Traditional displays take top gongs at Shop! ANZ Awards

Physical shopping experiences have cemented their place back on shopper’s agendas with traditional POS displays wowing judges to take out the Pinnacle prizes at the annual Shop! ANZ Retail Marketing Awards.

The Shop! Retail Marketing Awards, showcase the ingenuity and success of the Australian and New Zealand retail marketing industry, with entrants Awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades across 26 categories, spanning both physical displays and shopper experience.

Taking home the biggest prize for an FMCG brand on the night was Communicado & Moth Design’s Asahi Sense Tokyo Hero Retail Displays for Carlton & United Breweries, winning Best Display.

The two top Awards for Grocery went to Genesis Retail Display, winning Gold in Grocery Store (Food) Permanent for its Lindt Premium Chocolate Destination for Ritchie’s IGA; and The Mix Agency and Opal Specialties awarded Gold in Temporary for Ferrero Rocher x SMEG Golden Kettle.

Other prizes for the Grocery Store (Food) – Temporary Display Category were Silver, won by Red Bull and Boo Group for Red Bull’s Pit Stop Challenge Walk Through Theatre; and 5P’s M&M Brownie Pallet for Mars Wrigley.

Mars Wrigley’s M&M’s had a strong showing, taking home a host of Silver across several categories thanks to some clever work by 5P Group and Gold for XPO’s M&M’s Screen Masters Promotion.

Red Bull’s biggest win of the night was Gold in Petrol, Convenience & Route for the Dance your Style Shopper Promotion with Boo Group. Silver for this category went to ID POP for Stuart Alexander & Co’s Chupa Chups Candy Jar Countertop, and Bronze to Bamboo Marketing for Frucor Suntory’s Maximus Summer NPD Launch.

This year’s Awards had their biggest turn out since 2018, with entries more than 20% higher than the previous year, proving that it is indeed business as usual following a lacklustre few years impacted by Covid.

While physical displays took the lion’s share of the top prizes there was a noticeable shift in the spread of entries across categories, with shopper experience categories such as Occasion-based Shopper Campaign, Sales Promotion and Integrated Path to Purchase among the most popular.

Other big winners of the program were The Ship and POPP Unlimited’s Huggies Train Spectacular – a life sized interactive train displaying two full pallets of Huggies nappies and wipes for Kimberley Clark in Ritchies IGA Taren Point, which was Awarded Gold in both Category Management and POP This! Retail Industrial Design, Permanent Display.

Shopper marketing agency, 31ST excelled in the shopper experience categories, taking home three Gold; two for Goodman Fielder’s Wonder Recycling Rewards campaign – Occasion-Based Shopper Campaign and Integrated Path to Purchase; and one for Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix Winter Prize Grab.

New Zealand agency, Farrimond, made a success of their Shop! Awards entry debut, winning Gold in Grocery Store (Non-Food) for its Botanica by Airwick Re-blossom and Bronze for Reckitt’s Dettol Germ Genius Integrated Path to Purchase Campaign.

Chocolate brands proved popular with judges, with Lindt’s Premium Chocolate Destination for Ritchies

The People’s Choice Award, voted for by both the public and industry colleagues was awarded to Traffik’s Bundaberg Rum. Where’s the Bear? for Diageo.

According to Shop! ANZ General Manager Carla Bridge, not only was the volume of entries to this year’s Shop! ANZ Retail Marketing Awards much higher than previous year, the quality of work and crafting of entries far surpassed that of last year.

“This year was one of the most competitive we’ve seen, and it was very obviously so from the outset,” says Ms Bridge.

“Feedback from the judges has resoundingly praised the standout work contributed by every single entrant, regardless of if they took home a prize.

“It’s so wonderful to see just how hard the industry has worked to not only stay relevant, but to outperform itself following a few years of depressed business. It breaks my heart that not everyone can be a winner on the night, but every single entrant can walk away with their head held high that they held their own in the most competitive field we’ve seen to date,” she said.

“Last night’s results are a true testament to the strength and success of retail marketing in Australia and New Zealand and prove that the sector is a robust and indispensable element in the retail mix.”

EDA’s Lip & Nail Play Station for Coty Australia won the Tom Harris Retail Marketing Award (Best in Show) and the biggest prize of the night, in addition to Best Design & Innovation and Gold in Health & Beauty, Temporary, while Neat Agency’s Black Fri-Yay ‘Devil Emoji’ Vending Machine for Mirvac’s Broadway Sydney winning Best Shopper Experience.

To view the 2022 Shop! Marketing at Retail Awards entries and images, visit shopassociation.org.au.

The full list of Award winners will be published in the upcoming Retail World April issue.

2022 Shop! ANZ Pinnacle Award winners