Marketing Case Study: Innocent Drinks

Introduction

Innocent drinks was established in 1999 after 3 college friends sold their smoothies at a music festival in the UK (Aaker, McLoughlin, 2010, p.306). In the past 16 years that they have been established, Innocent grew to become the biggest smoothie maker in Europe – surpassing its competitors and turning over £200 million each year, as reported by Business Insider Singapore (2014).

Innocent 's Strategic Position

Innocent, as the name suggests, was coined for its pure and natural ingredients with no added preservatives, as well as to reflect an honest approach the company has to its to consumers (SocialBro, 2015). The company strives to be as transparent about their drinks, finances, as well as showing compassion for the underprivileged.

They achieve sales growth by remaining relevant in the industry through constant communication and interaction with the public like relating and updating on current events in a creative and interesting manner and approach.

For example, they provided real-time marketing on Twitter (a social micro-blogging platform) for its followers by presenting a running commentary throughout the event (SocialBro, 2015). It keeps consumers engaged and drives awareness to their brand. Even their official website fairly welcoming as it is injected with humor, bright colours, cute designs, moving icons, and even fun activities for kids to try out online if they are bored.

The company leaves subtle and witty messages at the bottom of the drink bottles (Inc, 2010), they have vans that resembles cows, plastered fully with fake grass and that can actually moo, they are active on social media, and they remain relatable by listen to what consumers want through their yearly “A Grown-Up Meeting” (AGM) sessions. In these sessions, consumers are able to test out new recipes as well as voice their opinions on how the company and its recipes can be improved. It is important to find out what a company 's target market expects and continually enhance and move along with the trends to create excellence and ensure that its consumers ' expectations are met in order for it

By aquiring stake in Innocent, Coca-Cola takes away one less drink competitor in the market and also gain the knowledge and know-how on making fresh fruit juice without having to do new research and development on the market.

From this takeover, Coca-Cola is seen by consumers slightly more positively as Innocent has a reputation and good image for being a clean, happy, and healthy drink. The public perception of this on Coca-Cola is a better image as it shows people that the company does care about the health of its consumer by being more involved in the manufacturing of healthier drinks. As Coca-Cola has long been marketed and associated to being a happy drink for all ocassions (Forbes, 2014), by being associated to Innocent, it is in line with its own principles as well as Innocent 's principles.