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Innocent Smoothies The Innocent Story In August 1998, three friends armed with £500 of fruit and a carrot press set up a fruit smoothies stand at the ‘Jazz in the Park’ festival in Parsons Green, London. ‘Should we quit our jobs to make smoothies full time?’ read the sign outside their stand. Below it were two bins labelled ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. At the end of the festival, the ‘Yes’ bin was full, the ‘No’ bin empty. Buoyed by their success, the three quit their jobs and formed Innocent. Their product was the Innocent smoothie, ‘a blend of crushed whole fruit, pure and fresh juices and absolutely nothing else’. The ideas of purity and freshness are key to Innocent – the branding and product packaging is designed to promote this. The logo has the naivety of a child’s scrawl, the bottle is transparent so you can see what is inside. The labels feature cute illustrations and funny little stories that speak directly to the consumer. The marketing might be cute and funny, but it masks a deadly serious intent. In only four years, Innocent’s low key, ‘nice guy’ approach has succeeded in capturing over a quarter of the booming UK smoothies market (Mintel). Life before Smoothies Eating habits and lifestyles are changing dramatically in the UK and internationally. Consumers are becoming increasingly time-poor and cash-rich. Longer working hours and increased participation by women in the labour market has led to strong demand for convenience foods. Consumers have also been exposed to a series of food scandals such as BSE, dioxins and GM foods, and the reported links to diseases, such as cancers, obesity and hyperactivity. Simultaneously the UK government is actively promoting the ‘Five a day’ fruit and vegetable message. Consumers now question what they eat more carefully. One outcome of this is the strong growth in organic produce in the UK. Consumers can demand premium quality foods, with a homemade feel. The educated consumer now seeks nutritious food, without the health food shop aura. She wants convenience, and she is open to new tastes. Emergence of UK smoothies market Fruit has played a prominent part in history, from the moment Eve picked an apple to Newton discovering gravity. But it was the smoothie entrepreneurs who spotted the opportunity to repackage and rebrand, transforming fruit into the smoothie. Smoothies emerged first in the US, and the retail smoothie concept was first imported to the UK by PJ Smoothies in 1988. The segment has been growing strongly in the UK ever since (see appendix 1). The key customer values for the smoothie consumer include: health consciousness, convenience, quality consciousness, food additive awareness. With its range of distinctive flavours, smoothies are emerging as an appealing drink for ‘foodies’. There is also an underlying trend toward non-alcoholic drinks, because attitudes to drink-driving and excessive alcohol consumption have hardened. Aside from the social factors, improved ‘gentle’ pasteurisation technology and ubiquitous refrigeration have made the 100% fresh fruit smoothies market feasible. Until the late 1990s, fresh fruit drink products needed preservatives to maintain viable shelf life. Now pasteurised smoothies can be prepackaged and stored for up to several weeks. Innocent Conception, Birth and Youth From the very start, Innocent hammered home the message of 100% fresh and 100% pure fruit product. This is the unique feature for the Innocent product, and differentiates it from its competitors. What Innocent loses in shelf life time (the Innocent product only keeps for 7 days) it more than makes up for in premium pricing.
Approximate Word count = 2303
Approximate Pages = 9.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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