Congratulations to all winners and finalists of the 2025 Category Management & Insight Awards. These awards celebrated excellence in Category, Marketing and Insight across Foodservice, Wholesale and Convenience, with winners selected by senior industry leaders and specialist independent panels. On behalf of the Lumina Intelligence team, it is an honour to host this event. Thank you to all who supported and attended.

Best Supplier–Retailer Collaboration Award - Red Bull & SPAR

This award recognised supplier and retailer/operator partnerships that demonstrated exceptional collaboration and mutual value creation. Winning entries showed innovative ways of working together, effective communication and joint problem-solving, evidenced through case studies, performance metrics, testimonials and successful shared initiatives.

Team members: Aanya Shah and Gurnoor Khurana

• Red Bull transformed their relationship with SPAR from transactional to strategic, unlocking hard earnt growth in the convenience channel.
• As Aanya joined the SPAR account team she led their Summer Soft Drinks Campaign, influencing SPAR’s 2025 strategy and setting a new standard for category execution.
• Working closely with Gurnoor, Aanya secured exclusive SPAR shopper segmentation data to deliver tailored recommendations and precise category advice, strengthening trust between both businesses.
• Went above & beyond by creating the first-ever Soft Drinks Insight Summit for SPAR RDCs, inspiring influential decision-makers & positioning Red Bull as a category thought leaders.
• Their work delivered measurable impact, attendees praised the summit for inspiring ideas and setting a new benchmark for collaboration.

Judges’ comments about the winner:

• Incredibly slick delivery and very compelling testimonial from SPAR - hard to look past the sheer professionalism and creativity in Red Bulls commitment to SPAR. An incredibly innovative way to deliver category insight to inspire immediate action.
• Clear innovation in their approach to driving sales at Spar, and impressive examples of partnership.

Highly commended: Mademoiselle Desserts and Brakes, a Sysco Company

• This initiative has achieved fantastic growth using a data led approach and achieving overall growth in the category.
• This is a clear example of true collaboration, with both companies working together to develop a solution. Really strong sales uplift as a result.

The finalists for this award included:

• Red Bull & SPAR
• Mademoiselle Desserts and Brakes, a Sysco Company
• PepsiCo and Cirkle – “Max Your Snacks”
• Dr. Oetker and Bidfood
• ESS and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP)
• Heineken UK and Booker

Category & Insights Champion of the Year - Callum Atkinson, Unitas Wholesale

This award recognised individuals in their role for over 18 months who introduced innovative strategies or creative solutions that significantly impacted their category. Winning entries demonstrated effective use of data and insight to inform strategy, strong cross-functional and supplier/retailer collaboration, and clear leadership and vision that guided the category towards long-term success.

• Led the full data-to-execution journey for Plan for Profit ranges—validating data, challenging assumptions, and ensuring robust recommendations.
• Redefined category insight delivery for Unitas by creating a clear, evidence-led framework trusted by members, retailers, and suppliers.
• Leveraged AI and automation to speed up analysis, cleanse complex data, and streamline supplier collaboration, cutting weeks from approval timelines.
• Translated insights into practical solutions, embedding them into mission-based plans and ready-to-use planograms for easy store implementation.
• Built a repeatable model now applied across multiple categories, driving stronger supplier engagement, smoother processes, and improved on-shelf compliance.

Judges’ comments about the winner:

• Callum takes a very pro-active approach and really uses data to drive efficiency. The testimonials for Callum are very strong.
• Excellent use of AI to drive productivity and scalability in his role - even now this is still relatively rare in the industry so well done.

The finalists for this award included:

• Callum Atkinson, Category Coordinator, Unitas Wholesale
• Alexandra Bolland, Category Manager, Arla Foods
• Anthony Saison, Head of Category Insights & Customer Marketing, Mademoiselle Desserts
• Charlotte Westacott, Insight Lead – Wholesale, Co-op
• Mark Langohr, Category Controller, Unitas
• Maya Nickituk, National Account Manager, Diageo
• Saul Bosworth, Category & Insights Manager, Dr. Oetker

Best Use of Data & Insight - 'Grab a Bite', Kepak Team

This award was presented to an individual or team who delivered significant category growth through specific recommendations such as planograms, pack formats and space optimisation. The winner successfully implemented a data-driven strategy, understood customer needs and delivered clear results that positively contributed to category performance.

• Identified a market gap in food-to-go as retailers need turnkey, low-effort, high-quality solutions.
• The Kepak team successfully launched ‘Grab a Bite', an insight-driven brand offering flexible hot food concepts tailored to different sectors.
• They delivered innovation and convenience with ready-to-use formats, minimal labour requirements, and reduced waste through Thaw-Heat-Serve process.
• Worked closely with customers to match solutions to their operational needs, enabling 24/7 hot food availability and improved profitability.
• The Kepak team have set a new benchmark for category leadership, combining consumer insight, operational simplicity, and commercial viability to drive growth in the out-of-home market.

Judges’ comments about the winner:

• The work by the Kepak team demonstrated great end-to-end and holistic thinking to deliver a triple win across shoppers, retailers and suppliers. You were led by insight, which you then followed through to excellent execution and great commercial outcomes. A really strong and impressive submission.
• A very impressive and potentially disruptive category launch.

• 'Grab a Bite', Kepak Team
• Adam Tidbury, Category Manager, FrieslandCampina
• Arla Convenience and MBB Team
• KP Snacks Category Team
• The Category Collective, Heineken

Innovation in Insights - Co-op Retail Insight Team

This award was presented to an individual or team who introduced unique and creative approaches to delivering insights that significantly influenced business decisions. Winning entries evidenced impactful insights, innovative analytical techniques and technologies, and creative delivery methods through case studies, examples and stakeholder testimonials, all driving clear, measurable results.

Team members: Kate Eden, Alicia Welbourne, Molly Hilton, Suzanne Dyer.

• Reimagined the fresh produce experience to combat declining customer sentiment and economic pressures.
• The Co-op team pioneered a new process, blending transaction analysis, customer feedback, mystery shops and market benchmarks through AI-powered insight to identify 25 bold customer-driven concepts.
• They turned these abstract ideas into tangible visuals using AI to be tested in collaborative workshops with customers and stakeholders, including colleague input from stores.
• Created a blueprint for future innovation, now driving a major produce transformation programme and shaping experimental store trials.

Judges’ comments about the winner:

• A really innovative approach to collating, interpreting and sharing insight. The AI images are impressive and look to be a good way to bring the recommendations to life. I like the way in which the project team have really tried to be innovative in their approach, trying new techniques and technologies.
• Excellent example of putting insights & the Consumer / Shopper at the heart of business process and decision making - well done!

Highly commended: MONIN UK Team

• Variety of different data points used and an innovative approach to delivery, not just sharing data/insights but bringing them to life through expert talks and tastings allowing attendees to experience trends.
• Excellent visualisation of the insights - well done!

The finalists for this award included:

• Co-op Retail Insight Team
• MONIN UK Team
• Carlsberg Britvic Trade Team
• CCEP GB Insights Team
• Lantmännen Fast Food Strategy Team
• Levercliff Associates Team

Rising Star Award - Aanya Shah, Category Executive, Red Bull UK

This award celebrated an individual in a Category or Insights role for less than 18 months who made a significant impact in a short time. The winner showed creativity and initiative, a strong commitment to learning and development, and the ability to adapt quickly and solve problems effectively.

• Consistently goes beyond her remit, blending insight, creativity, and relationship-building to position Red Bull as a trusted category leader.
• Introduced monthly Category Updates and Scorecards, educating and inspiring contacts to think strategically.
• Aanya identified opportunities with Q-Commerce and demonstrated how success in this channel could boost further growth.
• She has transformed Red Bull’s relationship with SPAR from transactional to strategic, unlocking opportunities and launching the first-ever Soft Drinks Insight Summit.
• Her ability to educate, inspire, and future-proof her customers makes her a standout winner for the Lumina Rising Star Award.

Judges’ comments about the winner:

• Excellent submission showing how you have made a real impact - leveraging the data to unlock new growth in both category and brand, as well as strengthening the partnership with SPAR - well done!
• Very impressive impact with clear focus and a consistent approach to relationship building.

The finalists for this award included:

• Aanya Shah, Category Executive, Red Bull UK
• Chris Marshall, Category Development Manager, Heineken UK
• Gurnoor Khurana, Research and Insights Manager, SPAR UK
• Laura Edgar, Category Executive, Carlsberg Britvic
• Poppy James, Key Account Manager, Mars