Annual awards recognize the products reshaping FMCG categories across Western Europe's largest markets
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today announced the winners of its 2026 Western Europe NIQ BASES Breakthrough Innovation Awards , recognizing the most successful and commercially impactful product innovations launched across Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Now in its annual Western Europe edition, the NIQ BASES Breakthrough Innovation Awards celebrate products that have demonstrated exceptional market performance, sustained consumer demand, and meaningful category impact. Winners were selected using NIQ's comprehensive view of innovation performance, leveraging proprietary retail measurement, consumer panel, and BASES innovation analytics to identify launches that achieved strong early success and continued momentum.
This year's winners reveal an innovation landscape shaped by evolving consumer expectations around health, convenience, premiumization, sustainability, and experience. While breakthrough ideas emerged across a wide range of categories, many of the most successful innovations shared a common characteristic: they reinvented trusted brands for new consumer needs, usage occasions, and market realities.
"Western Europe's breakthrough innovators prove that growth does not always require creating entirely new categories," said Guillaume Biojout, West Europe Innovation Practice Lead NIQ. "This year's winners did not start from a blank sheet. Most stretched a brand shoppers already trusted into a relevant new need. What set them apart was execution: a product worth buying twice, and an organisation built to move fast."
2026 Western Europe Breakthrough Innovation Award Winners
France
- Tic Tac Two (dual-flavour) – Ferrero
- Desperados Sunlight– Heineken
- Elseve Fiber Booster (Aminexil-R) – L'Oréal
- Skip Mon Cycle Court Parfait – Unilever
- Milliways Super Natural Gum – Milliways
- Schwarzkopf Creme Supreme - Henkel
Germany
- trü frü Hyper-Chilled Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Fruit – Mars Wrigley
- Lindt Dubai Style Chocolate – Lindt & Sprüngli
- Jägermeister Orange– Mast-Jägermeister
- Dr. Oetker Suprema Pizza - Dr. Oetker
- Taft Aloe Boost – Henkel
- Bioniq Repair Plus Zahnfleisch-Schutz – Dr. Kurt Wolff
Great Britain
- Captain Morgan Spiced Gold × Pepsi Max – Diageo
- Cadbury Dairy Milk Lotus Biscoff – Mondelēz International
- Cif Infinite Clean Probiotic Multi-Surface Spray – Unilever
- Ariel PODS The Big One – P&G
- Kinder Bueno Ice Cream cones – Ferrero
- Pepsi Zero Sugar Treats – PepsiCo
- Plenish Ginger Shots Ginger Energy - Carlsberg
Italy
- Magnum Utopia Collection – Magnum Ice Cream Company
- Vitasnella Specifique – Ferrarelle
Spain
Milka Lotus Biscoff – Mondelēz International
Beyond individual successes, NIQ's analysis identified several recurring innovation strategies among this year's winners, including brand renovation, premium experiences made more accessible, health-focused product enhancement, and the expansion of established brands into new consumption occasions. These patterns will be explored in greater detail in NIQ's forthcoming 2026 Western Europe NIQ BASES Breakthrough Innovation Report .
The Western Europe Breakthrough Innovation Awards are powered by NIQ BASES and draw on NIQ's combination of retail measurement, consumer panel, innovation measurement, activation, and consumer behavior analytics. Award recipients are selected based on their ability to achieve significant Year 1 sales, maintain momentum over time, and demonstrate meaningful differentiation in their respective categories.
About the Breakthrough Innovation Awards
The NIQ BASES Breakthrough Innovation Awards recognize new product launches that achieve exceptional commercial success while delivering meaningful value to consumers and categories. The awards draw on NIQ's extensive innovation performance databases and proprietary methodologies to identify products that stand out not only for launching successfully, but for sustaining growth and market relevance over time.
For more information about the award winners, register to attend the webinar, Lessons from the 2026 West Europe Breakthrough Innovation Winners, on November 4 th here .
About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action. With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next. For more information, please visit https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/
© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Forward Looking Statement:
This press release regarding Western Europe NIQ BASES Breakthrough Innovation Award Winners may contain forward-looking statements regarding anticipated consumer behaviors, market trends, and industry developments. These statements reflect current expectations and projections based on available data, historical patterns, and various assumptions. Words such as " will", “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “believes,” “forecasts,” “plan,” “look ahead,” “indicates”, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future outcomes and are subject to inherent uncertainties, including changes in consumer preferences, economic conditions, technological advancements, and competitive dynamics. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. While we strive to base our insights on reliable data and sound methodologies, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except to the extent required by applicable law.
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