FAQ

About the Worth it! Awards™

  • The Worth it! Awards are a new, consumer-voted awards program aimed at providing consumers with a benchmark to recognize the higher-quality brands that shoppers believe are genuinely worth the cost. Backed by BrandSpark’s 25 years of consumer research expertise and the reach of Newsweek, the program was designed to help shoppers make confident purchase decisions while giving winning brands a powerful new way to communicate their superior value.

  • Founded in 2001, BrandSpark International is a research and consulting firm dedicated to providing brands with actionable insights to refine strategic positioning, build consumer trust and value, and help marketers prioritize among the myriad of strategic and communication choices. BrandSpark International conducts the research for the Best New Product Awards, BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, and BrandSpark Worth it! Awards.

  • The Worth it! Awards methodology is rooted in rigorous consumer research and builds on BrandSpark’s well-established Most Trusted Awards, Best New Product Awards, and broader shopper insights expertise developed over the last 25 years. The goal is simple: to credibly identify which higher quality brands are genuinely “worth it” across select categories.

    • Brand qualification: requires exceeding a minimum threshold of citations as consumers’ most-trusted brand in the BrandSpark Most Trusted Survey.

    • Relevant raters only: survey respondents must know the brand and have recently shopped the category.

    • Separate measures: price and quality are assessed independently to avoid the bias of equating “value” with low price.

    • Weighted ratings: reflect real consumer preferences at regular prices.

    Winners must score above their category average on both quality and BrandSpark’s derived measure of real value: the Worth it! Score is based on the relationship between quality and price relative to the competition.

Participation and Eligibility

  • Brands earn their position in the study based on the share-of-trust earned in the BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, , but we welcome suggestions of which categories to include in the annual Worth it! study. To nominate a category, please contact us.

  • No. There is no application or submission process. The best way to give your brand an opportunity to win is to recommend a category. Click here to contact us.

  • The inaugural 2026 Worth it! Awards winners were announced in Newsweek.com and via PR Newswire on November 6th, 2025. Follow BrandSpark on LinkedIn to stay informed.

Promoting a Win

  • Brands can access the Worth it! Award seal and research-backed claims by obtaining authorization from Best New Product Awards Inc (BrandSpark’s affiliated awards management company) and/or Newsweek. We offer several packages to suit different goals. Contact us for more information.

    It’s easy to activate across advertising, digital & social, packaging, and retail/in‑store, ensuring the proof travels with the shopper from awareness to shelf.

  • Yes. Although the award is earned through consumer vote, purchasing promotional rights is required. Tiered options are available to meet your brand's specific needs. Contact us directly for more information.

  • Yes. Our dedicated support team provides best-practice guidance, pre-approved claims, and direct assistance to help maximize your award’s impact.

Benefits and Impact

  • According to the 2025 BrandSpark Worth it! Study, shoppers will pay more when the quality justifies the price, but it’s often difficult to know which brands truly deliver. Consumers want confidence that the price is worth it.

    The Worth it! badge assures shoppers that the price is justified, helping them make confident purchase decisions.

BrandSpark Tools and Insights

  • Yes. Licensees gain access to detailed quality and price ratings.

    AI Insight Report Available: A concise summary of your brand’s perceived quality and price position by key shopper segments, identifying competitive gaps to support pricing, messaging, and retail planning. BrandSpark captures preferred choice at regular prices and the price discount required for consumers to switch to an alternative brand (i.e., the price premium commanded). These data points help quantify each brand’s real-world elasticity and competitive position.

Additional Information

  • Newsweek publishes all of the results from the Worth it! survey, expanding national reach and lending authoritative visibility to winners. Together we deliver multi-channel exposure—from editorial features to digital amplification—ensuring the Worth it! seal is widely seen and understood by consumers.

  • Worth it! winners gain access to exclusive opportunities to amplify their wins with the “Newsweek Rankings Trust Studio”. The Studio offers several tiers of custom collaborative content to boost brand visibility and reach. Contact us to learn more.