Physical shopping experiences have cemented their place back on shopper’s agendas with traditional POS displays wowing judges to take out the Pinnacle prizes at the annual Shop! ANZ Retail Marketing Awards, held on March 23rd. Platinum sponsor is IVE, who bought Active Displays last year.
Penguin Books scooped Gold at the Shop! Retail Marketing Awards, with this clever POP display/ book merchandiser, created by id8 Studio, Brookvale NSW.
The Shop! (formerly POPAI) Retail Marketing Awards, showcase the ingenuity and success of the Australian and New Zealand retail marketing industry, with entrants Awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades across 26 categories, spanning both physical displays and shopper experience.
EDA’s (Exhibition Displays Australasia) Lip & Nail Play Station for Coty Australia won the Tom Harris Retail Marketing Award (Best in Show) and the biggest prize of the night, in addition to Best Design & Innovation and Gold in Health & Beauty, Temporary. 
Two other campaigns followed hotly on its heels – Communicado & Moth Design’s Asahi Sense Tokyo Hero Retail Displays for Carlton & United Breweries, which won Best Display; and Neat Agency’s Black Fri-Yay ‘Devil Emoji’ Vending Machine for Mirvac’s Broadway Sydney winning Best Shopper Experience.
Penguin Books together with design agency id8 Studio, took home two awards for permanent Penguin bookcase display, winning Gold for the 'POP This Retail Industrial Design – Permanent' Display award and Silver for the Specialty Retail, Lifestyle & Service Providers – Permanent Display award.
This year’s Awards had their biggest turn out since 2018, with entries more than 20% higher than the previous year, proving that it is indeed business as usual following a lacklustre few years impacted by Covid.
Much POP retail display work gets printed and cut in China but local players IVE, Megara, Opal Specialities (4 awards), Genesis Retail Displays, and others did well.
Physical displays take lion's share of gongs
While physical displays took the lion's hare of the top prizes there was a noticeable shift in the spread of entries across categories, with shopper experience categories such as Occasion-based Shopper Campaign, Sales Promotion and Integrated Path to Purchase among the most popular.
With the environment and sustainability on everyone’s lips right now, the 5P Group Environmental Stewardship Gold Trophy was awarded to Branded Group’s Free Books for Kids display for Big W. The campaign was designed to The Free Books for Kids program gave away free children’s books, so the display was required to hold between 60-96 small children's books, which changed in size depending on the campaign partners.
Megara’s Sustainable Pharmacy Display for Sigma Healthcare and DisplayWise’s L’Occitane Sustainable Refill Pop-Up Station both won Silver in the 5P Environmental Stewardship category, with MAAKE’s Furphy Melbourne Cup Birdcage for Lion winning Bronze. 
Other big winners of the program were The Ship and POPP Unlimited’s Huggies Train Spectacular – a life sized interactive train displaying two full pallets of Huggies nappies and wipes for Kimberley Clark in Ritchies IGA Taren Point, which was Awarded Gold in both Category Management and POP This! Retail Industrial Design, Permanent Display.
Shopper marketing agency, 31ST excelled in the shopper experience categories, taking home three Gold; two for Goodman Fielder’s Wonder Recycling Rewards campaign – Occasion-Based Shopper Campaign and Integrated Path to Purchase; and one for Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix Winter Prize Grab.
New Zealand agency, Farrimond, made a success of their Shop! Awards entry debut, winning Gold in Grocery Store (Non-Food) for its Botanica by Airwick Re-blossom and Bronze for Reckitt’s Dettol Germ Genius Integrated Path to Purchase Campaign.
Chocolate brands proved popular with judges, with Lindt’s Premium Chocolate Destination for Ritchies IGA by Genesis Retail Display winning Gold in Grocery Store (Food) Permanent; and The Mix Agency and Opal Specialties taking home Gold in Temporary for Ferrero Rocher x SMEG Golden Kettle.
Mars Wrigley’s M&M’s also had a strong showing, taking home a host of Silver across several categories thanks to some clever work by 5P Group.
The People’s Choice Award, voted for by both the public and industry colleagues was awarded to Traffik’s Bundaberg Rum. Where’s the Bear? for Diageo.
According to Carla Bridge, Shop! ANZ General Manager, not only was the volume of entries to this year’s Shop! ANZ Retail Marketing Awards much higher than previous year, the quality of work and crafting of entries far surpassed that of last year.
“This year was one of the most competitive we’ve seen, and it was very obviously so from the outset,” said Ms Bridge.
“Feedback from the judges has resoundingly praised the standout work contributed by every single entrant, regardless of if they took home a prize.
“It’s so wonderful to see just how hard the industry has worked to not only stay relevant, but to outperform itself following a few years of depressed business. It breaks my heart that not everyone can be a winner on the night, but every single entrant can walk away with their head held high that they held their own in the most competitive field we’ve seen to date,” she said.
“Last night’s results are a true testament to the strength and success of retail marketing in Australia and New Zealand and prove that the sector is a robust and indispensable element in the retail mix.”
To view the 2022 Shop! Marketing at Retail Awards entries and images, visit the Shop! website,
www.shopassociation.org.au
