Smoothie brand Innocent is looking to overhaul its marketing and communications in the coming months.
According to Jamie Sterry, Brand and Communications Planner at the company, Innocent was one of the first brands to have “purpose truly at the heart”.
This, he said, has not changed, despite the firm seeing significant growth in recent years.
Indeed, Mr Sterry described 2016 as its “biggest ever financial year” with sales rising by 23 per cent to £303.5 million.
Despite this surge, he has insisted that its purpose of “allowing consumers to do themselves some good” remains unchanged.
However, he acknowledged the desire to “stay little at heart” is a challenge at a time when it is seeing such significant growth.
Mr Sterry argued that the business is probably “more relevant in today’s world” than it was when it first began, as the appetite for healthier drinks is much stronger than it used to be.
He said this is one reason why it has added new products to its portfolio in recent years, such as flavoured sparkling water.
“Smoothies are our heartland, but [we want to turn] niche health trends into more mainstream mass market products,” Mr Sterry commented.
“We believe we have a brand that can do that. Over the next few years, our portfolio will diversify into more health and wellness products.”
Mr Sterry went on to state that its stronger stance on health and wellness will be reflected in its upcoming marketing campaigns.
“We speak to people in a human way and we are sustainable in the way we do business,” he said.
“What we need to do is communicate that in a clear and meaningful way [through a] new brand positioning that holds everything together. It’s important for us to evolve our brand.”
Mr Sterry added that Innocent wants to go beyond using generic ways of reaching people through above-the-line broadcast media and “engage people and have conversations and connections at scale differently”.
This, he said, means it will be stepping up its focus on digital and social platforms, as “expanding what we do there is going to be key”.
Innocent to focus on ‘health and wellness’ as it preps brand refresh, Marketing Week
