets and Crackd The No Egg Egg.
One of the most interesting consumer themes of 2023 was CBD. Product of the Year saw its largest number of winners in this category ever with TRIP CBD drinks range and oil taking awards respectively and Starpowa Premium CBD gummies.
Commenting on the opening of the next awards, Helga Slater, MD, Product of the Year says: “We’re proud to be marking 20 years of product innovation and excellence. Over those years, we’ve worked tirelessly to bring the recognition that these products and brands deserve. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and packaging, but one thing they all have in common is that they make our daily lives that little bit easier. We are thrilled to once again start the search for these brilliant new products to give them the recognition they deserve and to announce the new categories. Watch this space__.”
If you’d like to enter Product of the Year 2024, you can do so via this link.
