The Daily Telegraph reports that Innocent Drinks are not, in fact, as environmentally innocent as Innocent claimed. Innocent’s assertion that “fruit always travels by boat or rail” and processed “in the countryside” are not true – which the company has quickly admitted.
Why does this matter to you?
It matters because Innocent Drinks used the environment to grow phenomenally quickly: from zero to 70% market share (and 100 million pound turnover) in the UK smoothy market in ten years. They did so based on dialogue and transparency to the consumer – clearly their winning formula. In particular they have been exceptionally good on the environmental and consumer communications front.
This has stimulated Pepsi to move into the smoothie market. Now competitive pressures (and the desire to keep competitively sensitive information secret) have trumped Innocent’s public positioning – and what they seemed to have stood for: a small company, trying to do the right thing with healthy products that were good for the environment. The kind of company that was more a friend than a business (their logo even has a halo in it!) – their annual general meeting is a giant party open to the public and designed to build loyalty, affection and buzz. So betting they wouldn’t be found out was a big risk.
And while they may have been trying to keep parts of their business secret, an environmental coalition called Rising Tide broke their secrecy, and the Daily Telgraph (one of Britain’s leading newspapers) not only confirmed the story, but broadcast it – where it was quickly picked up by environmental blogs and sites (such as this one!).
The lesson – the environment and environmental communications can position you so effectively that they establish consumer loyalty and even adoration – but also require that you live your image. Just ask Innocent.
Richard Reed, their CEO, is quoted as saying: “It had been our policy not to talk about where our drinks are made for commercial reasons but we now seek to tell our customers everything about the drinks and be completely open with them.”
A lesson even Swiss Banks have had to learn…
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