Webchat with innocent - 13th May, 2009

It's been ten years since a group of three friends sold their first smoothies from a stall at a small music festival in west London. Over that period, the business has grown to have a turnover of more than £100 million and their drinks are now sold in over 8,000 outlets across 13 different countries in Europe.

A Book about innocent:

This is a book about innocent, the smoothie company that we started in 1999. We began writing it about two years ago, as we thought it was about time we started documenting the history of our business. So we racked our brains and tried to remember all of the important stuff and sat down to write it. As can happen with these things, it took us a bit longer than we thought, but we finally finished it off just after Christmas. It tells the tale of the first ten years, and is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, bring fresh thinking to their current one or has been told their idea won't work. innocent is a business that almost didn't happen (we were turned down by every bank and investor in the land), and we hope by telling our story we can encourage other people to have a go at doing their own thing.

Read more about innocent on our innocent page

Buy the book

Comments

[dan at innocent]

Thanks everyone. I've got to sign off now. Time to go and do something else that's not on the internet. My eyes are a bit sore.

If there's anything you ever want to know about us that you didn't find out today, check out the book - it's our complete 10 year history. And our website is pretty thorough too.

Thanks

dan

[dan at innocent]

Hello Natalie

You asked "What is your reaction to Mark Thomas's report on Coca Cola which includes evidence of union busting and child labour? Do you accept that they are valid allegations, or have you disproved them?"

I know that Mark (Thomas) and Richard (one of our founders) have been corresponding directly. I haven't personally been party to what they've talked about so can't give you an exact answer, but we are listening to what everyone has to say regarding the Coke deal.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Adam

You asked "Are Innocent doing anything in order to try and encourage Coke to move onto a more ethical footing themselves?"

Interestingly, one of the first things Coke asked us about during discussions was our 100% recycled PET plastic bottle. We were the first drinks company in the world to use this material to pack our drinks in, and they're interested in it.

If we could get them using similar materials, the effect would be massive. Undoubtedly, these are very early days, but we'd love it if they were inspired in any way by the things that we've done in the past (and by what we do in the future).

[dan at innocent]

Hello Hattie

No Village Fete this year. We're trying to think of something new - all ideas welcome - http://innocentvillagefete.typepad.com/innocentvillagefete/2009/05/which-new-way-next.html

[dan at innocent]

Hello Sarah in Swizerland

You asked "I love your smoothies,and use the smoothie recipe book a lot. But I live in Switzerland, and currently can only get small bottles of a limited number of flavours. Do you have any plans to extend the range over here? Will we ever see the veg pots?"

We definitely plan to extend the range in Switzerland. At the moment we are still trying to let people know we exist in the Alps, but once there are enough people buying our drinks, we'll definitely get more recipes on the shelves, and hopefully Veg Pots too. Watch this space.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Jennifer

You asked "Given that you've historically kept most/all of your creative in-house and obviously have a very good creative team, I'm interested in your thoughts as to what role you envisage the successful agency will have, and to what extent they will add to/alter the innocent brand as it stands?"

We love working with agencies. When you find the right people, who are up for a bit of collaboration and idea sharing, then you can come up with even better ideas than if you were just doing it yourself.

Also, our in-house creative team is quite small and very busy - we need more hands on deck, and want to find some people who can inspire us to do better work and think of better ideas. I don't think it's a case of altering innocent - we just need to make the best bits even better.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Stevo

"Why are there so many bananas in nearly all of the drinks?
Are there any plans to introduce Pears into the fruity mix?"

Bananas make smoothies thick - they give them texture and natural sweetness. Along with apples and oranges, they act a bit like salt and pepper - natural seasoning.

But we recently launched our first ever banana-free smoothie - more news here http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things_we_make/smoothies/kiwi_appl_lime/

As for pears, I don't know why we've never gone for pears. I love them myself. I think we should. I'll ask the recipe inventors to get cracking.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Charlie

Have a look at the answer I gave Holly (3.37pm). We have looked at making sorbet/ice cream in the past, and I hope we do again in the future, as I would quite like to eat some.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Tommo

You asked "I just wondered how much you think the way people act and behave at innocent is down to the way their performance is measured and rewarded or, if it's influenced more by the prevailing norms and expectations of the group?"

I think it's the latter. We hire people who are going to live up to the values of the business. Of course, it's really important to measure how people are doing and reward those who are doing a great job, but on the whole we know when we meet someone in an interview whether or not they're going to fit in and add to what we've already built.

(Hope that makes sense)

[Natalie]

What is your reaction to Mark Thomas's report on Coca Cola which includes evidence of union busting and child labour? Do you accept that they are valid allegations, or have you disproved them?

[dan at innocent]

Hello Matthew

You asked "How did you go about creating the iconic Innocent brand? Do you believe that the brand has played a fundamental part to your success?"

If you're specifically talking about the name and the logo, then I think the answer is that they have been an important part of our success. We're called 'innocent' because we wanted a name that summed up the fact that we were making fresh, natural, honest products - 'innocent' seemed to work.

Our logo was designed by a friend of ours who worked at a design agency - we asked him to doodle something sort of angelic and that's what he came up.

But if I could put our success down to one thing, it would be the fact that we make great tasting products. They're very healthy, but if they tasted bad, people would be less likely to buy them again. The fact that they taste great means that people will buy them again, whilst knowing they're doing themselves some good.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Claire

Your question was "Do you think that starting your own business is a good alternative for all of those grads who can't find jobs at the moment?"

Well, I reckon there's no better time if you have a great idea. Obviously, it's going to perhaps be tough to find investors, but if the idea is good enough, someone will invest.

There's a distinction to be made though - just starting a business because it seems like quite a good idea is daft. Most new businesses fold within their first couple of years of trading, so it's a high risk area to get into. But if you absolutely know your idea's going to work, then get cracking.

The idea is the thing.

[Adam Reynolds]

I realise and appreciate how hard it is to get hold of new finance in the current climate but having set itself up on an ethical footing I can't believe that you were willing to take the investment from Coke and not have it affect your image.

Are Innocent doing anything in order to try and encourage Coke to move onto a more ethical footing themselves?

[Hattie]

Hello innocent, will there be another village fete this year?

[dan at innocent]

Hello CW

Your question was "What is the most useful piece of advice you would give to anyone who is starting up their own company?"

It's very simple. It's the fact that you need to be very persistent.

Starting a business is tough. You will have moments where things aren't working, and it will take much longer than you anticipate. People will be quick to tell you why your idea won't work.

But true entrepreneurs don't give up until every angle has been covered, every opportunity taken.

Hearing 'yes', even when lots of people are saying no, can be quite useful.

(Obviously, before you start being persistent, you should check that your idea is a good one. Don't persist with an idea that you know in your heart is a bit rubbish.)

[Sarah]

Hello

I love your smoothies,and use the smoothie recipe book a lot. But I live in Switzerland, and currently can only get small bottles of a limited number of flavours. Do you have any plans to extend the range over here? Will we ever see the veg pots?

[Jennifer O]

Hi Dan,

I work in advertising and have seen recently in trade press that you're embarking on a pitch process to find a new partner ad agency.

Given that you've historically kept most/all of your creative in-house and obviously have a very good creative team, I'm interested in your thoughts as to what role you envisage the successful agency will have, and to what extent they will add to/alter the innocent brand as it stands?

(I really enjoyed reading A Book About Innocent by the way)

[dan at innocent]

Hello Holly

We're working on a few new things at the moment. Most are secret, but I do like the idea of smoothie ice lollies. It's something we've considered in the past.

Our Veg Pots are still relatively new and doing very well. And a couple of weeks ago we launched our Squeezies - squeezy fruit tubes for kids. We have high hopes for them as well.

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things_we_make/squeezies/

[Stevo]

Love the smoothies (except the cranberry and raspberry one), I swear by them over the winter months to keep colds at bay ...

Just a couple of recipe- based questions:

Why are there so many bananas in nearly all of the drinks?

Are there any plans to introduce Pears into the fruity mix?

Cheers,
Stevo

[dan at innocent]

Hello Jennifer

Nice question - How have you kept a rapidly expanding business feeling like a small company?

I think a lot of it has to with paying attention to the small stuff - all of the little details on our packaging, on our website - if you pay attention to the small stuff, you're making a commitment to all of the good stuff that got us to where we are today. If we stopped doing all of that, we'd turn into some dull justlikeeveryoneelse business.

The other important thing is to hire excellent people. And to keep on hiring entrepreneurs. Rich, Jon and Adam started the business from nothing, but we have people at our place who are constantly making something out of nothing every day. Apart from London, we've got a few little offices across Europe, where people are introducing new countries and new people to innocent, and are having to behave extremely entrepreneurially.

As long as we are always looking for new opportunities and challenging ourselves to do stuff better, we'll stay small (whilst growing)

[Charlie Hanville]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for giving up your time.

Ever thought about making any sorbets or ice cream?

[dan at innocent]

Hello Francesca

Thanks for your question. I talked about the specific style in which we write in my reply to Jennifer (3.01pm).

The reason why we actually write stuff on the label is that when we first designed them we found we had a bit of space left over. We didn't really know what to do with it so we started writing things, more to amuse ourselves than anything else. Then it seemed that people liked it, so we wrote some more, and some more...

[Tommo]

Hi Dan,

I've just read the book and I really enjoyed it. I work as a consultant helping firms to develop (or at least get closer) to the kind of culture you describe. You've pretty much defined nirvana as far as behaviours and employee engagement are concerned!

I just wondered how much you think the way people act and behave at innocent is down to the way their performance is measured and rewarded or, if it's influenced more by the prevailing norms and expectations of the group?

Cheers,

Tommo

[dan at innocent]

Hello Sam

We will be giving away plenty of free samples this year, as ever. Could be at an event, a festival, in a supermarket or just on the street. Sometimes it's pretty unplanned, so you never know where we might pop up. But if you know of an event that would benefit from some smoothies, let us know (obviously, we can't do every single one, but we try).

[dan at innocent]

Hello Tom

My personal all time favourite is cranberries and raspberries. But I've been drinking that for 10 years now, so I am quite fond of whatever's the most recent addition.

Our new banana-free recipe is hitting the spot at the moment. It's also very very green (kiwis, apples and limes).

I reckon if we were to do a poll at Fruit Towers, mangoes and passion fruit might come out top.

[Matthew Pollard]

How did you go about creating the iconic Innocent brand? Do you believe that the brand has played a fundamental part to your success?

Thank-you

[dan at innocent]

Hello Jennifer

The tone comes naturally. It has its roots in the fact that we're a company founded by three friends (Rich, Adam and Jon). I went to university with them and started working at innocent a couple of months after launch and then started doing most of the writing, and I just carried on writing in the way that they started.

We always wanted to be approachable and open, and we still do. So the tone is nothing more than the way we all used to speak to each other. We're very fortunate that it seems to work well when talking to other people too.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Rosie

Pretty balanced is my short answer.

There's been a lot written about the investment deal with Coke. For those who don't know about it, there's a whole load more stuff here http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our_story/2009-investment/

For us it's a no-brainer. We want to get more innocent products into more people's hands/fridges. We needed investment to help us do this properly, and to help us really grow our business in mainland Europe in the coming years.

Coke were the only people we talked to who just wanted to let us get on with it, and they paid £30M for a 10-20% stake in the business.

So we get to continue to run the business in exactly the same way we always did, with no interference and with the ability to invest more back into developing new products and getting them out to more people in less time.

Of course, there were people who told us we made the wrong decision, but there are also people who told us it was the right one. We're always grateful that people have such passionate opinions about our company.

Ultimately, we looked at all of the facts and made the decision (and it took us a few months to make sure we'd examined every possible route). And we know it's the right one for the long term future of our business.

[dan at innocent]

Hello Jessica

I occasionally write little bits for howies. They're a good bunch of people who we've got to know over the years.

I think there are other companies out there doing things in a global/local way. And companies that are doing business in an ethical, responsible and often light hearted way.

One of my favourite examples is method, the American cleaning products company. Smart people who found a gap in the market and are filling it with great products using their own voice and principles. http://www.methodproducts.co.uk/

I think if you just take a walk around the shops you'll see a whole host of interesting new businesses doing good things, making good products. I think we've helped inspire other companies, just like we were inspired by great businesses that came before us (Apple, Ben and Jerry's, Body Shop, etc).

[Claire]

Hi Innocent Team! Do you think that starting your own business is a good alternative for all of those grads who can't find jobs at the moment?

[CW]

Congratulations on the book!

What is the most useful piece of advice you would give to anyone who is starting up their own company?

[Holly]

You've recently extended your range to include food, do you have any further plans for expansion? For example into the fruitbased snacks or ice-cream market - smoothie lollies would be great for the summer!

[Jennifer Low]

How have you kept a rapidly expanding business feeling like a small company?

[Francesca]

How did the idea for the style in which you write your labels come about?

[Sam Sanchez]

Hello! Will you do any more public tastings at events? I think I've done these before and it's SO delicious.

[Tom]

Hi - I just wanted to know if Innocent have a particular favourite smoothie?! My fave is strawberries and banana!

[Jennifer]

Was the innocent tone - the way you talk directly to people on your bottles, on your marketing - deliberate, or did it come naturally?

[Rosie]

Hi Innocent - I thought I'd dive straight in there and ask how you feel the reaction has been to your announcement of the investment by Coca Cola - do you think it will affect your business at all?

Rosie, London

[Jessica]

Question for Dan:

Hi Dan,

I was reading my Howies catalogue in bed last night and was surprised to come across a piece that you'd written for it. Although when I thought about it, it wasn't really that surprising as Innocent and Howies seem to share a common philosophy about doing business in an ethical, responsible way, whilst still having fun. So my question is, are there any other companies out there that you've noticed working in the same 'think global, act local' way? Do you think that Innocent has helped pave the way for new start ups to do things differently?

Cheers,

Jessica