From the jury’s perspective

Zoltán Fekete
secretary general
Magyar Márkaszövetség

Product of the Year has become one of Hungary’s best-known and most successful product excellence award programmes in the last six years. This year 21 brands earned the right to bear the Product of the Year logo. It is noteworthy that completely new products are overrepresented among this year’s winners – this is the sign of brand owners reacting faster to the strengthening of the purchasing power, innovating and developing products more intensely. Year after year more organic products, functional foods and groceries targeting consumers living with some kind of sensitivity enter the competition. It was the jury who had done the pre-selection of entries, but basically consumer opinion decided which products became Product of the Year. //

Zsuzsanna Hermann
managing director
Trade magazin

This year’s nominees for Product of the Year (POY) reflect the diversity of the FMCG sector and the latest trends very well. POY can help consumers decide which product to take from the many off the shelves: those which bear the marking are more likely to be noticed by shoppers. What is more, they also trust these POY-winner products more. It is a real strength of the prize that it reflects real consumer opinion. Trade magazin is happy to be the first to present this year’s winners. Congratulations to them! //

Dr. Zsuzsanna Illés
director
MAGYOSZ

This is the first year that I am a jury member and I was glad to see that there were quite a lot of healthy foods among the competition entries. My view is that in addition to the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry also makes efforts to improve the general health condition of Hungarians with its innovations. When I was tasting the products, I tried to rely only on what I tasted, saw and felt, focusing on anything that was new – product look, contents, etc. I think the secret behind the success of Product of the Year (POY) is the involvement of consumers! This step not only helps to see the market success of the given product, but a representative consumer sample can be a feedback for product developers on real consumer demand. POY can also motivate market players for innovating – and let’s not forget that we Hungarians are really good at it!

Réka Szöllősi
managing director
ÉFOSZ

To me this year’s increase in the number of categories sends the message that there is growing interest in the Product of the Year (POY) award. I couldn’t help noticing that in the food category there were lots of breads and spreads this year. I think soon we should create the ‘free-from’ category too. This year the professional level of the competition was exceptionally high. In Hungary the introduction of new products is in close connection with the private label product ranges of retail chains – this is indicated very well by POY. By familiarising shoppers with these innovations, retail chains can motivate Hungarian manufacturers to be braver in launching new products. For me jurying isn’t a routine activity: it is a real honour for me and the sunny side of my work! //