(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.
(1) Below is some copy from the latest email encouraging people to attend the brand's Village Fete (of course, another great idea).
Sadly, I fear I am sounding like a broken record singing Innocent's praises and the brand is fast becoming the planner's "Case study de Jour".
For example, I wasn't the only planner talking about them in Romania!
The innocent pyramid scheme
Not one of those dodgy schemes where you sit in someone's living room, eating cheesy footballs and learning how-to-get-rich-quick investing your life savings in hand lotion. No, ours just involves you hanging out with all your mates, their mates and the odd ferret in the park this summer. Simply visit our village fete Facebook event page, accept the RSVP bit if you’re coming and invite all your friends along as well. They in turn can ask their friends, who can ask their friends and so on. Before you know it, it'll be like the biggest school reunion you've ever attended. Except you'll all have been to different schools.
You can go to Innocent's Village Fete blog to learn more.
Posted by Ed Cotton