What Makes a Great Product? Innovation

I attended the Product of the Year (POY) awards program last Thursday evening in New York. As I sat at my table at the Rainbow Room, high above Rockefeller Plaza, I couldn’t help but think how strange it was to be in such a lavish setting while the nation suffers through this financial crisis. Of course, when you look out over the lights of Manhattan from the 65th floor of Rockefeller Center, you can’t see any signs of struggling consumers. All you see are spectacular views of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn to the south, the Hudson River to the west and, Queens and Long Island to the east.

During recessionary times, consumers’ values change. The obvious thing is to look at price, but innovation is just as important. In fact, innovation is probably more important if that innovation provides value and security to consumers in troubled times.

So, it is more relevant than ever that a ceremony be held to honor the products that consumers chose as the most innovative products of the year. Congratulations to the eight CPG companies whose 16 products were judged the best of the best in the POY program.

If you’ve got some more examples of innovation in product development, please send them to me at dlongo@csnews.com.

For the full list of consumers’ picks for the most innovative products, go to today’s top stories at www.csnews.com.

-- Don Longo

Comments

[Don]

Interesting product. Be sure to enter it in this year's CSNews/Supermarket Guru Best New Products Awards. Watch our web site, www.csnews.com, for announcements.

[Kurt P. Lychwick]

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