This year’s BPMA Product Awards were expanded to include the entire promotional merchandise industry to celebrate the exceptional innovation, expertise and quality available in the market today.
All entrants were asked to answer key questions around price, product and sustainable credentials together with supporting evidence complement their entries. Judging took place across two rounds, involving senior industry distributors, guest judges including Made In Britain, PPAI, APPA, PPPC, Sourcing City and Sourcing Machine plus catalogue heads who met to agree final winners in each category in December 2022.
A new Award has also been introduced, the Product Award Grand Prix, awarded by our final panel and this coveted prize was revealed at the BPMA Annual Awards Dinner in January 2023.
In a hard-fought competition, the panels of judges were impressed with the wide array and quality of entries. The results were announced live on 4th January to mark the occasion with trophies to be delivered in person to winners at Merchandise World.
Stationery Product of the Year
Cafeco A5 Wellness Journal in a range of contemporary pastel colours. The journal developed to encourage users to catalogue wellness. An easy-to-use tool for encouraging emotional and physical wellbeing and balance between work and home life. The foreword by Karin Blak, a wellness coach, suggests strategies for work/life balance, stress management and healthy living, emphasising how physical and mental health are interlinked. The journal offers a light touch to managing personal goals whilst offering plenty of pages for notes and idea
Built from recycled 2.5-layer Pertex® Revolve fabric with a fluorocarbon-free DWR treatment, the Rab Downpour Eco Jacket is Rab's first ever mono-polymer waterproof jacket. It uses a polyester outer and membrane, which means that, in addition to being 100% recycled, it also has the future potential to be fully recycled at the end of its life. Available in an array of corporate colours, it's an excellent, sustainably made piece to co-brand. Waterproof to 20,000 HH with an MVTR breathability rating of 20,000g, it features a pair of zipped handwarmer pockets large enough for a map. To help tailor the fit to the conditions, it uses an adjustable hem and cuffs, plus a two-way adjustable hood with polymer peak. Lightweight and packable, it also comes with a pair of deep-venting pit zips to keep you fresh and in control when the pace, the trail or the temperature climbs.
Solid real oak wood award with printed aluminium wrap. Made in the UK from sustainably sourced wood supplies. Hand-finished with satin wood oil & wax. Each of the hardwood species worked with holds the highest G5 SECURE conservation status (source NatureServe). Wood is inherently renewable and sustainable if properly managed and sourced. Only wood from fully certified suppliers to stringent international standards for the sustainability of the hardwoods they provide is used.
Bag & Folder Product of the Year
In troducing the trailblazing Ninga Recycled PET Recron® GreenGold Tote Bag made from 100% recycled plastic water bottles. A stylish, robust and eco-friendly shopper, each bag is embedded with tracer technology for forward and backward traceability, providing full product transparency. The Ninga has an extensive list of eco-credentials that sets it apart from standard rPET bags. Plastic bottles are shredded, transformed into yarn and woven into beautiful and versatile tote bags. Completely free of harmful chemicals and made using renewable energy - c.90% of the water used in the production process is recycled. The manufacturing process is tracked using GreenGold tracers to verify each bag has been made by Reliance Industries at one of their rPET conversion manufacturing plants. Complete peace of mind for businesses when choosing the recycled Ninga tote bag. Available in white, black and Navy. GRS certified.
Drinkware Product of the Year
A single-wall sports bottle featuring an ergonomic design, made from Prevented Ocean Plastic. Plastic is collected within 50km of an ocean coastline or major waterway that feeds into the ocean. Then sorted and transformed into high-quality
and food-safe recycled plastic. Features a spill-proof lid with flip top, available in multiple colours. The black lid is made from in-house pre-consumer recycled plastic. Volume capacity is 700 ml. Mix and match colours to create the perfect bottle. Made in the UK. Packed in a home-compostable bag.
Food & Drink Product of the Year
12 portion cake, handmade with full coverage icing print. Print applied on all faces, including top and sides. Each cake is packaged in a presentation gift box, designed to be sent via Royal Mail or Courier. Provided as a visually appealing cake, great value-for-money large cake option. Clients have been able to enhance their celebrations with customers and staff with the help of Canvas Cakes. Canvas Cake offers a solution that can be sent to addresses at a low cost. Royal Mail delivery is available from just £3.99, making it an affordable way to engage with staff and customers.
Health & Travel Product of the Year
The Little Brown Wellbeing Kit
A handy, relaxing wellbeing kit in a cardboard tube, including sleep balm, sleep mask, roll on pulse point and natural relaxing foam bath. The perfect set to help people through the challenges of the last 2 years as we all battled the affects COVID had on working and personal lives.
Innovative Product of the Year
Direct to Paper - DTP Transfers by tranSMART
"Direct to Paper" or DTP is the latest technology to heat applied transfers and used to personalise almost any item with either a vibrant, photorealistic image, or a simple company logo. Requiring a heat press to begin embellishing. DTP has tremendous added benefits, with FSC certified paper as a waste product, rather than the more commonly used plastic film, boosting eco-credentials, reduces carbon footprint and reduces the production cost dramatically. Ultimately, this makes the product cheaper to buy for the customer whilst also being of the highest quality. Packaged in a clear biodegradable bag, equipped with a test pack and tranSMART booklet for each and every customer. The transfer market is only continuing to grow, a sustainable and eco-friendly method of creating transfers was until now, sorely lacking.
Sustainable Product Innovation of the Year
No greenwashing, but telling a true story about sustainability! The Impact 300D RPET rolltop backpack, made with AWARE™ tracer. With AWARE™, the use of genuine recycled fabric materials and water reduction impact claims are guaranteed, by using the AWARE disruptive physical tracer and blockchain technology. Save water and use genuine recycled fabrics. With focus on water 2% of proceeds of each Impact product sold donated to Water.org. Keep it simple and stylish with the rolltop backpack. A perfect size for all essentials. The backpack has reused 11,6 500ml PETbottles and saved 6,92 litres of water. Water savings are based on figures when compared to conventional fibre. The calculated indication based on reliable LCA data as published by Textile Exchange in Material Snapshots 2016.
Sustainable Product of the Year
rHIPS.b, a revolutionary new material developed by CHX Products. The material tested to ISO 15985 and ASTM B5511 certification. This Is plastic – but not as you know it: no virgin material used. No deforestation needed to grow ‘eco’ materials. Fully Biodegradeable: Unlike other popular bioplastics the material does not require extremely particular conditions to biodegrade. rHIPS.b polymer is broken down by over 600 naturally occurring microbes. Naturally biodegrading in home compost, marine, and landfill faster than standard plastic. No Microplastics, just rich biomass: biodegredation occurs by friendly microbes fully digesting the polymer. No microplastics. All that is left is rich biomass and water. New Colourways Inspired By Nature: Colourways inspired by the manufacturers location, Cornwall. Reminders of recycled history are visible – much like newspaper pulp in egg cartons, the flecks seen in rHIPS.b are flecks from recycled products used to create it. Design and manufactured In the UK: rHIPS.b products are made from waste materials sourced from the UK, or from manufacturer waste created at CHX. All designed, manufactured, and distributed from Cornwall to wherever it needs to go. Meaning no air miles and more smiles.
Technology Product of the Year
NEW and uniquely useful FAST charge cable made from recycled plastic / RPET - supplied in 1M length makeing charging easy for any device whether in the office, car, hotel or while travelling. Capable of charging up to 60W (regular cables go to 20W) allows for this latest MR BIO cable to charge Macs, laptops, tablets and phones. With great branding options to 4 col process (two sides) and supplied in FSC card packaging (which can be bespoke printed from 50 pcs) this latest in the award winning range of Xoopar MR BIO tech is the perfect choice for promotional technology gifting / promotions. Patented dual input power plug allows for either USB-C (Fast) or traditional USB-A charging. Output connectors support USB-C and Apple lightning allowing phones to be charged at over 4 x times faster than a standard charge cable when used in conjunction with a 20W fast charge AC plug. Also supports data transfer meaning great for use in the car to work with the latest CarPlay software. A truly the next generation charging cable.
UK Made Product of the Year
The MIYO lunch box you can truly make it your own! A practical lunch box ideal for school, work or picnics anywhere. With one or two 700 ml capacity bases, ideal for fruit, salads, sandwiches and much more. Follow simple steps to choose your base colours, lid colour and recycled PET band. Even add a spork or inner compartment as an optional extra. Microwave safe, dishwasher safe, BPA-free and fully recyclable. Made in the UK and packed in a home compostable bag.
Work & Play Product of the Year
The D-Base speaker. A retail quality Bluetooth speaker designed with wide reaching appeal and providing a high end corporate gift or merchandise product, both practical and highly desirable. The D-Base, suitable for both gifts and rewards and merchandising schemes - retail quality working well in web shops.
The D-Base has two aluminium passive radiators (top and bottom) which provide an ideal platform for engraving with the option for dual branding. The 10W output ensures good quality, clear sound with strong base. Bluetooth range is up to 10m and is ideal for both indoor use, for work and leisure and outdoors. At 100mm in height the D-Base is convenient for travel and easy to transport. IPX7 waterproof rating means the D-Base will carry on playing even if dropped in water and is a robust gadget. Playback time is an impressive 20 hours. The D-Base has a stand out, contemporary design with simple functionality for easy pairing and song selection. The modern
design combined with the retail gift box increases the perceived value making it ideal for merchandising. CE, RoHS, IPX7 certification and MSDS reports all provide distributors with confidence they are supplying quality electronics.
Writing Instrument Product of the Year
A set of 5 solid graphite Woodless Pencils. Made of 100% pure graphite with 2B hardness, the best lead grade for Karst paper products. With matte coating to keep fingers clean.
