"This award is especially gratifying because it was decided by consumers," said Debra A. Sandler, chief consumer officer of Mars Chocolate North America. "We felt confident that the delicious combination of salty and sweet was a winner."
Hosted in 28 countries, Product of the Year [image-nocss] is the world's largest consumer-voted program that recognizes innovation in consumer-packaged goods.
Finalists for Product of the Year were judged on four key elements: appeal of innovation, usage, satisfaction and purchase intent.
M&M's Pretzel secured high marks across the board, the company said, particularly in satisfaction. Many consumers cited the combination of salty and sweet flavors as a key attribute, as well as the fact that the snack contains 30% less fat on average than other leading chocolate snacks, it said.
Click hereto view all of the 2011 winning products by category.
This marks the third year that Product of the Year was conducted in the United States, with more than 60,000 American shoppers voting on products in a survey conducted by TNS, a leading custom research agency. According to the 2011 Product of the Year U.S. Shoppers Survey, 68% of shoppers say a consumer voted award means more for a new product than an expert's opinion.
Product of the Year accepts entries every year from consumer packaged goods that demonstrate innovation and were launched within the previous year. Entered products are then placed into specific categories such as food, beverages, personal care, household care and more, with a product then being chosen as a winner in its category through a nationally representative online study.
TNS, New York, delivers insights and research-based business advice to clients so within the consumer, technology, finance, automotive and political and social sectors, specializing in product development and innovation, brand and communication, stakeholder management, retail and shopper and qualitative research. TNS is part of Kantar, a leading global research, insight and consultancy network.
There are more than eight permanent varieties of M&M's Chocolate Candies, in addition to Seasonal Candies made for special occasions including Easter, Holiday, Halloween and Valentine's Day. Customers seem to be most passionate about the color found in each bag of M&M's Chocolate Candies. Existing product lines include M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies, M&M's Dark Chocolate Candies, M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candies, M&M's Dark Chocolate Peanut Candies, M&M's Almond Chocolate Candies, M&M's Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies, M&M's Chocolate Mini Baking Bits, MY M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies and M&M's MINIS Milk Chocolate Candies.
Mars Chocolate North America is the North American chocolate operations of Mars Inc. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $30 billion and six business segments. Mars segments and brands include Chocolate (M&M's, Snickers, Dove, Galaxy, Mars, Milky Way and Twix); Petcare (Pedigree, Whiskas, Sheba, Cesar and Royal Canin); Wrigley (Orbit, Extra, Starburst, Doublemint and Skittles); Food (Uncle Ben's, Dolmio, Ebly, Masterfoods and Seeds Of Change; Drinks (Klix and Flavia); and Symbioscience (Seramis and Cirku).
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