Powered by Nielsen BASES, Annual List of Top Breakthrough Innovations Reveals a New Scale of Success for Today’s Dynamic Marketplace

New York, NY, Nov. 14, 2018 — Whether it was Halo Top®’s nutritionally better-for-you ice cream, LIFEWTR’s unique commitment to advancing and showcasing sources of creativity, CORE Hydration’s body balancing benefits or the thinning of Oreo’s classic cookie sandwich—endurance, sales and product distinction were some of the catalysts that led to success in the 2018 Nielsen’s Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations within the U.S. This newly released list examines and celebrates what it takes to achieve consumer and retail success today. This newly released list which was powered by BASES, a new product innovation discipline within Nielsen, examines and celebrates what it takes to achieve consumer and retail success today.

Nielsen’s highly anticipated annual Breakthrough Innovation analysis, the gold standard in recognizing innovation success, has been highlighting the best in innovation over the last decade. The 25 brands that made this year’s list reflect a wide range of successful approaches that cut through the clutter of today’s crowded product marketplace. The diversity of Nielsen’s Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations prove that success comes in many different forms and strategies, as marketers continue to find new ways to make a true impact with consumers through innovation.

Beyond Nielsen’s requirements for distinctiveness, relevance, and endurance, this year, the criteria for Breakthrough success was expanded to include a broader set of strategies that successful brands employed, honoring the best execution of each. The result: a list of products that reflect strong, distinct qualities such as mass potential, longevity, brand incrementality, category distinction and appeal toward a specific consumer target.

“In today’s climate, the marketplace is more crowded than ever, so the pressure to innovate is immense,” says Jenny Frazier, SVP of Nielsen BASES. “We know that successful innovation comes in many forms, from category-growing mega-successes to products that meet the needs of a specific type of consumer, and everything in between. This year, Nielsen BASES is awarding success across all the ways we know companies create it—these 25 launches represent the best of a variety of successful strategies all companies employ. They have broken through the noise, allowing them to utilize innovation as a means to feed customer demand and desire.”

When one considers the wide variety of the products in Nielsen’s Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations, there’s no obvious thread except for this; each possessed the ability to capitalize on research or smart insights—in some cases, it was both. And because of it, the consumer landscape is more alluring, dynamic, and above all, represents innovation at its finest.  

Nielsen reviewed close to 3,500 consumer products and named the following to this year’s list. These products are recognized for the innovation and growth they brought to their respective categories.

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