Weblog Consulting Register Login Subscribe to Free Influx Emails Join our Facebook Group Follow us on Twitter Branding Street Cred Technology Lifestyle Style Entertainment Interviews Art InfluxTV Map Widgets RSS — All Subjects RSS — More Feeds

Search

Advanced Search

Contact Privacy Policy

There's a new generation of British entrepreneurs who have a new way of looking at a company and how it markets. As Generation Xers, their view has been shaped by how they see the world and the impact marketing has had on their lives. Innocent Drinks and Howies (a clothing company) have had tremendous success by creating values based businesses. What makes them unique is that instead of of just extracting capital from consumers, they look at their businesses and brand as a way of communicating their personal values and as a means of giving something back. Which they can do, because luckily, they don't have to keep Wall Street happy.

Part one of this story will cover Innocent Drinks and part two, Howies

Innocent, is a smoothie brand that started of on the whim. As a brand it promises fun and transparency and quality. The transparency is interesting; all the employee's pictures are on their web site with emails. Their customer hotline is called the "Banana Phone". They give back to good causes and most important, they don't take themselves too seriously. The success of the brand has come from their unique personality: one example is in how they describe the Detox smoothies, "it can get rid of all of the filthy toxins that seemed like such a good idea at the time" or for a fruit and veg smoothie, "we thought we'd make a fruit and veg super smoothie because, like most other people, we're rubbish at making sure that we eat enough of the stuff."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3014477.stm

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/us.html

Innocent wins employer of the year

These are examples of the raw honesty with which the founders approach the task of marketing their products. They succeed in making the company feel accessible, down-to-earth and connected to its base of consumers. The founders come across as people like you, people would want to meet and talk to. When they market beyond the copy on packaging, Innocent take the same unconventional approach; with grass-covered sampling vans and an annual festival called Fruitstock, where all the proceeds are donated to needy inner-city kids.

Innocent can teach all brands a lesson, even those that have to deliver results to Wall Street. There is an opportunity to bring more human values to any brand, to be more accessible, transparent, friendly and to give back to those around you. Something that's difficult, because most of the time marketing is seen as a military exercise with strategies, targets and objectives. Marketing is often such a rigid process that can suck the humanity and life out of any brand. Today, consumers want brands to level with them, not to preach from on high and want to be surprised and entertained.

Note the recent story about a freelance designer working for Crate and Barrel. He broke away from convention, took a risk in a catalog shoot by sharing his phone number on a Post-It placed on a piece of furniture. This fun, random human act is generating millions of dollars of free publicity for Crate and Barrrel, all because it used surprise, discovery and interactivity to make that all important human connection.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=298534&nid;=25

Part Two on Howies tomorrow or when we get around to it.