JKR

Innocent

This week's Champion of Design is the brand we all know and love, Innocent. With an 80% share of the UK smoothie market, Innocent have flourished in the 10 years since Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright launched the brand. Innocent remains faithful to the original pure and simple notion which characterised the brand, successfully tapping into the nation's desire for pure and healthy products. As the brand story continues to unfold, read below to see why we believe it is a real champion of design...

Innocent, yes. Naïve, no.

As true champions of design, Innocent should be applauded for reminding us to use the medium as the message. What the founders lacked in marketing firepower, they more than made up for with their charming, conversational style.

With a simple, childlike logo, warm, witty words and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging, they charm and distract us from the inherent contradiction in any pretence of mass-produced innocence. ?Meanwhile, its stream of creative initiatives, such as Fruitstock, Big Knit and dancing vans, in combination with the open spirit epitomised by their invitation to call on the banana phone, express something cheerful and personal about the people behind the brand – and we thank them for it.

From a consumer perspective, Innocent’s gift is to have brought some fun and healthy new choices into our lives. But behind their success lies a deadly serious lesson for business.

It is rare to survive in the British food industry without scale, yet despite not being the cheapest, Innocent has captured the leading share in markets normally dominated by giants. It is living testimony to the competitive advantage that a charismatic brand can bring to business.

In uncertain times, while lesser rivals succumb to the grinding attrition of the retailer price wars, let’s celebrate and emulate Innocent’s imaginative integration of design, language and product to escape the commodity trap.

Andy Knowles, jkr.