Nielsen names U.S. Breakthrough Innovation Winners for 2014

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Nielsen last week named the U.S. Breakthrough Innovation Winners for 2014, recognizing products introduced in 2012 that have "met the standards for distinctiveness, relevance and endurance." Three Procter & Gamble brands made the list, including Febreze Car Vent Clip, Tide Pods and ZzzQuil. 

This year's winners include:

• Angry Orchard Hard Cider, the Boston Beer Co.;


• Barcel Takis, Barcel USA;


• Bud Light Lime Ritas, Anheuser-Busch;


• Depend Silhouette Briefs for Women and Depend Real Fit Briefs for Men, Kimberly-Clark;


• Febreze Car Vent Clip, Procter & Gamble;


• Gevalia Kaffe Retail Coffee, Kraft Foods;


• International Delight Iced Coffee, The WhiteWave Foods;


• Meow Mix Tender Centers, Big Heart Pet Brands;


• Mucinex Fast-Max, Reckitt Benckiser;


• Nabisco belVita Breakfast Biscuits, Mondelez Global;


• Nature Valley Protein Bars, General Mills;


• Sargento Ultra Thin Slices, Sargento Foods;


• Tide Pods, Procter & Gamble; and


• ZzzQuil, Procter & Gamble.

“Given the very competitive marketplace and high new product failure rate, we celebrate the Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation winners’ extraordinary achievement,” said Rob Wengel, SVP innovation for 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 is the third year that Nielsen has presented the award in the United States. The 2014 Breakthrough Innovation Report will be launched at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 event in San Antonio in June and will feature in-depth case studies of the winners and their approaches to successful innovation, Nielsen reported. 

The U.S. Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Project is a multi-year analysis of more than 17,000 new launches from 2008 to 2012, which has resulted in the selection of 62 winners over three years. Nielsen analyzed more than 3,400 new consumer product introductions that launched in the United States in 2012 to determine which products demonstrated breakthrough results.