According to Nielsen’s Top Products Survey 2011, which is published in The Grocer magazine, Walkers Crinkles, Stella Cidre and Innocent Fruit Juice Cartons were the most successful launches of 2011. As a serial crisp lover, I was delighted when Walkers’ introduced Crinkles to its range and with a campaign that included 18 weeks of TV support, radio and social media activity, it comes as no surprise that it was voted the top product launch of 2011.
Just six months after launching, consumers ate close to £30m worth of Walkers’ Crinkles and with staying in the new going out, much of these sales can be attributed to sharing a bag while watching Strictly or X-Factor on a Saturday night. Cider also flourished in 2011: our sweet toothed nation glugged its way through £27.6m of Stella Cidre while sales of lager and ale fell, due to the hike in VAT. Once considered a luxury, Innocent Drinks has put smoothies and juices back on the map, selling £22m to those ever-increasing health conscious consumers.
Earlier this year, Tangerine PR’s client Gratterpalm, the North’s leading advertising agency, designed a campaign for the launch of Asda’s in store ‘Student Shop,’ a premium seasonal in-store space dedicated to students. This year’s survey shows that this market is spending more money than ever before in supermarkets. Sales of Pot Noodles are up 21 per cent to £93.5m, while energy drinks, another fastest growing category in 2011, leapt 12.6 per cent (as a former university student I speak from experience that energy drinks really do aid the revision process).
More and more Brits are baking their own cakes, inspired by TV shows such as BBC Two’s The Great British Bake Off, which could have something to do with the fact that the volume of cake sales is down by 4.1 per cent. Despite this, another of Tangerine PR’s clients Soreen, the UK’s favourite malt loaf, still enjoyed sales of £12.5m, ranking them fifth out of the top 20 ranked cakes eaten in the UK this year.
On the other end of the scale, I was surprised to learn that milk price wars have cost brands a drop in sales of 5.7 per cent and consumers are buying fewer baked beans (I couldn’t believe it either) because of a price inflation caused by the hike in raw materials, which has affected the canned foods market.
Nielsen also ranked the best TV ads of the year using a simple checklist: do viewers remember an ad? Do they know which brand it was for and understand its message? Do they like the ad and are they likely to purchase a product as a result of seeing it?
I have to admit that I hadn’t seen or heard of the number one Aunt Bessie’s Frozen Potato advert, which features pensioners Margaret and Mabel spying on a family eating dinner. After watching the 30-second advert, it was easy to see why it had been voted into the number one spot.
Being a bit of a consumer geek I’m always eager to find out how products fared in the survey and it’s good to see that those brands which are making a difference in the world of retail are recognised. I wonder who the movers and shakers of 2012 will be?
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