Annual conference returns to Las Vegas in February 2023
Winners of the annual Creative Choice Awards contest were recognized March 1 during the 2022 NGA Show at the Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Sponsored by the National Grocers Association and its partners, Kellogg Company and Unilever, the annual contest honors the best marketing and merchandising programs in the independent community grocery industry.
The session also included a panel discussion of winning retailers that was led by Creative Choice emcee Meg Major, a grocery trade press veteran who’s the director of industry relations at NielsenIQ.
Laura Strange, NGA’s SVP of communications and external affairs, described independent community grocers as “leaders in creativity and innovation in merchandising in marketing, made even more challenging during a pandemic.”
“This year’s winners impressed our judges by demonstrating their skill in creating campaigns with messages that resonate with consumers, including such diverse topics as self care, mental health and random acts of kindness,” she said.
Judged by a panel of industry experts and trade press members, the contest features eight categories in which one winner and at least one honorable mention are chosen.
The judges determined category winners based on creativity, clarity, innovation and effectiveness of each entry. In addition, two special recognition award winners were selected. In all, NGA received more than 300 award entries.
From the category winners, one “Outstanding Marketer” and one “Outstanding Merchandiser” were selected by the independent supermarket community and their supporters through online voting.
This year’s Outstanding Marketer is Harvest Market’s Cooking with Emily. The Outstanding Merchandiser is Roche Bros. Football Food Fun.
Each will receive complimentary registration to next year’s NGA Show, which is set for Feb. 26-28, 2023, at the Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas.
A complete list of the category winners can be found here. You can also view videos detailing the entries of the marketing and merchandising winners.
The 2022 NGA Show wrapped up its three day run Tuesday night with a celebratory reception. That followed a morning full of expo floor exhibits and an afternoon of education sessions covering topics such as food safety, succession planning, front-end technology, labor costs, digital communications, green energy and ransomware.
The afternoon general session opened with a state of the industry report by John Ross, CEO of the Independent Grocers Alliance, followed by John Phillips, SVP of customer supply chain and go-to-market at PepsiCo, addressing attendees on “Navigating The VUCA Supply Chain in the Post Pandemic Era.”
