Product passion at Innocent

Just back from talking at the European Food & Beverage Summit, where I saw a truly inspirational presentation by the marketing director of innocent drinks. What a company. They really do remind you about why you got into marketing and branding in the first place.

One of the big things I took away from the session was the real passion innocent have for the product. People often talk about the entertaining and humorous side to the brand, and in particular the ever-changing stories they write on their labels. But this emotional "sizzle" is only possible because of the under-pinning of a great product. Here are some of the ways the product passion is lived at innocent:

1. A great product to start with: smoothies that taste fab, and are 100% natural. Many brands would kill to have an ingredient list as "innocent" as this one.

2. People in the company actually use the product: a true test of how good the product is. People use it when they’re at home, not just when they’re at work and have to!

3. Simply better: working on the simple ways of making existing products even better. Such as adding 6 extra strawberries in the banana and strawberry one.

4. Friendly experts: finding new and interesting fruits and bringing them to the people. Such as the new "superfood" range of smoothies.

 5. Test, test, test. Innocent constantly blind test their products against competition to make sure they are performing well.

5-minute workout: do the product passion check for you brand and business. How does it compare to that at Innocent?