Cheers to the brands identified at the 2019 Australian Drinks Awards as trending with consumers in our Gaining in Popularity category.
The Drinks Association introduced the new award to replace Emerging Brand of the Year - it reflects consumers' perceptions of brands they regard as currently trending in retail.
Based on industry scan data, the top 200 spirit brands were automatically entered the category, with the winners judged via a Thrive Research survey of 4000 consumers. Trophies were handed out for Beer, Cider, Wine, Spirits and RTDs.
"They were 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 remained the same, but the additional categories and awards increased the total the number of brand awards from 33 to 42.
"This included 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 increased from two to four and the number of beer awards increased from six to 12.
"Additionally, a Rosé wine category was 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."
Thank you to BevChain for sponsoring the Gaining In Popularity category.
"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 were held in Sydney, on August 22, 2019.
Here is the full list of Gaining in Popularity winners:
Beer
Classic - XXXX Gold
Contemporary - Great Northern
Premium - Furphy
Craft - Young Henrys
Cider
Somersby
RTD
Dark: Canadian Club & Dry
Light: Gordon's Pink Gin & Soda
Spirits
Dark: Yamazaki
Light: Patron
Apertif/Liqueur: Aperol (pictured main)
Wine
White: Bird in Hand
Red: 19 Crimes
Rose: Squealing Pig
Sparkling: Tempus Two