Starco Brands’ Honu™ Sunscreen Wins Coveted Product of the Year 2019

Largest Consumer Survey of Product Innovation Selects Honu as Skin Protection Category Winner Recognizing Company’s Dedication to Product Innovation

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starco Brands (OTC: STCB) proudly announces its innovative sunscreen Honu has been named Product of the Year for 2019. Product of the Year is the world’s largest consumer-voted award for product innovation, where winners are determined by the votes of 40,000 consumers in a national representative survey conducted by research partner Kantar, a global leader in consumer research. Honu has been awarded the top honors for the skin protection category. 

Starco Brands' Honu Sunscreen Named Product of the Year for 2019

“Backed by the votes of over 40,000 everyday consumers, the distinctive Product of the Year logo helps shoppers identify the best new products in the supermarket, and saves them valuable time and money during the shopping experience,” said Mike Nolan, CEO of Product of the Year. “In an increasingly competitive and saturated marketplace, the Product of the Year seal of approval gives our winning products a powerful tool proven to increase product trial, consumer awareness, distribution and sales."

Honu is the first and only sunscreen with a patented spray wand that allows sunscreen coverage to hard-to-reach spots such as backs, necks and shoulders.  The first spray design of its kind, Honu is an ideal sunscreen for anyone – including kids – who wants the peace of mind knowing they can protect their entire body on their own.

“We’re honored that Honu, one of our cutting-edge, safe and efficacious products, has been selected by consumers as a 2019 Product of the Year Award winner,” said Ross Sklar, CEO of Starco Brands.  “It gives us tremendous pride to enable a healthy and convenient change to an everyday behavior that simply improves people’s lives.”

Honu was honored at the 2019 Product of the Year awards ceremony at the Edison Ballroom in New York City on February 7, 2019.

Honu, powered by air, is a broad-spectrum SPF 50 sunscreen and is water resistant for up to 80 minutes.  In addition, Honu contains an antioxidant that helps to reduce the development of free radicals.  It also contains aloe vera and coconut oil, providing the skin with hydration, nourishment and soothing properties.

In keeping with Starco Brand’s interest in consumer and environmentally safe products, Honu doesn’t contain oxybenzone or octinoxate, making it 100% Reef Safe. Oxybenzone and octinoxate were recently named banned sunscreen ingredients by the state of Hawaii and Key West, Florida, showcasing a trend toward reef-friendly skin protection products like Honu.

“Honu has been out in front of product development trends as validated by legislation that started in Hawaii and is now being embraced as far away as Florida,” said David Dreyer, EVP of Marketing. “We built our company to solve consumer problems with behavior-changing brands and Honu is just the latest example of breakthrough brands in our portfolio.”

Honu’s win comes on the heels of another Starco Brands achievement. In December 2018, the company’s Breathe household cleaning line was named Partner of the Year by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safer Choice Program.

About Starco Brands
Starco Brands, born out of The Starco Group is an innovative consumer packaged goods company focused on technological innovation that changes the current landscape.  Starco Brands invents cutting edge products that change our behavior. Starco Brands develops products across 10 different categories including: Household Cleaning, Personal Care, Food, Beverage & Spirits, DIY Hardware and Arts & Crafts.  For more information about the Breathe product line, please visit www.breathecleaning.com. For more information about Starco Brands, please visit www.starcobrands.com.

About Product of the Year
Product of the Year is the world's largest consumer-voted award for product innovation. Established over 30 years ago, POY currently operates in over 40 countries with the same purpose: Guide consumers to the best products in their market and reward manufacturers for quality and innovation.  Product of the Year winners are backed by the votes of 40,000 consumers in a national representative study conducted by research partner Kantar, a global leader in consumer research. The award is a powerful merchandising program for marketers proven to increase product sales, distribution and awareness. Winning products are announced in February each year and receive the right to use the Product of the Year logo in marketing communications for two years.  For more information, visit productoftheyearusa.com.

About Kantar
Kantar is the world’s leading marketing data, insight and consultancy company. We know more about how people live, feel, shop, vote, watch and post worldwide than any other company. Working across the entire sales and marketing lifecycle, we help brands uncover growth in an extraordinary world. Kantar is part of WPP and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune 500 companies in 100 countries.

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Released February 8, 2019