SIAL jury meeting in Shanghai: country award for Aranyszarvas

Jury members of the 12th SIAL d’Or met in Shanghai on 14-16. May, at the same time as the SIAL China was held. The jury which included three new members (from Russia, India and China) spent two days choosing the winners of the nine categories and 29 countries. Representatives of SIAL-partner journals have been meeting every second year since 1986 to decide which products launched in the preceding two years deserve an award. Up till now, these meetings had been held in Paris, but as the importance of SIAL China held for the 9th time this year has been growing dynamically, this choice was by no means a surprising one. The 29 strong jury of this year’s SIAL d’Or included members from three huge markets: Russia, India and China. Hungary was represented by Trade magazin. The total number of products presented to the jury exceeded 250. Only two minutes were available for a presentation. The jury used separate scoring cards for each category. Out of a maximum of 20 points, 7 points could be awarded for innovative character, 6 for the marketing mix, while sales results were worth a maximum of 3 points, and a further 4 points could be awarded on subjective grounds. The most frequently occurring key words in the presentations were: healthy, organic, biologic. The signs of increasing globalisation were clearly visible at the event. Almost half of the competitors in the frozen sweets category entered an Unilever product. A dessert called Frusi finished in first place in both the French and Dutch markets. Coca-Cola Zero finished in first place in the alcohol-free beverages category in four countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan and Portugal. Coca Cola Light Plus Vitamines from Belgium became the overall winner in the category. Hungarian products were generally considered to be good though none of them achieved spectacular success. In comparison with other products from other countries, it was apparent that the amount of concrete product information provided was insufficient. Quality and excellent packaging could not compensate for the lack of detailed market information and sales results. Anyway, at least we succeeded in keeping sales figures confidential… The Aranyszarvas truffle product line – winner of the country award – achieved unanimous acclaim and could have done even better, if only more sales info had been provided.