Summary
- Q: Which product was the UK’s most successful new launch of 2025?
- A: A simple green bottle of Fairy Skip the Soak washing-up liquid topped the rankings across Great Britain, creating more new value for its category than any other FMCG innovation last year — beating launches in ice cream, crisps, cola, and personal care.
- Q: Why did a washing-up liquid outperform flashier innovations nationwide?
- A: It delivered a clear, everyday benefit, eliminating the need to soak dirty pans overnight, that encouraged British shoppers to change routines, pay a premium, and recruit new households into the category, according to Worldpanel by Numerator’s analysis of hundreds of launches.
- Q: What does this reveal about innovation trends across the UK?
- A: In a mature and often declining FMCG market, big established brands continue to dominate successful innovation from Land’s End to John o’ Groats by focusing on practical problem-solving and genuine incrementality, rather than novelty alone.
Article
A humble bottle of green washing-up liquid has beaten out flashy new ice creams, crisps, colas, and personal care launches to claim the title of Britain’s most successful product innovation of 2025.
According to new analysis from Worldpanel by Numerator, Fairy Skip the Soak topped the rankings for creating the most “incremental value”, new sales and category growth that didn’t simply cannibalise existing products, among hundreds of FMCG launches tracked in Great Britain last year.
The product, designed to eliminate the need for overnight soaking of dirty pans, delivered clearer benefits to shoppers than any other new launch, driving both category expansion and strong performance for parent company Procter & Gamble.
“A bottle of green liquid, designed to spare you the indignity of soaking your pans overnight, created more new value for its category than anything else on the shelf last year,” said Jackson Woods, Senior Marketing Consultant at Worldpanel by Numerator.
What makes an innovation successful?
Worldpanel by Numerator evaluated around 400 product launches over a three-year period, with a focus on 2025 performance. Rather than simply measuring total sales or novelty such as limited-edition flavours, the firm assessed incrementality on two levels:
- Category incrementality: How much new value the launch created for the overall category.
- Manufacturer incrementality: How much additional value it delivered to the launching brand itself, without heavy cannibalisation from its existing portfolio.
Success was driven by products that solved real shopper problems with clear “do something” propositions, like skipping a tedious step or extending cleaning power, prompting consumers to change routines and pay a premium.
The top performers of 2025
While Fairy Skip the Soak took the overall crown, several other established brands delivered standout results:
- Pepsi Treats (cola) ranked highly for stretching the declining cola category into indulgent new flavours with eye-catching packaging that attracted new buyers. This came despite a tough backdrop: UK households have lost 3.8 billion hot and soft drink occasions since 2019, and the average repertoire has shrunk from 40 to 33 brands per household.
- Sensodyne Clinical Repair (toothpaste) went beyond simply masking sensitivity to offer genuine repair benefits.
- Cif Infinite Clean promised up to 72 hours of cleaning power after a single wipe.
- Ariel The Big One (laundry detergent) addressed the rise of large-capacity washing machines by simplifying dosing and reducing the need for pre-treatment or double loads.
Notably, the top tier was dominated by big brand houses rather than plucky challenger brands. The closest thing to a disruptor in the highlighted list was Fuel 10k (a breakfast product from Premier Foods), which landed at number nine.
“It is the big brand houses that keep showing the value of insight-led innovation shaped around existing behaviours or strong enough to create new ones,” Woods noted.
Big players benefit from superior distribution, retailer relationships, and marketing scale, but the data also credits them with deeper shopper insights that identify untapped ambitions.
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