Live it, breathe it: What we can all learn from Innocent’s success
An article by iD Experiential’s Client Development Director Jamie Hockin
You know the drill, it’s Monday morning, you are on the train and everyone has that look of impending doom on their face as they are about to embark on the first day back to work after the weekend. As a way of easing my way into the week, I like to spend my morning train journeys checking up on some of the insightful marketing press online.
I’m always attracted to headlines involving the brand Innocent and this particular Monday I started reading a piece on Richard Reid’s (Innocent co-founder) TV programme, ‘Be Your Own Boss’. It turns out he has £1m that he is going to invest in a new business. ONE MILLION POUNDS!! It’s a lot of dough. It got me thinking about Innocent and how incredibly successful they are, but how did they do it? Why were they the ones that broke through?
What Innocent do so well is irreverence with believability. You understand that everything they do is for a purpose and is not just being flippant and full of innuendo for the sake of it – it’s all part of the plan.
Their consumers buy in to it (nearly 300,000 likes on Facebook and one of the latest posts by Innocent had 5,367 likes and 202 comments). They engage with the Innocent brand even when not asked to do so, because they buy into the brand, not just the products.
Fruit Towers
At Innocent’s quirky Ladbroke Grove headquarters, Fruit Towers, every inch of floor is covered in astroturf and as I sat in reception (at a previous agency meeting) employees walked around kitted out in Havanas, t-shirts and surf shorts. Even when signing in you are interrupted by the girls on reception answering the phone “Hello Banana Phone, how can I help?”… Sorry I digress, but you get the picture, it’s not a show, they believe in what they do, they live it and it makes them a very credible brand to the consumer.
Innocent’s success is down to their unwavering belief that what they are doing is right, they have good ethics, but they like to be silly and irreverent when the time is right. My point is that if the brand has an identity, live it, believe it, invest in it and then eventually the consumer will start to live and grow the brand for you.
‘Be Your Own Boss’ is an interesting watch, as having been in meetings with Richard over the years I know he can be very entertaining, mildly volatile, but an extremely clever guy who 100% believes in what he does.
An article by iD Experiential’s Client Development Director Jamie Hockin