Innocent drinks has launched a new product in the healthier children’s beverage market with its new Innocent kids juicy water range. Created in partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), this product line features two flavours – apples & strawberries and apples & mangoes – designed specifically with children’s nutritional needs and parental expectations in mind.
This new range addresses the growing demand for healthier children’s beverages that don’t compromise on taste. Both flavours are free from added sugar, sweeteners and artificial flavours, while containing 70% real fruit complemented by water and natural flavourings. Crucially for parents navigating school lunchbox requirements, these drinks are fully compliant with school nutrition standards and count towards a child’s recommended ‘5-a-day’ fruit and vegetable intake.
From the start, Innocent was a challenger success story. It disrupted. It changed the rules and created a brand with attitude that engaged people and built revenue and share. Kudos to the founders and their cunning plan. It was inevitable that a big corporation would buy it. A ‘when’ not ‘if’ scenario. Enter Coca-Cola.
Big corporations often (very often!) fail to sustain the success of challenger brands once they acquire them. The magic can get diluted, ending up with an asset they overpaid for. This may be caused by culture, attitude, timing, sometimes arrogance and often the unintended impact of broader, usually sensible, strategic imperatives and processes.
So, hat’s off to Coca-Cola. Innocent is an acquisition success story. From keeping them in separate offices to careful, expert brand management aligned with core principles, while using the Coca-Cola global footprint to grow the brand, this is an economic and strategic masterpiece. It shows how companies that think brand, think consumer and think innovation win in the long term.
The point. This innovation is so Innocent it does not need much comment. They could have done it in 2007. It is not breakthrough or category changing, but it is on brand and on insight. The brand adds to the innovation and the innovation supports the brand. It is #WhatBrandsDo. The good ones at least.