Sydney, Australia – 1 November, 2023— NIQ has today announced its highly-anticipated BASES Breakthrough Innovation Awards for 2023. The awards recognize successful product launches across all strategies, ranging from launches that disrupted their categories and grew their brand, to targeted plays intended to delight specific audiences.  

NIQ’s 2023 BASES Breakthrough Innovation Awards consist of 15 winners across New Zealand and Australia that have transformed their categories. In addition, it also acknowledges 14 wavemakers, which consists of products that are showing great potential for future success.  

According to NIQ, the 2023 Breakthrough Innovation winners have successfully navigated through a persistently precarious landscape, marked by the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, an economic recession, and extraordinary inflationary constraints with 34% of global consumers saying they are in a worse financial position this year than the year prior.  

The recipients of this year’s Australia and New Zealand Breakthrough Innovation Awards have made remarkable strides across diverse product categories. A total of 3,900 new SKUs have been launched in Australia and New Zealand over the past two years. Among these product launches, the brands that proved successful fulfilled unique needs for consumers.  

This year’s 2023 Breakthrough Innovation Awards winners addressed the following unique and important needs of their customers: moment of pleasure, better for me, new experience, wellbeing, better for we, sustainability/local, and dietary preference.  

Australian and New Zealand shoppers tended to gravitate towards local products and data suggests that future spendings are likely to favour several FMCG categories including fresh produce, fresh meat, health and wellness, and dairy. 

“A number of global and local factors have contributed to creating a tense economic situation in Australia and New Zealand over the past couple of years, resulting in increasingly cautious consumer spending. This is creating opportunities for many FMCG categories as consumers plan to shift some of their spending from out-of-home back to in-home,” commented Michael Rubio, NIQ BASES Executive Director, Pacific. 

“However, with ~4,000 innovations having launched in the region in the past two years, the competition for consumers’ share of wallet is bound to be tough. It’s increasingly important for brands to understand their consumers and offer them innovations that resonate with their evolving needs and wants,” explained Rubio.  

NIQ’s 2023 Pacific Breakthrough Innovation Award Winners are: 

• 25° South Ravioli Pasta  
• Arepa   

• Baileys Truffles  
• Beehive Stackers with Deli Meats, Cheese and Crackers  
• Boring Oat Milk  
• CeraVe Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser  
• Kellogg’s Sultana Bran Gluten Free  

• Kinder Happy Hippo  
• Mac’s Ultra Violet Low Carb Pale Ale  
• Major Major Vodka  
• Noshu Low Carb Indulgence Bars  
• The Juice Lab Wellness  

• UP&GO Dairy Free  
• Vege Rice Crackers  
• Vittoria Instant Coffee 

NIQ’s 2023 Pacific Breakthrough Innovation Award Wavemakers are: 

• Big Black Sacks Shoreline Ocean-Bound Plastic TIE-TOPS  

• Bluebird Originals   
• Campbell’s Real Stock Mushroom 1L  
• Glow Lab Home  
• Kapiti Kahotea Extra Creamy Brie 160g  
• Kapiti Rarama Cheese 160g  

• Little Moons Mochi Ice Cream  
• Nutella Biscuits   
• Oreo Original ‘Proud Words’ Limited Edition Cookies  
• Popcorners  
• Primo Air-Dried Salami Sticks  

• Steinlager Ultra Low Carb  
• V Refresh  
• Vicks Vaposhower 

For over a decade, BASES has identified more than 700 products from around the globe as Breakthrough Innovations. These innovations addressed key consumer needs and delivered stand-out experiences that redefined their categories. This, in turn, has resulted in incredible outcomes.  

For more information about this year’s Breakthrough Innovations winners and to learn from their successes, please visit NIQ’s Breakthrough Innovation website. 

About NielsenIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™.

NIQ, is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit NIQ.com.