Product of the Year Canada, a consumer product award and marketing program that aims to reward innovation, has put its red seal of approval on 17 consumer products for the second year.
This year’s winners include:
• Asana Yogurt (Yoplait Canada)
• Black Diamond Funcheez Marbelicious (Parmalat)
• Campbell’s Creations Soups (Campbell Company of Canada)
• Children’s AccuDial (AccuDial Pharmaceutical Inc.)
• Fontaine Sante Humm! Hummus Cocktail (Fontaine Sante Foods)
• Molson Canadian 67 (Molson Coors Brewing Company)
• Maple Leaf Natural Selections Deli Meats (Maple Leaf Foods)
• Pico-Salax (Pico-Salax)
• Rickeworks Gourmet Brown Rice Crisps (Snack Alliance Inc.)
• High Liner Signature Southern Style Cod (High Liner Foods Inc.)
• Philips Sonicare Flexcare+ (Koninklijike Philips Electronics N.V.)
• Philips Sonicare for Kids Party (Koninklijike Philips Electronics N.V.)
• Sensodyne iso-active Toothpaste (GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health, L.P.)
• Sunlight Deep Clean Laundry Detergent (Sun Products Canada Corp.)
• Tassimo Hot Beverage Machine (BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliance Group)
• The Singleton of Glendullan Scotch (Glendullan Distillery)
• ING Direct Thrive Chequing (ING Direct Canada)
The selection process began with a panel of industry executives that reviewed the entries to ensure they met with the program’s criteria. For each product, panelists addressed questions such as “Do you believe this product adds value to the market?” and “Do you believe the market will like it?” A shortlist of finalists was tabulated based on the results.
To determine the final winners, Rogers Connect Market Research Group conducted an online consumer survey of over 5,900 Canadians in 17 categories in December and January. (Rogers also owns Marketing.)
Product categories included skin care, pet food, hair care, beverages, household cleaners, and for the first time, financial services.
Sandie Orlando, executive program director for Product of the Year Canada, said marketers can use the program as a way of gaining traction in the marketplace, and consumers can use it as a way of cutting through the clutter in-store.
In the past, winners were entitled to exclusive use of Product of the Year branding on all communications materials for 12 months after paying a licensing fee. Now, however, companies have the option of paying a one-time licensing fee of $10,000 that allows indefinite use of program’s branding that displays the year and category it claimed. Orlando said 12 months wasn’t long enough for companies to get the Product of the Year Canada logo on packaging.
While Product of the Year has existed worldwide for over 20 years, it launched in Canada in 2009.
