Ferrero Awarded Two Product Of The Year 2019 Awards For Product Innovations

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tic Tac Gum and Kinder Joy® were each recognized at the 2019 Product of the Year awards event for product innovation within the Gum and Kids Novelty Snack categories, respectively. Product of the Year is the world's largest consumer-voted award for product innovation. Winners are determined by 40,000 consumers who submit their votes in a national representative survey conducted by Kantar, a global leader in consumer research. Tic Tac Gum and Kinder Joy are part of the portfolio of brands by Ferrero, the confectionery company known also for Ferrero Rocher® and Nutella®.

Gum Category Winner – Tic Tac Gum: Modeled upon the iconic features of the original Tic Tac brand, Tic Tac Gum gives consumers everything they love about mints, now in a gum form that allows for easy on-the-go consumption. Tic Tac Gum is available in four delicious flavors: Freshmint, Spearmint, Cool Watermelon and Cool Tropical.

Kids Novelty Snack Category Winner – Kinder Joy: Kinder Joy comes in a plastic, egg-shaped package comprising two separately sealed halves. One half of the egg contains a delicious treat. The other half of the egg contains an exciting surprise toy.  Kinder Joy has a wide range of surprise toys developed by an expert team of designers to maximize playtime between parents and kids and foster creativity in children over three years of age.

"Ferrero's founding and history is rooted in creating exceptional quality products that consumers love and enjoy," said Jim Klein, Vice President of Sales and Customer Marketing, Ferrero U.S.A., Inc. "This recognition both cements Ferrero as a leader within the Gum and Kids Novelty Snack categories, and demonstrates our commitment to bringing excitement to U.S. consumers through innovation in the confectionery industry."

For over 30 years globally, and 11 years in the U.S., Product of the Year has guided consumers to the best products on the market by recognizing companies and brands for quality and product innovation. The inaugural Product of the Year accepts entries from innovative consumer packaged goods launched within the previous year. Entries span a wide breadth of product categories, including food, beverages, personal care, household care and more – with one product chosen as a winner in its category through a nationally representative online study of 40,000 consumers conducted by Kantar.

"Backed by the votes of 40,000 everyday consumers, the distinguished Product of the Year logo helps shoppers identify the best new products in the supermarket, saving them valuable time and money during the shopping experience," said Mike Nolan, CEO, Product of the Year. "In an increasingly competitive and saturated marketplace, the Product of the Year seal of approval gives our winning products a powerful tool proven to increase product trial, consumer awareness, distribution and sales."

The complete list of the 36 winning products of the 2019 Product of the Year Award is now available on productoftheyearusa.com. Consumers can follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #POYUSA2019 on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About Ferrero
Founded as a family business in Alba, Italy in 1946, Ferrero is the third-largest confectionery company in the world, with distribution in over 170 countries, and a workforce of more than 30,000 people across 55 countries. Ferrero entered the U.S. market in 1969 with Tic Tac® mints, which have become an icon in the breath mint market. Ferrero subsequently introduced Ferrero Rocher® fine hazelnut chocolates, Nutella® The Original Hazelnut Spread® and Kinder Joy® to the U.S. market. Ferrero is the third-largest confectionery company in the U.S.

About Product of the Year
Product of the Year is the world's largest consumer-voted award for product innovation. Established over 30 years ago, POY currently operates in over 40 countries with the same purpose: Guide consumers to the best products in their market and reward manufacturers for quality and innovation.  Product of the Year winners are backed by the votes of 40,000 consumers in a national representative study conducted by research partner Kantar, a global leader in consumer research.  The award is a powerful merchandising program for marketers proven to increase product sales, distribution and awareness.  Winning products are announced in February each year and receive the right to use the Product of the Year logo in marketing communications for two years.  For more information, visit productoftheyearusa.com.

About Kantar
Kantar is the world's leading marketing data, insight and consultancy company. We know more about how people live, feel, shop, vote, watch and post worldwide than any other company. Working across the entire sales and marketing lifecycle, we help brands uncover growth in an extraordinary world. Kantar is part of WPP and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune 500 companies in 100 countries.

MEDIA CONTACT
Golin, on behalf of Ferrero U.S.A., Inc.
Hugh McMullen
[email protected] 
212-373-6086

SOURCE Ferrero