Nielsen Honors 2014 Breakthrough Innovation Winners
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Nielsen announced its U.S. Breakthrough Innovation Winners for 2014. This year's 14 winners all launched their products in 2012 and met the standards for distinctiveness, relevance and endurance in order to qualify.
The winners are:
- Angry Orchard Hard Cider, The Boston Beer Co.
- Barcel Takis, Barcel USA
- Bud Light Lime-A-Rita, Anheuser-Busch
- Depend Silhouette Briefs for Women and Depend Real Fit Briefs for Men, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
- Febreze Car Vent Clip, Procter & Gamble Co.
- Gevalia Kaffe Retail Coffee, Kraft Foods Group
- International Delight Iced Coffee, The WhiteWave Foods Co.
- Meow Mix Tender Centers, Big Heart Pet Brands
- Mucinex Fast-Max, Reckitt Benckiser
- Nabisco belVita Breakfast Biscuits, Mondelez Global LLC
- Nature Valley Protein Bars, General Mills Inc.
- Sargento Ultra Thin Slices, Sargento Foods
- Tide Pods, Procter & Gamble Co.
- ZzzQuil, Procter & Gamble Co.
"Given the very competitive marketplace and high new product failure rate, we celebrate the Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation winners' extraordinary achievement," stated Rob Wengel, senior vice president, innovation, at Nielsen. "These diverse new products carry the common thread of finding and filling unmet consumer needs while demonstrating that with significant effort, game-changing innovation is possible in any category and by all types of companies."
This marks the third year that Nielsen has presented the awards in the United States. The winning companies join an expanding and elite group of marketers that will convene at Nielsen's Consumer 360 event in San Antonio in June to examine successful new product innovation and drivers of in-market success, Nielsen said.
The Consumer 360 event will also feature the launch of the 2014 Breakthrough Innovation Report and in-depth case studies on the winners and their approaches to successful innovation.
"Successful innovation is never easy," said Taddy Hall, senior vice president, innovation, at Nielsen, "but nor is it complicated. Breakthrough Winners don't rely on luck or genius. The hallmark of successful innovation is that they resolve struggles or fulfill aspirations; they perform jobs in consumers' lives."
The U.S. Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Project is a multi-year, in-depth analysis of more than 17,000 new product launches from 2008-2012. The lessons learned from these successful new launches are summarized in a series of reports released by Nielsen and available upon request.