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Russian industry comes together to reward innovation
The pandemic may have prompted hurdles and date changes for the 16th annual POP competition of POPAI RUSSIA, but it certainly didn’t curb innovation. The organization, part of the Shop! global network, received 350 entries this year from 45 companies showing their best POP and in-store communications work.
With the typical venue — Design & Reklama exhibition — cancelled due to COVID-19, POPAI RUSSIA secured an exhibition hall to enable judges to see and touch the industry’s work firsthand as usual. Taking full advantage of the 1,200-sq.-meter space, the organization provided educational sessions and conducted its annual membership meeting at the event as well.
Entries were judged by 100 experts from brand and retail companies. Awards in 27 categories were presented at a ceremony Sept. 24. The winning entries show a wide variety of creative and effective marketing at retail. Here are highlights.
Top prizes
An Oakheart Installation for Bacardi impressed judges with its unique shape, clean lines, and clear messaging, earning it Design of the Year. The display playfully interprets the brand with an uncomplicated materiality, calling attention from afar to the blend of rums mellowed in charred American white oak barrels.
Below: Virtu’s Jimmy Choo Seduction won POSM (Point of Sale Materials) of the Year for an elegant floor fixture. The self-illuminated fixture showcases small items with organized sophistication, presenting the luxury brand’s new Seduction Collection beauty line. Pride took home the Grand Prix for a glorifier for Green Baboon premium gin brand. This special award recognizes the entry with the highest score from judges overall. The cityscape-themed countertop display comes replete with mini traffic light and accentuates the fledgling brand.
A record breaker
Installed in a hypermarket at Novosibirsk, the TRANS-Siberian Express display won not only Shop-in-Shop first place, but also a place in history. Entered into the Book of Records of Russia, it is 30 meters long and holds 25,000 bottles of Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Sprite.
“The project for the Coca-Cola Hellenic team and for the EL PACO supplier was both as interesting and as complex as possible,” says Maria Dobrova, S&M category procurement manager for Coca-Cola HBC Russia. “The supplier had an ambitious goal: 100% hit of the original design in the 3D model.”
The display uses a combination of materials: metal frame, chipboard, plastic, foam, decorative elements. With a mere two weeks from drawings to installation, it was installed in 12 hours. “We thank our partners EL PACO for high-quality implementation and winning the POPAI RUSSIA AWARD 2020,” Dobrova adds.
Multi-winning retailer
X5 Retail Group, the nation’s biggest retailer with several banners, may also be one of the most innovative. The company walked away with five awards in four different types of work this year. In Shop Design, it won a Silver for a new design of its C-store banner, Pyaterochka. X5 started reshaping its Pyaterochka concept two years ago, with the first few stores launched in spring 2019 to pilot new elements and the concept finalized in September 2019. With a focus on fresh, the new Pyaterochka devotes half the sales floor to fresh products. An in-house bakery is showcased at the store’s center. Fresh and prepared foods are front and center, while stock-up foods are placed around the perimeter.
Below, clockwise from upper left: Pyaterochka also won two awards in the Best Shopper Marketing Campaign category — for Black Exclusive and Erasers-2. The company’s supermarket banner, Perekrestok, won a Bronze in Category Design for shelf visual merchandising of its private label Green Line as well as a Bronze in Best Category Management Project for its section of products for a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition.
Other notables
SEVEN Agency took top honors in Best Shopper Marketing Campaign for its project ARRRT Academy Cheetos. “It is a great honor for us to take first place in the Agency’s profile category for the sixth time. Every year, we try to show a new standard and a unique format of sales promotion opportunities in retail,” says Alexey Leibovich, creative director of SEVEN. “We are grateful to all the members of the jury, and of course, to our clients who are not afraid to use new mechanics in this conservative time of standard tailor-made activations.”
Top honors in the Shop Design category went to fragrance and cosmetics giant L`Etoile for its flagship store on Novy Arbat. The store is designed to reflect the company slogan, “On the same wavelength with you!”
Concept challenge
The competition includes a Concept category inviting members to provide solutions based on a brief. This year’s challenge attracted 26 entries from member companies of the association. Hygiene and health company Essity sponsored the challenge with a brief for its toilet paper brand Zewa. First-place winners were Public Totem in the parasite category (left) and TTG in the FSDU category. In a first for the competition, the brief focused on sustainable development.
“The main goal of the task was to create ecofriendly POP. An important requirement for creative agencies was a careful attitude to the environment, the production of a display made of ecofriendly materials,” explains Varvara Svetlova, Essity’s customer marketing director for Russia. “The display should also draw consumers ‘ attention to Zewa brand products and show that the Zewa brand cares not only about consumers, but also about the environment. For us, participation in the competition is a unique opportunity to share best practices, get inspiration, study the market, develop, and work on improvement. Such events give us the opportunity to choose our suppliers with high quality and better understand market trends. This is an opportunity to work with the best of the best!”
See all POPAI AWARDS 2020 winning projects here: http://popai-awards.ru/winners
