This January, the long-awaited results from the BPMA’s Product Awards have now been announced during a live presentation on 4^th January. Congratulations to all the shortlisted entrants and those who went on to win the coveted category Awards.

 

In addition to the category awards, the BPMA will also be awarding a Grand Prix winner at this year’s BPMA Annual Awards Dinner, taking place on 25^th January at the CBS Arena, after day 1 of Merchandise World.

 

The winners

Announced on 4^th January 2023, the BPMA Product Award winners 2022-23 are.

 

• Apparel Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: The Outdoors Company Rab Downpour Eco Waterproof Promotional Jacket
  • Gold winner: United Brands of Scandinavia Hiker Jacket
  • Silver winner: PromoCollection Full Size Sublimation Bucket Hat
• Award & Gifting Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: WCM+A Oak Column Award with Metal Wrap
  • Gold winner: Laser Crystal President Award – 3D Engraved & Printed
  • Silver winner: WCM+A Real Wood Pillar Awards
• Bag & Folder Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Jute Bag Ninga Recycled PET (rPET) Recron® GreenGold Tote Bag
  • Gold winner: samedaybags.com Salvage Recycled Shopper Tote Bag
  • Silver winner: Juniper Trading Ltd COMO recycled PET A4, A5 Folder and Binder Range
  • Highly commended: Oldeani Shield rPET Laptop Bag
• Drinkware Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: PF Concept H2O Active® Eco Tempo 700ml Flip Lid Sport Bottle
  • Gold winner: Oldeani K2 650ml Bottle
  • Silver winner: Premier Impressions Topl Reusable Coffee Cup
• Food & Drink Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Eat My Logo Canvas Cake
  • Gold winner: Eat My Logo Cake Jars

A silver winner was not awarded in this category.

• Health & Travel Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Bio Laboratories The Little Brown Wellbeing Kit
  • Gold winner: midocean Charm
  • Silver winner: CHX Products PopCoin Trolley Keyring
• Innovative Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Direct Textiles & Bags Direct to Paper – DTP Transfers by tranSMART
  • Gold winner: Oldeani HIP rPET Bottle Bag
  • Silver winner: Desktop Ideas Xoopar MeetAIR Home Conference speaker
• Stationery Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Juniper Trading Wellness Journal Notebook
  • Gold winner: XD Connects Impact Soft Cover Stone Paper Notebook
  • Silver winner: Premier Impressions Leuchtturm Change Journal
• Sustainable Innovation of the Year
  • Platinum winner: XD Connects Impact AWARE™ rPET lightweight rolltop backpack
  • Gold winner: Desktop Ideas Mr BIO Smart (NFC) charge cable

A silver winner was not awarded in this category.

• Sustainable Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: CHX Products rHIPS.b Product Range
  • Gold winner: Jute Trading CYCLO®+Aware Falusi Tote Bag
  • Silver winner: Juniper Trading Recyco+ Notebooks
  • Highly Commended Senator Pens Nature Plus Bio Ball Pen
  • Highly Commended Great Central Plastics Recycled Chewing Gum Dog Bowl
  • Highly Commended Ocean Bottle Ocean Bottle Original BOB (1 Litre)
• Technology Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Desktop Ideas MR BIO FAST – charge cable
  • Gold winner: Oldeani Venture Travel Adapter
  • Silver winner: Baby USB Recycled Paper Charging Pad
  • Highly Commended: PF Concept Anton Advanced ENC Earbuds
• UK Made Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: PF Concept Miyo Lunch Box
  • Gold winner: Juniper Trading A5 Business Journal UK made Eco Notebook
  • Silver winner: WCM+A Aluminium Clutch Pin Badges
• Work & Play Product of the Year
  • Platinum winner: Oldeani D-Base Speaker
  • Gold winner: Disrupt Sports Foosball Table Cooler
  • Silver winner: Victorinox Swiss Card Lite
• Writing Instrument of the Year
  • Platinum winner: PF Concept Karst® 5-pack 2B Woodless Graphite Pencils
  • Gold winner: Prodir DS5 Shell
  • Silver winner: Pencom Eternal Bamboo Pencil with Eraser

 

Setting the standard for Products in the industry

 

The BPMA Product Awards 2022-23 embraced a step change in the latest chapter of the BPMA’s development of their Award programmes. Opening the Product Awards programme up to the wider industry was a very calculated move to provide the basis of a fair competition said Tom Robey, the BPMA’s Membership Director. ‘Since migrating the Awards from the Merchandise World Awards to Product Awards which featured those exhibiting at Merchandise World, we’ve now invited the whole industry to take part to ensure we capture all the exciting, innovative development this sector has to offer delivered in a simple to enter, well executed competition. This is year one of this wider scope and as we announce this year’s winners, we hope we will inspire more suppliers to get on board and be recognised in this competitive scenario.’

 

Thanking the judges for their contribution, Brian Hayward, the Award Chair for the Product Awards, Hayward noted the importance of an impartial process and the quality of judges participating in all three rounds. ‘We’ve taken the judging process into another level now – we had over 50 judges participating from the industry and special guests from other Associations and member bodies such as Made in Britain. We wanted to show suppliers we were taking this seriously, putting their products through their paces with a scoring process which was rigorous and thorough at each stage to determine the winning entries. We were also able to select a Grand Prix this year – another first but you’ll have to wait until the BPMA Awards Dinner on 25^th January for that result!’.

 

A category for every product

 

Revising the categories for this Awards, suppliers chose from 15 possible category options with the theory that each product could be entered into their sector category plus additional category to reflect their specific position such as sustainable innovation or UK Made.

 

The Product Award Categories for 2022-23

• Apparel Product of the Year
• Award & Gifting Product of the Year
• Bag & Folder Product of the Year
• Drinkware Product of the Year
• Food & Drink Product of the Year
• Health & Travel Product of the Year
• Innovation of the Year
• UK Made Product of the Year
• Writing Instrument of the Year
• Stationery Product of the Year
• Sustainable Innovation of the Year
• Sustainable Product of the Year
• Technology Product of the Year
• Work & Play Product of the Year

The Exhibition Product of the Year was not awarded due to lack of entries.

Judges took a hard line with entrants’ claims

 

Overall, the judges found the entrants had put forward some well thought through entries, citing prices, USP’s and providing a wealth of information to help present their entries in the best light. Briefed by CEO Carey Trevill on what to look for, she explained the judges were looking for the evidence to back claims on results, sustainability and more. ‘Feedback from judges this year was incredibly thorough and insightful showing us that a well crafted entry is about more than the words – we asked for entrants not to just say it but show their evidence. Judges were on the lookout for the information that would set the winning entries apart. We know as an industry sector, like many, we are still sharpening up on having all the certificates and tests available on demand and the judges fed back the expectations they had of seeing the belt and braces of every product which helped an entry hit the top scores or languish in the lower ranks.’

 

Receiving a lot of feedback on the judging, Trevill went on to say ‘It was a tougher competition this year and it was meant to be. These Awards should represent the best and we set out to ensure every step was watertight. We invested in new Awards software to help us carry out the process which allowed us to score each entry with a series of questions and rounds to determine fairly the final winning entries and of course introducing the Grand Prix at the BPMA Annual Awards in January.’

 

Selecting the winners

 

The final judging process took place at PAGE’s offices in late November last year after two rounds of tough online judging which produced a shortlist. The final panel meeting face to face consisted of Diane Jaggard Encore, Richard Pettinger Ignite Incentives, Lawrence Angelow Advantage Group plus members of the BPMA Board; Angela Wagstaff Allwag Promotions (BPMA President), Melissa Chevin GF Consulting, Graeme Smith Cyan Group, Helen Brennan Brand Addition, Jamie Marshall Premier Print & Promotions, Neal Beagles Roantree Incentive Marketing. The proceedings were overseen by the BPMA’s CEO Carey Trevill and Membership Director Tom Robey, supported by Georgie Yeats and chaired by Brian Hayward.

 

Congratulations to all the winners and you can see all BPMA Product Award Winners at the BPMA stand at Merchandise World between 25^th-26^th January 2023. More details about the winners and the BPMA Awards Dinner where the Grand Prix will be presented can be found at bpma.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Published on: January 4th, 2023