World Beverage Innovation Awards 2020: Judging criteria (Part 2)

Find out what the second half of the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2020 judging panel are hoping to see from this year’s innovative award entries. These criteria points, from our panel of some of the beverage industry’s top experts, should hopefully offer some inspiration.

The deadline for awards entries is Friday 11 September 2020.

Shiloh Grey
VP of Brand & Creative, Winc Wines

I am honoured to get the opportunity to review and judge innovative work from all over the world. Overall, I’m looking to be surprised and inspired. More pointedly, I’m looking for the below:

Customer-Driven: I want to see the audience in the work. The hope is that a real-life problem is being solved for real people.
Future Solutions: Beyond general innovation, I’m interested in entries that are addressing growing consumer trends and needs, e.g. dietary, social good, low/no alc, sustainability, unique flavour and ingredient combinations.
Elegance: Is the entry thoughtfully executed through tone and visuals? I want to see all of the small details that make a brand resonant, executed impeccably.
Effectiveness: I’m looking for work that has had an impact, even in a short period of time. I want to understand adoption, customer resonance, and market fit.
Sustainability: Can your brand address the above and still consider it’s short and long term impact on our environment?

Anne Hulett
Founder and CEO, Rock Grace

I’m honoured and excited to take part in this year’s World Beverage Innovation Awards. As a beverage creator and innovator, I’d love to see more disruptive innovation especially in the beauty and wellness and non-alcoholic beverage categories. The key things I’m looking for are:

Beverages with Purpose: Not just another flavour or playing on the convenience factor or play on ingredients, but why do I need this beverage and how does it make my life better?
Quality ingredients: Beverages without compromise. High-quality ingredients that are good for you. Clean ingredients, no artificial flavours, colours and preservatives.
Disruptive Innovation: A beverage with little to no competition thinking outside of any trends and providing an empowering alternative.
Good Story: An authentic passionate story of how this beverage came to life.
Lifestyle Brand: A beverage that improves the quality of my life. Something versatile that aligns with my lifestyle goals. A beverage that makes me feel good.

Nick Martin
Executive Director, Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) & Sustainability Practice Lead, Antea Group

I’m excited and humbled to return as a judge for the 2020 World Beverage Innovation Awards. As someone that believes innovation is only as valuable as able to be applied, I will be looking for the following attributes:

Pragmatic: An innovation is powerful, but only to the degree it can be efficiently implemented within a company’s business and change management processes, operations, and culture. Many innovations are developed in a bit of a vacuum and overlook the importance of engaging their targeted audience or customers to fully understand and respond to implementation aspects.
Proven: Proof of application to targeted uses is critical, both in terms of verifiable testing and applied use.
Scalable: While innovations that drive towards niche or iterative improvements are important, the major challenges we face today require the potential to be implemented at pace and scale. Describing how the innovation will achieve meaningful positive impact is a key differentiator.
Adaptable: Operational conditions where innovations could be applied can vary considerably even within a single industry or between facilities. Innovations that can account for this and build in adaptable characteristics have a much greater potential for implementation on a global scale.
Approachable: Being able to translate a highly technical innovation to both technical and non-technical audiences is critical to reaching key stakeholders and decision-makers. Making the innovation approachable is key in terms of quickly getting to the root of what the innovation is solving and generating interest and relevance early in communications.

Jordi Gamez
Founder and Managing Partner, Gastro Ventures

It’s a great pleasure and an honour to be part of the judging panel for the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2020. It’s my first time and I couldn’t be more excited.

Currently, we are living in challenging and difficult times all over the world and brands need to tackle it through innovation and creativity. Consumers are willing to see committed, innovative and digital brands that embrace the risk to offer new experiences. I am willing to know more about all the participants and here is what I will pay more attention to:

Sustainability: Being environmentally friendly is becoming increasingly important for consumers as they are willing to see committed brands with values matching theirs. I am looking for brands aware of the challenge it represents and that are being responsible and sustainable (production, distribution channel, packaging, etc.).
Digital approach: More and more, brands need to be digital-native. I will be looking for brands that are able to create their own space in the digital world.
Scalability: Capacity to produce massively without losing innovation and sustainability. Capacity to build an international brand capable of seducing the mass public.
Healthy substitutes from great original products: I am very interested in products made with healthy ingredients that try to simulate other ingredients.

Siân Yates
Senior Editor, FoodBev Media

I’m looking forward to my inaugural World Beverage Innovation Awards, especially the opportunity to be a part of the judging panel this year. In my capacity as senior editor of FoodBev Media, I have been following various continuing and upcoming trends in the industry, many of which are recognised and celebrated in the categories marked out by this year’s Awards. In particular, I will be looking out for:

Science-driven functionality: Which companies are researching the evidence to back up their functional ingredient claims? While many products claim to have ingredients that serve a health purpose, it is more important than ever to base these claims on scientific evidence and research.
Flavour and ingredient combinations: How are companies demonstrating their ability to combine tasty flavours and ingredients in a unique and interesting way? With so many brands fighting for space in the sector, I am hoping to see some products that not only stand out but that taste pretty good too.
Sustainability: From the packaging a brand uses to the way its ingredients are sourced, consumers are increasingly interested in the sustainability of a product. This also includes improving nad maintaining trust in companies that display responsible and ethical actions in a clear and transparent way.
Low- and no-alcohol: As the flurry of hard seltzers and spritzers pour into the market, it’s clear to see that consumers are looking to decrease their alcohol consumption; but that does not mean compromising on taste or experience. I’m excited to see which brands are driving innovation in this sector and offering something particularly unique and premium.

Rory Paterson
Food & Beverage entrepreneur; Co-Founder of WOW drinks & Earlybirds

It’s great to be taking part in the World Beverage Awards 2020, this time as a judge! Having won the award for best new brand/business last year I’m really excited to see the next wave of innovation from founder-led businesses to the giants of the beverage industry.

I’ve always been involved in creating innovative drinks, from Europe’s first chia seed drink to the first fully PLA bottle on retailers shelves in the UK, so innovation in the product itself and the packaging it comes in are very important to me. Creating a bold brand that grabs the consumer’s attention whilst simultaneously getting over the benefits or attributes of the drink is no easy task, so this will be another area I’ll be looking at.

Powerful branding: As a small company one of the only ways to build brand awareness on a mass scale is to get consumers to notice you on shelf, not only this, it will also get you on shelf in the first place! The big challenge is then to make sure consumers know what’s in it and why to buy it.
Eco-friendly: It goes without saying consumers now have a real voice and therefore are choosing the brands they want to succeed, small brands can build an environmentally friendly product from day one, so they probably have an advantage here over industry giants; all revolutions start at the grassroots.
Real innovation: It’s all well and good changing flavours or changing the font on the logo, but consumers are crying out for real innovation; I’ve seen this first hand, if you get it right and strike a chord you can single-handedly create a category and have retailers knocking on your door – this can be brand, packaging or product (or all three!).
Honest products: The beverage industry needs to be honest when it comes to sugar, differences in the processes used to make it and waste. Consumers deserve to understand why one product on shelf can, and has to cost three or four times more than the one next to it.
The Big Picture: Can this product become a European or World phenomenon? Sometimes you don’t need to be the first to the party; if you believe in it, do it better – there is always space! If you think you see a gap in the market, can you sustain it until consumers, buyers, investors really see the opportunity and benefit… Make sure you’ve done your research and the market is really there, this is one of the biggest reasons small food and drink brands don’t make it.

Enter the awards here

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World Beverage Innovation Awards 2020: Judging criteria (Part 2)

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