Center Store Rides High

In the land of social media, 70,000 people can’t be wrong … can they?

Anyway, that was the draw for an inaugural recognition program to determine what new products in 14 categories – mostly food and nonfood items from center store – consumers like best. It’s just the latest example of the ever-increasing role social media is playing in the marketing of CPG products.

“BzzAgent’s Hypeworthies Awards is a true testament to brand advocacy. In just over one month, we received more than 70,000 recommendations and votes in support of the new and latest products that consumers love,” said Dave Balter, founder and CEO of BzzAgent, the social marketing arm of Dunnhumby, which also has a joint venture with Kroger. “We hope our awards program builds more buzz and hype for these leading products, and we look forward to growing this awards program year after year in an effort to gauge consumers’ excitement about new and innovative grocery products.”

Consumers actively participated in nominating products across each category. A panel of judges, made up of food industry gurus and marketing experts, reviewed all consumer submissions along with metrics on overall consumer buzz and market sales data from leading measurement companies to select the final winners in each product category.

CPG powerhouse Procter & Gamble was the big winner, taking two of the 14 category spots plus the People’s Choice Award for its Tide Pods, which garnered the most votes overall (the complete list of winners can be found below). Winners were announced earlier this month during a live web broadcast at BzzAgent’s Boston headquarters.

The results of the first-ever Hypeworthies demonstrate a few things – the power of social media to determine the fate of new products, the impact of effective marketing programs by leading CPG companies, and the draw of center store for grocery shoppers.

Oh, and the makers of these products might consider entering them in our upcoming Editors’ Picks contest – if the public is any indication, we at PG are bound to be impressed by these products, too.

Jim Dudlicek is senior editor of Progressive Grocer.


HYPEWORTHIES WINNERS

Alcohol – Pinnacle Vodka, Cake Flavor (Beam)

Baby – Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Shampoo & Wash (The Clorox Co.)

Beverages – V8 V-Fusion, Strawberry Banana Smoothie (The Campbell Soup Co.)

Candy – Starburst Flavor Morph (Wrigley/Mars Inc.)

Coffee – International Delight Iced Coffee, Mocha (Dean Foods)

Cooking - Kraft Fresh Take Cheese Breadcrumb Mix, Italian Parmesan Recipe (Kraft Foods)

Cosmetics – Garnier Skin Renew, Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream (L’Oreal)

Diet – Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters (Nestle)

Household – Tide Pods, Mystic Forest (P&G)

Packaged Foods – Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter (General Mills)

Personal Care – Crest 3D White Vivid Toothpaste (P&G)

Pets – Beneful Healthy Fiesta Dry Dog Food (Nestle/Purina)

Snacks – Ritz Crackerfuls (Kraft Foods/Nabisco)

People’s Choice – Tide Pods (P&G)

 

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