Kenvue grabbed five awards in BrandSpark International’s 2024 Best New Product Awards.

More than 15,000 Canadians participated in the national survey to rate products in 106 categories including Food, Beverage, Beauty, Health, Personal Care, Kids, Pet, Household Care, Home Goods & Footwear, and Restaurant Menu Items and Services.

The consumer health company Kenvue won for its Zarbee’s baby/children’s cough and cold remedy innovation, which, as reported in strategy came to the local market through a mass retail program to coincide with the  start of the school year. Kenvue’s Aveeno brand brought home the other four awards.

Conagra, Mondelez and Saputo, each picked up four awards from BrandSpark.

Conagra, which revealed several product innovations last fall, won for its Angie’s Boomchickapop Sweet Chili Puffs, and Gardein Supreme Chickn. The CPG has also completed a lot of trial, recruitment and sampling for its recently introduced P.F. Chang’s to the local market, winning two awards for the brand linked to the American casual dining chain – P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Cooking Sauces and P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Frozen Meals.

Mondelez earned four nods across three categories, including for its Sour Patch Kids Lemonade, Chips Ahoy! Chewy Confetti Cake, Oreo Double Stuf Gluten Free and Cadbury Easter Micro Mini Eggs.

Saputo picked up awards for its Armstrong Cheese Nibblers Natural Cheese Snacks, Woolwich Dairy Cheese Pops Dairyland Protein Beverage, Neilson Protein Beverage and Saputo Cheese Fries.

The latest BrandSpark Canadian Shopper Study, meanwhile, revealed that two years into the onset of rapid inflation, 75% of shoppers report that they continue to like trying new products, and that even in the current economic climate, three in five say they are willing to pay more for a new product if it is better than what was previously available.

BrandSpark data also found that three in five consumers report that store brands are just as good as brand names for many products, “challenging major brands to maintain their leadership with products that increase value through meaningful innovation and superior performance, and to ensure that consumers recognize the superior benefits offered.”

The primary trends driving successful innovation were superior performance and efficacy, convenience, experiential innovation with taste or scent, enhanced health benefits, and sustainability.

The most common way to enhance new products was with unique alternative ingredients or materials. In food and beverage, this is exemplified by an array of plant-based alternatives from mainstream brands.