A summary by XPotential of the key actions and learnings from innocent, based on "Building a Brand from Nothing but Fruit" by John Simmons.

1. Learning
from
innocent

2. Learning from the innocent experience
Katie Mason
July 2010

3. Why we’re writing this…….
innocent has become a household name in the UK thanks to its delicious,
healthy and “nothing but nothing but” fruit smoothies, as well as its friendly
communications and positive, ethical relationship with consumers
In 2008, A Great Brand Stories book was released by John Simmons on the
topic of innocent. “innocent Smoothies – Building a Brand from Nothing but
Fruit”
The key actions and learnings from this book are to be summarised in this
presentation
To learn a bit more about innocent and understand why their strategy have
earned them success as a brand, to help others to learn and apply some of the
principles to their brands
©XPotential 2010

4. The innocent story
Founded in the UK in 1999 by 3 University friends: Jon Wright, Adam Balon
and Richard Reed
Primary business is producing smoothies and flavoured spring water, sold in
supermarkets, coffee shops and various other outlets nationally as well as in
Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.
innocent has a 77.5% share of the £169m UK smoothie market and the
company sells two million smoothies per week. Although PJ Smoothies are
accredited with creating the UK smoothie market, the drinks’ popularity really
took of with the rise of innocent. In 1999, just before innocent took off, the UK
smoothie market was worth just £400,000 a year.
One of innocent’s trademark features is the funny, chatty and personal tone of
their product labels, advertising and direct to consumer communications
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7986901.stm
©XPotential 2010

5. Later life in innocent
Since the release of “Building a Brand from Nothing but
Fruit:
innocent Launched “veg pots” (2008) and pure fruit
“squeezies” for kids’ lunchboxes (2009). Both made
with pure healthy ingredients and no additives,
keeping with the innocent values
April 2009 a minority stake was sold to
Coca-Cola to raise funds for expansion
in Europe, a goal which innocent are progressing
towards with sales in France, Germany, Netherlands
and more.
innocent say that nothing about what they do,
their values or promises will change,
with Coca-Cola keeping a
“hands-off” approach
In April 2010, Coke’s share increased
to 58%. They remain a passive
investor, with innocent using their
expertise to distribute drinks in new
markets such as Sweden. innocent’s association with
Coke has caused it some bad press and a lot of upset
brand-supporters
©XPotential 2010

6. and more recently……..
UK smoothie sales were hit badly by the recession,
continuing to drop 27% last year (2009)
innocent had sales of £94.3m in 2009 (19.2% decrease
y-o-y)
“There has obviously been a downturn in economic
activities in the last two years and in particular 2008,
where we did have a slight drop in sales in that year and
our accounts reflect that. But since mid or late 2008
we’ve had increasing sales, obviously from a lower base,
but smoothies sales have been going really well,” said
Jess Coles, Head of Finance.
©XPotential 2010

7. The innocent rules of the game
Five values of innocent: These are kept in mind at every decision in
order to maintain innocent’s overall goal of “Creating a Business we
can be proud of”
1)
Be natural
Keep produce 100% natural and healthy, and treat other people fairly too
2)
Be entrepreneurial
Staying true to innocent’s roots, chasing every opportunity
3)
Be generous
With charity, with feedback and time spent coaching, with rewards
4)
Be commercial
Think clearly, act decisively and keep the
main thing the main thing in order to
create growth and profit for the business
5)
Be responsible
Stick to the company’s promises and do
what’s right, think about the consequences
of actions and try to leave things better
than you found them
©XPotential 2010

8. What we can learn……
Make friends with the people you want to sell to
Things innocent did
What they can teach us
On time and in tune!: Launched at a time when
consumers were health aware (popularity of organic
produce, Jamie’s School dinners on TV…)
Be in tune (on message and in time) with consumer
trends and respond to them
Have a laugh: Communications are relaxed,
colloquial, to-the-point and funny (based on the
natural way in which the founders communicate with
friends and each other)
Humanise the brand with a tone of voice/verbal
identity. Writing with 1 person in mind helps to avoid
impersonal corporate-style tone
Importance of humour – humour makes people feel
good. When used in communications, it creates
associations of positive feelings with the brand, and in
innocent, humour is not a tool in campaigns, it is an
integral component of the brand
Have a chat: Find a market/speak to and involve
consumers (prototype smoothies were sold from a stall
with a sign “should we quit our jobs and make
smoothies?”, with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ bins. The ‘yes’ bin
was full)
Brand built on trust and a friendship with
consumers
Be open to consumer contact, invite it and respond on
a personal level
Two way element of communications (‘with’
consumers, not ‘to’) creates a more endearing,
welcoming and less corporate image of the brand
Cutting out the red tape: Manoeuvrability- new
product can be on shelf in 6 weeks. No excessive
focus groups needed because contact with consumers
is constant. innocent has been described as a ‘real’
business, not a ‘processed’ business
The openness with consumers allows innocent to
respond rapidly to small trend changes with retail
refresh, promotions etc.
©XPotential 2010

9. “Have a laugh” – label examples
©XPotential 2010

10. “Have a laugh” – label examples
©XPotential 2010

11. What we can learn……
Making Friends with the people you work with
Things innocent did
What they can teach us
Make work a nice place to be: Relaxed
and dynamic workplace
People not seated by department
Generous: Lord of the Sash (awarded
monthly, gets tea made for them for the
month), nature trip, life scholarship (to fulfil
life ambitions)
Invest in people, keep a cohesive team
mentality and make work fun to improve
motivation and how much employees care
about the business
Make the most of your friends’
popularity: Teamed up with Penguin
classics for a reading area at Fruitstock 
trusted, established brand, win-win
partnership with innocent
Partner with other brands to make up for
lacking features, e.g. being
established/treasured
Be nice to the people who sell your
products: Friendly and flexible with
retailers about exclusive lines and special
offers
Build good relationships with retailers by
being friendly and considerate, focus on
win-win solutions
©XPotential 2010

12. What we can learn……
Know who you are and what you want and stay true to it
Things innocent did
What they can teach us
Living by values: Chose to define brand values (e.g.
fresh, all natural) and stick to them
Brand and product at innocent
cannot be separated, branding was
not an after-thought, this improves the
consumer’s belief and trust in the
brand, as well as employees
commitment to it
Remember who you are: “Is that innocent?” – a
question asked at any business direction decision
(see 5 values)
innocent’s Free Fruitstock festival (music, food, drink,
farmers market…) got too big and too much about
music so replaced by village fete (with priced tickets
to limit numbers), better fit with brand (slower paced
and more family friendly linking to their kids’ lunch
box products)
Find trusted people to overcome cultural differences
in expansion but stick to same fundamentals
everywhere so as not to lose credibility – i.e. quality,
healthy, ethical
Stay true to the brand’s identity, do
not risk diluting it or losing credibility
©XPotential 2010
Caring about families is a brand value
that resonates with the public.

13. What we can learn……
Know who you are and what you want and stay true to it
Things innocent did
What they can teach us
Do nice things: Short ‘enjoy by’ dates so as not to
impair taste (a priority feature of products)
Work with Rainforest Alliance for moderation and
credibility
10% profits go to innocent foundation
Be responsible
“A brand is what it does, not what it
says it is”
Be true to what you claim and honest
about what you are in communications
Eyes on the prize: Did not take starbucks offer to
sell in USA – did not fit with goal to become “Europe’s
favourite drinks company”
Expanded to This Water and kids lunchbox smoothies
Started selling in McDonalds, lead to blog outrage but
innocent did what they thought was right – helping
an unhealthy food chain who seek to sell healthy
drinks
Focus on your defined goals and
decision factors (e.g. 5 principles of
innocent), then even when consumers
are upset with brand decisions, there is
solid support for making those choices
that doesn’t contradict with the
principles that consumers have
embraced before.
Innocent had faith that people would pay: in
order to ensure fresh fruit smoothies without
additives and preservatives, they would have to come
at a premium price, but innocent knew that their
market would pay for the quality
Understand the true value of your
brand and if your brand stands for
quality over cheapness, do not
compromise that.
©XPotential 2010

14. So what………?
Define your brand and your values and always remain true to them in
order to win trust and credibility in the eyes of consumers and customers
Stay focused on your goals and values so you don’t get diverted or diluted
Involve consumers in your brand, be personable and happy to talk to
them
Have a consistent vocal identity to help people feel as though they know
you as a brand
Use humour to create affinity and positivity around the brand
©XPotential 2010

15. Post script! the getting-in-touch test
Whilst making notes on the unique verbal identity of innocent and the failure
of other brands to copy it, I wrote “attempts at imitation have been fruitless”
and saw it as an opportunity to e-mail innocent and see whether they really
were happy to engage in contact with consumers.
I got the following response within a day:
©XPotential 2010

16. Post script! An update as of May 2011
innocent have been named the 7th most
influential brand in the UK
innocent recently voted 7th most socially
responsible brand in the world
innocent has the 9th biggest Twitter following
out of brands in the UK
©XPotential 2010

17. So who’s XPotential?
XPotential is a brand focused strategy consultancy
that helps to align individuals, functions and
organisations throughout the world to create and
deliver Brand Value.
We work with some of the world’s biggest brands to
deliver outstanding results. We orientate individuals and
teams in the organisations to focus their responsibilities
to deliver value to their most important asset - their
brand. We are proud to have worked with over 30
companies in over 50 countries and touched tens of
thousands of individuals, delivering some of their most
impressive business results.
We do this through working closely with the leadership of
organisations to develop Brand Centric Vision and
Strategy through a deep understand of the challenges
and opportunities for the Brands and the Company, the
Brand Vision and the key audience for change.
We then design and implement a programme of brand
centric change including communication, engagement,
training and follow up. We have worked both cross
functionally and also through specific areas including
sales, supply chain, innovation, marketing, R&D, finance
and HR.
©XPotential 2010

18. “We align individuals, functions and organisations,
throughout the world, to create and deliver brand
equity”
Take a look at our website
to find out more about us:
www.xpotential.co.uk
©XPotential 2014
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