SA brands among top 10 Design Impact Awards winners

Over the past three years, the Design Impact Awards have underscored the measurable business value of outstanding package design. Building on the success of these awards within the U.S. market, this year, Nielsen opened the award entry door to include global submissions, netting 10 winning brands from around the world.

Commenting on the South African win, Nielsen Bases Lead for sub-Sahara Africa Esti Prinsloo says; “Pack designs have great impact on awareness and help break through the clutter. Packaging acts as one of thousands of little billboards for your brand. It is great that we have two winners from South Africa among the top 10 winning brands of the Nielsen Design Impact Awards. It shows the importance that is being given to packaging in our market.”

Selection process

In 2016 Nielsen created the first U.S. package design award to leverage retail performance data as part of the winner identification process. This year, hundreds of CPG brands and their design agencies submitted their best entries for product package redesigns that were successfully launched between 1 Jan 2016 and 1 Jan 2018.

In-market performance of all submissions was reviewed using Nielsen’s Retail Measurement Sales data, identifying brands that experienced a demonstrable increase in retail dollar sales and units during the year that followed the redesign launch. Complementing the sales data, Nielsen also conducted a survey of thousands of consumers to assess how well each redesign addressed its core communication objectives and to gauge purchase preference for the new packages over the old ones.

Ten winning brands emerged and were recognised for leveraging both the art and science of design within the global CPG space. These winners represent a diverse range of business situations across food, beverage alcohol, personal and home care.

And the winners are...

Global winners of the 2019 Nielsen Design Impact Awards:

● Nice! - U.S.; Parent Company: Walgreens; Design Agency: Soulsight
● M&M’S - U.S.; Parent Company: Mars Wrigley Confectionery; Designed by: Mars Wrigley Confectionery
● Icelandic ProvisionsTM Skyr - U.S.; Parent Company: Icelandic ProvisionsTM; Design Agency: Moxie Sozo
● Hess Select - U.S.; Parent Company: The Hess Collection Winery; Designer: Michael McDermott
● Alpura - Mexico; Parent Company: Alpura; Design Agency: Foic Lecanda
● Arawana Oil - China; Parent Company: Yihai Kerry; Design Agency: Dongdao Creative Branding Group and Posher Design
● Maq - (South Africa; Parent Company: Bliss Brands; Design Agency: Fountainhead
● Playboy Deodorants - South Africa; Parent Company: Amka Products; Design Agency: Sainsbury Design
● Prestígio - Brazil; Parent Company: Nestle; Design Agency: DBA B+G)
● Satis! - Brazil; Parent Company: Ajinomoto do Brazil; Design Agency: Arcwwbrasil)

Addressing evolving consumer needs

Nielsen Bases Design Solutions VP Kyle McKinley comments, "Brands around the world are designing with change in mind. Across all 10 honourees, we saw common themes that bridged their redesign success."

"Brands that are winning with design are designing with a ‘hyperfocus’ on the ebbs and flows occurring within the business and consumer landscape. They are leaning into design to stretch beyond a category norm, using design to address white space or leveraging design to respond to shifts in consumer preferences and behaviour whether that’s the growth of health and wellness, increasing screen time or changing retail platforms. Ultimately, this year’s winners were best in class at creatively using their pack redesign as the vehicle to effectively address the evolving needs of today’s consumer.”

He adds; “Great package design can be found in every market, yet it rarely gets the recognition it deserves. We created the Nielsen Design Impact Awards to honour brands that are elevating the role of packaging in the marketing mix, bringing light to the tremendous contribution effective package design brings to a brand’s bottom line.”

Learn more about package design testing, the Nielsen Design Impact Awards, the methodology used to assess each submission and access in-depth stories from this year’s winners.