Nielsen Announces 2014 U.S. Breakthrough Innovation Award Winners

Nielsen, a provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, has announced its U.S. Breakthrough Innovation Winners for 2014:

“Given the very competitive marketplace and high new product failure rate, we celebrate the Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation winners’ extraordinary achievement,” says, Rob Wengel, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Nielsen. “These diverse new products carry the common thread of finding and filling unmet consumer needs while demonstrating that with significant effort, game-changing innovation is possible in any category and by all types of companies.”

This is the third year that Nielsen has presented the award in the U.S. This year’s product winners were all launched in 2012 and met the standards for distinctiveness, relevance and endurance in order to qualify. The winning companies join an expanding and elite group of marketers that will convene at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 event in San Antonio in June to examine successful new product innovation and drivers of in-market success. The 2014 Breakthrough Innovation Report will also be launched at the event and will feature in-depth case studies of the winners and their approaches to successful innovation.

“Successful innovation is never easy,” says Taddy Hall, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Nielsen, “but nor is it complicated. Breakthrough Winners don’t rely on luck or genius. The hallmark of successful innovation is that they resolve struggles or fulfil aspirations; they perform jobs in consumers’ lives.”