InnoBev Awards 2023

Events
InnoBev Awards 2023

5th Jan 2023-24th Mar 2023

Entry closure 24th March 2023

Zenith Global's annual InnoBev Awards celebrate excellence and innovation across all sectors of the global soft drinks industry. Open to entrepreneurs and established brands worldwide, entries are invited in 16 categories, covering innovation, marketing, technology and packaging. The awards will open be open for entries from January 2023 until March 2023. The winners will be announced on 16 May in an awards ceremony online and at the UK Soft Drinks Conference 2023 in London.

Entries are now closed

Details

Our guide below should provide you with all the information you need about the InnoBev Awards 2023. You can also download the InnoBev Awards 2023 guidelines here.

The awards will open for entries on 5 January 2023. Please note, all entries must be received by the entry deadline of 24 March 2023.

If you have any queries, please contact us on t +44(0)1225 327900 e awards@zenithglobal.com.

AWARD CATEGORIES

Best Low/No Sugar Drink
Best Functional Drink
Best Dairy Drink
Best Energy Drink
Best Premium Drink
Best Low/No Alcohol Drink sponsored by Salomons & Partners
Best in Can
Best in Carton
Best in Glass
Best in PET
Best Packaging/Label Design
Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign
Best Technology Innovation
Best New Brand
Best Brand Extension
Best New Drink Concept sponsored by Saniton Plastic

Products can be entered into multiple categories.

WHY ENTER?

Gain publicity from leading industry media.
Benefit from independent international recognition.
Add credibility with buyers and investors by associating with the best in beverage innovation worldwide.
Attract consumers and build brand awareness, both locally and internationally.
Share the news of your success with a dedicated announcement across our social media platforms.
Receive a comprehensive communications kit complete with a press release, a digital logo package, certificate, and a trophy for winners!
Presentation of your shortlisted product in a special awards ceremony, attended by industry leaders, producers, suppliers and retailers.
Showcase your shortlisted product alongside other exciting innovators at the awards ceremony.

ENTRY COSTS

Early bird entry (ends 17 February): £195 per category (+ VAT if applicable)

Standard entry: £225 per category (+ VAT if applicable)

If you enter 3 categories, the 4th entry is free.

All entries must be received by the extended deadline of close of business on Friday 24 March 2023.

ENTRY PROCESS

There are two stages to the entry process.

1. Simply click 'Enter Now', and select the categories and products you wish to enter and then fill out your personal details.

2. Once we have received your application and payment, a member of the awards team will be in touch to support you on your submission for the awards.

What is required?

A 200-word description of why your product deserves to win
Two high-resolution product images

*For the category 'Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign' you are invited to send an additional 1-page document to include any video content or imagery relating to the entry.

FINALISTS ANNOUNCEMENT

Once all judges have submitted their feedback and scores, all points will be counted and verified.

A press release will be released announcing the finalists. All entrants and finalists will be notified by the end of April.

WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT

The winners will be announced in an awards ceremony on Tuesday 16 May 2023 during Zenith Global's UK Soft Drinks Conference 2023 in London.

CONTACT

If you have a query about the awards, please get in touch

t +44 (0)1225 327900 e awards@zenithglobal.com

2022 11 09 Zenith Evian Event Picture 578

Entry criteria

All products entered must have been launched/ created/ rebranded from January 2021 onwards.

Products that are not yet in the market can still be entered, as long as they are in their prototype/packaging stage by the closing date of the awards (24 March 2023).

To download the full awards guidelines, click here.

For any questions or queries around the awards, please contact awards@zenithglobal.com

For each category entry, you are required to submit the following only:

a 200-word description of why your product deserves to win in its category
two high-resolution product images (JPEG and PNG files only)

Text should be submitted in a word/text document and images as JPEG or PNG files. Please ensure all entry files clearly identify the category they correspond to.

For the category ‘Best Marketing or Social Media Campaign’ you are invited to send an additional 1-page document to include any video content or imagery relating to the entry.

Below are some ideas and recommendations for what you may wish to include in your 200-word description. For all categories, you may wish to consider including the following:

What: Vision and mission of your product

How: Market gap analysis/product differentiation

Where: Your product is sold, developed, sourced from and why

Why: Your product is the most innovative/exciting product in this category and what makes it stand out

Best Low/No Sugar Drink, Best Functional Drink, Best Dairy Drink, Best Energy Drink

We are looking for a clear message about why your product is the most innovative/exciting product in this category and what makes it stand out. We’d love to hear about flavor combinations, points of differentiation, added value, and market impact.

Best Premium Drink

As well as delivering on taste and refreshment, we are looking for premium drinks that feature top quality ingredients and craftsmanship. In your entry, you may wish to consider how your product offers added value, differentiation and sophistication, as well as market impact and brand appeal relevant to the target audience.

Best Low/No Alcohol Drink (no more than 0.5% ABV)

In this category we are looking for innovative soft drinks* which are positioned as a favourable
alternative to alcoholic beverages and deliver a unique proposition to consumers. With a focus on what
makes your product stand out, you might wish to highlight flavour combinations, packaging design,
market impact and brand appeal relevant to the target audience. *Alcohol content must be no more than 0.5% ABV.

Best in Can, Best in Carton, Best in Glass and Best in PET:

We are looking for products that stand out in appearance in their respective packaging and provide an excellent example of the chosen format. In your entry, you may wish to consider how your product differentiates itself from other products in the same format, as well as the benefits of choosing to package your product in this format. We are looking for innovation of concept as well as commercial/market impact.

Best Packaging/Label Design

We are looking for packaging designs and innovations that measurably improve consumer convenience, usability and reduction of waste material, offer added value for brand owners and create differentiation through excellence and original design/appearance. The packaging/label design needs to effectively communicate the ingredients and benefits of what’s inside.

Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign

In this category, we are seeking marketing campaigns, activations, promotions, print, digital, or point-of-sale campaigns that entertain, raise awareness or educate, demonstrate originality and promote or provide education around specific themes. You are welcome to send a one-page document of additional video content and imagery to help illustrate your marketing message.

Best Technology Innovation

We are looking for innovative technologies in processing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution or vending. This includes innovations that offer new technologies that save time or money in beverage manufacturing, change the way in which consumers access and consume beverages, improve packaging line efficiency and safety, improve tracking through smart technology, or improve environmental sustainability criteria.

Best New Brand

We are looking for newcomer brands that clearly communicate benefits – from nutrition, health, functionality, or superior refreshment - and have delivered a unique proposition either through innovative ingredients or packaging, environmental sustainability, clean label, or ethical behaviour.

Best Brand Extension

We are looking for brand extensions that clearly communicate benefits – from nutrition, health, functionality, or superior refreshment - and have delivered a unique proposition either through innovative ingredients or packaging, environmental sustainability, clean label, or ethical behaviour.

Best New Drink Concept

We are looking for new beverages that demonstrate innovative concept(s) and product differentiation. This includes drinks that have the potential to develop a new product category or extend consumer choice.

Judges

Gareth Jones

Director of Harness Insights

Gareth Jones, Harness Insights. Gareth is a consultant advising on commercial topics in the Drinks Industry. Gareth has a had a long career in Drinks with global experience.

He has led Nestle’s Tea global business unit, been a Coke and Pepsi bottler, managed Carlsberg’s portfolio of licensed brands, as well as leading Tesco’s Soft Drink, Water, Juices & Hot Beverages category.

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Bill Sipper

Managing Partner of Cascadia Managing Brands

Bill is a food and beverage industry leader who has guided numerous brands from concept to commercialization to category leadership. He held senior positions at leading brands including Evian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla, Naked Juice..

...and Clearly Canadian. Bill’s strategic expertise and executional focus helped those brands succeed and can help your brand succeed, too.

Consulting closely with client leaders as they consider a sale or acquisition, Bill has supported several brands through the process. (Naked Juice was sold to Pepsico, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla was sold to Coca Cola, and Nantucket Nectars was sold to Ocean Spray). Bill has significant international experience, and works with clients in Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East. He draws on this expertise to help international brands establish presence in the US and to help US brands expand internationally.

Through Cascadia, Bill has earned industry respect for helping to build brands like Liquid Death, HINT Water, Zico Coconut Water and many more.

Bill is active in philanthropic causes: He served as president of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s clean water charity, Tear of the Clouds; was an Advisory Board Member to The Walden Woods Project; and served two terms on the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Bill has been featured on Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and in the PBS documentary “The Water Wars.” He has been a featured speaker at Columbia University School of Business, The Bottled Water Congress (Torino, Italy), the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis (Tunisia), and at virtually every major US food and beverage show, including Natural Products Expo, BevNet, Nosh Live and more. His articles have appeared in leading trade publications, and he is frequently quoted in media including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the New York Times.

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Claire Nuttall

Managing Director of The Brand Incubator

With over 20 years experience working in high calibre, demanding agency world with many successes working with big blue chip brands, businesses and entrepreneurial start ups.

Claire has a highly sought after mix of instinct, skills and down to earth approaches to innovation. Inspiring, fresh and challenging in her thinking, she adds that bit of a difference when you need it most or you have hit a block that seems impossible to break through. Her approach is entrepreneurial, identifying insights that will make a difference is a speciality, diagnosing where barriers or opportunities lie is another, then identifying, prescribing and implementing effective innovation, commercial strategies and creative/marketing solutions which help clients to accelerate growth and profitability of their business.

From identifying the gap and solution for GSK's now £100m brand Sensodyne Pronamel or partnering the creation of a £19m food brand year 1 Claire delivers growth. Claire writes a monthly Talking Shop for the Food & Drink industry magazine The Grocer and feeds trend insights into LS :N bi-monthly from 2014. She regularly speaks at industry seminars giving talks about innovation, NPD, future trends and the ever changing health agenda. She also co-founded the much talked of Thrive Talk Executive business club who meet bi-monthly to discuss edgy industry issues and challenges involving entrepreneurs, retailers, venture capital and big blue chip marketers and directors.

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Duane Stanford

Editor and Publisher of Beverage Digest

Duane Stanford is Editor & Publisher of Beverage Digest, a U.S.-based business newsletter covering the drinks industry. He has written extensively about the global food and beverage sectors since 2006.

Before taking over and later acquiring Beverage Digest, Duane spent 23 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Bloomberg writing breaking news, investigations, and magazine features. While at Bloomberg’s Atlanta bureau, Duane was a regular contributor to Businessweek magazine and Bloomberg television and radio.

Duane regularly appears on radio and television and in print as an expert commentator on global beverage trends and developments.

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2023 Finalists

The finalists for the 2023 InnoBev Awards have been published today. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 16 May in an awards ceremony during the 2023 UK Soft Drinks Conference in London.

Organised by the food and drink experts Zenith Global, the InnoBev Awards celebrate excellence and innovation across all sectors of the global soft drinks industry. In its 7th year, 144 award entries were reviewed by the eminent panel of independent judges to select this year’s finalists and winners.

Supporting the 2023 awards are category sponsors Saniton Plastic and Salomons & Partners.

The Finalists

Best Low/No Sugar Drink

• AQUA Carpatica – Sparkling Flavoured Natural Mineral Water
• Candy Can – Sparkling zero sugar candy drinks
• Nix & Kix – Nix & Kix
• Princes Limited – Princes Skinny Mixers
• VIT HIT UK Ltd – VIT HIT Kids

Best Functional Drink
• Beliv – Big Easy Probiotic Juice Shots
• Nirvana Water Sciences – Nirvana Super Water
• Buzzed Energy – Buzzed Energy
• The Pickle Juice Company – 2.5oz Extra Strength Chilli Lime Pickle Juice Shot
• TRIP – TRIP Lightly Sparkling CBD Infused Drinks

Best Dairy Drink
• Hunt and Brew – Australia Cold Brew Coffee
• Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd – Changyi 100% Lactobacillus Drink

Best Energy Drink
• Beliv – OCA: Plant-Based Energy Drink
• Boost Drinks – Juic’d
• Goat Drinks Ltd – Horny Goat/Funky Goat
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – MTN DEW ENERGY BAJA BLAST
• Buzzed Energy – Buzzed Energy

Best Premium Drink
• Bax Botanics – Bax Botanics Zingy Lemon Verbena & Tonic
• Beliv –Güitig: Naturally Carbonated Volcanic Water
• Bundaberg Brewed Drinks – Bundaberg Brewed Drinks Ginger Beer
• Pals – Pals Zero Alcohol Peach, Passionfruit & Soda
• Punchy Drinks Ltd – Punchy Drinks

Best Low/No Alcohol Drink sponsored by Salomons & Partners
• Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company – LYSEGRØN
• Juicy River – Bolle Oro
• Lifted Drinks Ltd – Lifted High Protein Alcohol Free Beer
• Pals – Pals Zero Alcohol Peach, Passionfruit and Soda
• Sobah Beverages – Sobah Beverages

Best in Can
• Crown Bevcan EMEA – Chu Lo Drinks
• Jimmy’s Iced Coffee Limited – Jimmy’s Iced Coffee - Caramel Bottle/Can 275ml
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – Pepsi Black x DIGITAL SHFW 2023
• Radnor Hills – Heartease Farm Traditional Lemonade
• RISE Brewing Co. – RISE Brewing Co. Salted Caramel Oat Milk Nitro Cold Brew Latte

Best in Carton
• HUMANITEA COMPANY, INC - HUMANITEA
• Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Ltd – Ambrosial low-ink eco-friendly packaging
• VIT HIT UK Ltd – VIT HIT Kids

Best in Glass
• AQUA Carpatica – Still Water
• Beliv – Big Easy Kombucha
• Juicy River – Bolle Oro
• TYROL WATER (Gorlink AG)– TYROL WATER

Best in PET
• Berry Global – NEUE Water 100% rPET Bottle
• Hunt and Brew – Hunt and Brew Cold Brew Coffee
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – Pepsi Label-free Multipack
• Saniton Plastic – Saniton’s Interlocking Bottle

Best Packaging/Label Design
• Candy Can – Sparkling zero sugar candy drinks
• Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd – Ambrosial low-ink eco-friendly packaging
• Jimmy’s Iced Coffee – Jimmy’s Iced Coffee - Caramel Bottle/Can 275ml
• NEUE Water – NEUE Water
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – Gatorade x Serena Gx Bottle
• Punchy Drinks Ltd – Punchy Drinks

Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign
• Candy Can – Sparkling zero sugar candy drinks
• Capri-Sun – Capri-Sun AR Filter Activation
• Capri-Sun – Capri-Sun Tik-Tok
• Hunt and Brew – Hunt and Brew Always Hunting (for coffee)
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – Pepsi Max x Eintracht Frankfurt collaboration

Best Technology Innovation
• Nirvana Water Sciences – Nirvana Super Water
• Saniton Plastic – Saniton’s Interlocking Bottle

Best New Brand
• Candy Can – Sparkling zero sugar candy drinks
• Cut Above Spirits – Cut Above Spirits
• Goat Drinks Ltd – Horny Goat/Funky Goat
• Nirvana Water Sciences – Nirvana Super Water
• Buzzed Energy – Buzzed Energy

Best Brand Extension
• AQUA Carpatica – Sparkling Flavoured Natural Mineral Water
• Beverage Partners International Ltd – Dilmah Ceylon Iced Tea
• Capri-Sun – Capri-Sun Syrup
• Nirvana Water Sciences – Nirvana Super Water
• VIT HIT UK Ltd – VIT HIT Kids

Best New Drink Concept sponsored by Saniton Plastic
• Beliv – Mighty POP: Pre, Pro & Postbiotic Soda
• Candy Can – Sparkling zero sugar candy drinks
• Karma Drinks – Karma Drinks Organically and Ethically Sourced, premium post-mix
• Nirvana Water Sciences – Nirvana Super Water
• PepsiCo Design & Innovation – Nitro Pepsi
• Buzzed Energy – Buzzed Energy

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