C-Store Product of the Year 2018
To earn the accolade of C-Store Product of the Year 2018, a brand must deliver the full package. Not only must it be a reliable sales generator, but innovation in both product development and marketing are essential to stay at the top of such a competitive FMCG market
Print22 January 2019
And the nominees are…
Fulfil
Avonmore
Coca-Cola
Volvic
Ballygowan
Bewleys
Mars
Red Bull
Lucozade
Brennans Bread
AWARD SPONSORED BY XL
Colm Fitzsimons, national development manager, XL, presents the award for C-Store Product of the Year to Frank Nolan (L), and Stephen Stewart of Coca-Cola
A perennial favourite, it goes without saying that Coca-Cola, the winner of the C-Store Product of the Year award, is a major brand heavyweight. As always though, Coca-Cola HBC has certainly not rested on its laurels.
Our in-boxes here at ShelfLife HQ were regularly updated by the company throughout the past year.
Most recently, Coca-Cola’s Christmas Truck Tour delighted thousands of visitors across Ireland. The festive tour which features the iconic ‘Holidays are Coming’ jingle and is now in its eighth year, presented a glittering winter wonderland setting nestled amongst a festival of lights at each stop. This year, all Truck Tour visitors were also able to purchase exclusive Coca-Cola merchandise, with all proceeds being donated to St Vincent De Paul.
Earlier in the year, hundreds of Coca-Cola employees participated in the ‘Big Beach Clean’. In all, 400 employees across the island of Ireland took part in Coca-Cola’s most ambitious volunteering initiative to date on 14 September.
The Big Beach Clean, organised by An Taisce’s Clean Coasts programme and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful has the backing of the International Ocean Conservancy, making it a part of the world’s largest coastal clean-up event and marine litter survey.
Despite spates of wind and rain, Coca‑Cola staff based out of Dublin, Ballina, Wexford, Drogheda, Lisburn, Cork and Tuam braved the elements to get involved. More than a quarter of the Coca‑Cola system’s 1,600 employees turned out to support the movement to rid our beaches of litter. The initiative marked a further milestone for Coca‑Cola’s long-running partnership with An Taisce’s Clean Coast programme and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. In June, Coca‑Cola Clean Coast Week mobilised a record 3,900 volunteers at over 200 coastal clean-ups across the island of Ireland.
In the same month, ShelfLife reported another commendable initiative undertaken by Coca-Cola HBC. During the heatwave this summer, the company supported the #HomelessHydration campaign led by the charity Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH), which worked to ensure that those in need stayed hydrated as temperatures soared.
Coca-Cola HBC donated a pallet of 500ml water bottles to the ICHH group to support the effort, as well as providing an additional pallet to the company’s long-running charity partner Dublin’s Simon Community and a further pallet to Limerick’s Simon Community. In total, 5,184 bottles of Deep RiverRock were donated.
Back in February meanwhile, ShelfLife reported the full details of Coca-Cola’s ‘Hero Zero’ marketing strategy, which encourages shoppers to ‘Choose no sugar’ options. Ahead of the introduction of the sugar tax which came into effect from 1 April last year, Coca-Cola HBC introduced a new pack line-up to ensure consumers would continue to have clear and simple choices when it comes to choosing the drinks they want to buy. Impressively, Coca-Cola HBC is the market leader in sales of zero sugar drinks on the island of Ireland.
All in all, another busy and successful year for this deserving winner.
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