The Drinks Association has revealed it will introduce a new brand award at the 2019 Australian Drinks Awards - Gaining in Popularity.
The Gaining in Popularity category replaces Emerging Brand of the Year and reflects consumers' perceptions of brands they regard as currently trending in retail.
Winners will be judged via a Thrive Research survey of 4000 target consumers, with trophies for the top Beer, Cider, Wine, Spirits and RTDs.
"They will be awarded to the brands that consumers perceive as most gaining in popularity in each drinks category,"
noted Thrive Insights Director Chris Papadimitriou. "The process for choosing the winners will remain the same, but the additional categories and awards will increase the total the number of brand awards from 33 to 42.
"This includes beer brand sub-categories changing from Imported and Exported to the industry classifications of Classic, Contemporary, Premium and Craft.
"This means the number of beer sub-categories increases from two to four and the number of beer awards increase from six to 12.
"Additionally, a Rosé wine category has been added to the Australian Drinks Awards this year, reflecting the growing popularity of Rosé over recent years. This is not surprising as it’s a type of wine that suits our lifestyle and goes with a wide range of foods."
The top 200 drinks brands have been automatically considered for the Fan Favourite, Most Distinctive Brand and Gaining in Popularity categories, with Manildra, IRI and BevChain sponsoring the respective awards.
"The Thrive consumer survey offers fascinating insights into consumer behaviour, which obviously informs the thinking of our customers and ultimately the kinds of supply chains they need, so for us, getting behind this particular award was a no brainer," explained Josh Morris, BevChain Group Manager – Strategy, Transformation & PMO.
The Australian Drinks Awards will be held in Sydney, on August 22, 2019.
"The voting for some of the categories have been very close and with the inclusion of some exciting new categories, the awards will be bigger and better than ever," Papadimitriou said.
"We can't wait to reveal the winners of the 2019 awards and celebrate with them at Doltone House," Drinks Association CEO Georgia Lennon added.