New York, NY, U.S. — Nielsen Global Connect released its highly anticipated Top 25 Breakthrough Innovation winners for 2019. For close to a decade, this list has been the gold standard in recognizing innovation and global success within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space.
The steady growth and diversification of Nielsen’s Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations mirrors the shifting tides of today’s consumer landscape. Powered by BASES, the product innovation discipline within Nielsen, this year’s analysis reinforces the anthem that today, success comes in many different forms and strategies.
Nielsen innovation data shows that in 2019, a new product was launched to the U.S. marketplace every two minutes. Building on this, over the last three years, brick-and-mortar CPG unit volume has barely wavered above a 1% growth rate year-over-year in the U.S.—a clear indicator that some innovations aren’t earning their keep.
This year’s Breakthrough Innovation process reviewed close to 45,000 product launches, introduced to the market in 2017. The brands that made the 2019 list reflect a wide range of products and approaches that succeeded in making meaningful connections with consumers, an impressive feat within an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Beyond Nielsen’s requirements for products that reflect strong, distinct qualities such as mass potential, longevity, brand incrementality, category distinction and appeal toward a specific consumer target, this year’s list brings the continued evolution of the success criteria, which includes all six of Nielsen BASES’ activation profiles.
15 of the products mentioned were from food companies: PepsiCo’s bubly sparkling water and Mtn Dew DEW-S-A, Caulipower, Dave’s Killer Bread, Bagels, Flower Foods, Kraft’s Devour frozen foods and Just Crack an Egg microwavable breakfast bowls, Dunkin’ Donuts Bottled Iced Coffee from Coca-Cola, Ferrero’s Kinder Joy, Lamb Weston potatoes, Lay’s Poppables, Oui by Yoplait, Summer Edition Red Bull, Mondelez’s Ritz Crisp & Thins, RXBAR and White Claw Hard Seltzer.
