(1) 
Posted by Ed Cotton
(1) Innocent has become something of an icon in the world of marketing for its frank and human approach. It has a unique perspective on its customers and is committed to doing good.
When Innocent sold its products in McDonald's, it came under fire from its customers, so clearly Coke's purchase presents something of a potential nightmare.
However, they handle it in true Innocent style, explaining clearly the reasons for the deal and inviting customers to share their opinions.
Open and clearly dialog is critical in this environment, especially when people have brought into your brand for years because you're an underdog.
"Hello.
Over the next few days you may read in the press about Coca-Cola making a minority investment in innocent, and we wanted to tell our drinkers and veg-potters about the deal and why it’s a great opportunity for innocent.
Basically, we’re dead excited about the investment. The funds raised allow us to do more of what innocent is here to do – get natural, healthy stuff out to as many people as possible. And the money raised is going into the business to fund our European expansion, so we can get innocent out to more places (none of the cash is being paid out to the shareholders; that desert island will just have to wait).
The three of us who set up the business will continue to run and manage innocent. We will be the same people making the same products in the same way. Everything that innocent stands for, remains in place – to only produce natural, healthy stuff; to push hard for better quality, more socially and environmentally conscious ingredients; to find more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of producing and packaging our drinks; to support charities in the countries where our fruit comes from; to have a point of view on the world, and to not take ourselves too seriously in the process. In fact, this deal will simply allow us to do more of these things.
As we said, Coca-Cola is a minority investor. They have a small stake of between 10-20%, which they paid 30 million pounds for. We chose Coca-Cola as our minority investor because as well as providing the funds, they can help us get our products out to more people in more places. Plus, they have been in business for over 120 years, so there will be things we can learn from them. And in some small ways we may be able to influence their thinking too.
innocent is ten years old this year. We sold 24 smoothies on our first day, back on 28th April 1999. This week, we will sell approximately 2 million. It’s taken a lot of hard work and not a small degree of luck to get us this far, but fundamentally the thing that has made it all possible has been the support of our retailers, suppliers, the media, and most importantly, you – our consumers. So, as the next chapter for innocent unfolds, and as we step up our mission of getting natural, tasty healthy things to eat and drink to more people, we want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has ever bought an innocent smoothie. Without you, we’d just have an expensive fruit crushing hobby.
Thanks and bye for now.
Adam, Jon and Richard
Co-founders
innocent
PS As always, we’d love to hear what you think, so email richardr@innocentdrinks.co.uk with any thoughts or questions.
This will certainly become a recessionary trend as brand owners get concerned about making sure their product packs grab people by the throat and clearly inform them exactly what the products do for them.
The minimalist pack designs such as Turner Duckworth's recent work for Coca-Cola, will be replaced by multiple copy and perhaps even flashing neon signs.
Here's what's happening to Bud Light.
According to CNN...
"The plastic label on Bud Light's new bottles is 27 percent larger than the current label and touts "drinkability." The cans, which are nearly all blue, feature the word "refreshment." Bud Light's bottle labels went from paper to plastic in 2004.
Levy said the shift to blue came after extensive research showed the color helped drive home the message of refreshment."
Posted by Ed Cotton
However, Red Bull has been a "one trick pony"- extracting more and more from a single SKU and resisting the temptation to line extend itself to death. Something that certainly would have happened if the company had been taken over by one of the soda giants.
Red Bull's latest move must have those same soda giants sweating because the new line extension, is a cola with a twist; a completely natural version.
This is a product formulation that's achieved some success in countries like Germany and even Pepsi has experimented with a new natural variant called RAW, but Red Bull could be onto a winner here.
The brand has significant awareness, a massive distribution system and the challenger credentials to help it take on the giants. On top of all this, the brand has the zeitgeist impact of the shift to all things natural and a backlash against un-natural sodas, in its favor.
Via Coolhunting
Posted by Ed Cotton
(1) Vitamin Water is first and foremost a success story built around a smart product formulation, great packaging and smart distribution.The product was launched in 2000, but only started advertising and using celebrity endorsers in the last three years.
Recently, Outlaw Consulting conducted a survey to discover the most trusted brands amongst Generation Y "trendsetters", Vitamin Water ranked 14th, just behind Converse and ahead of Red Stripe.
The Energy Brands company built it's business on Glaceau Water, packaged in a 20oz bottle designed by Phillipe Starck. Looking to expand the distribution base from health food stores and independent delis and grocery stores, Energy created Vitamin Water.
According to the WSJ, Glaceau's founder J. Darius Bikoff created Vitamin Water in a "Eureka like" moment.
"...standing in his kitchen sipping bottled water. Feeling run down, he slipped a vitamin C wafer into his mouth, and the citrus flavor combined with the clean water registered on his taste buds, and in his entrepreneurial mind."
His next step was to bring together a food scientist, a dietician, a flavor expert and a microbiologist to help create the formula. Armed with the formula, the company set about distributing the product to independent stores and those with more of a health focus. The company couldn't afford to pay the slotting fees charged by the large grocery chains, so it built momentum from the ground up. One of its smartest decisions was sell it together with the other bottled waters, in this environment Vitamin Water's packaging stood out and was the perfect place to convert water drinkers to a new experience.
It will be interesting to see how Coke can help Vitamin Water, obviously there will be some immediate advantages generated by economies of scale and perhaps with marketing. The brand has recently stepped up its efforts to compete against the giants, even being bold enough to sign on atheltes (Iverson, Allen, Ortiz..) as "investors". One interesting element of Vitamin Water's advertising is that it has been pretty light hearted, especially with its on-pack copy.
On the Raspberry Fruit Water, the copy opens with
"Chinese food, diet drinks. Usually and hour after finishing both you want more again.Hmm..we smell conspiracy."
Coke shouldn’t mess with this, but its biggest challenge will be to grow Vitamin Water, while trying to protect its own water and sports drink franchises. While it will feel it needs to develop a clear positioning for the brand, which is important, it will also be essential to understand how this positioning fits with the other brands in it’s massive portfolio.
(3) "While the current success of the brand (Coke Zero) in volume terms is beyond dispute, we do not believe it is enough to resolve the core issues Coca-Cola faces: to halt the slide in the carbonated soft drink category and improve Coca-Cola's category share."
Robert van Brugge-Bernstein
CSDs are in massive decline worldwide because people are seeking healthy alternatives.
Coca-Cola has been skirting around the edges without cracking the real problem; they are reducing calories and they are even adding vitamins. They are trying to make the product healthier, but they need to find a way to make a CSD with nothing artificial in it and a reduce the sugar content.
We've already reported on 7-UP's attempt to make this happen.
It makes sense to expand the portfolio into juices and waters, but people would drink CSDs if they were natural and available everywhere- people are already making them.
Some are very succesful.
How hard can it be for someone with the resources of Coca-Cola?