innocent double-header: AGM and 100% recylable bottle
Here’s a double-header on innocent.
Queueing up to attend Innocent’s AGM
I posted last year on a worry that innocent would soon be taken over by a big company (e.g. Coke or Unilever). It happened to PJ Smoothies in the UK. They were bought by Pepsi, and ever since they have lost share to innocent. In the USA Coke bought Odwalla, which is sort of an American innocent.
My wacky ideas was as follows:
"Why not invite innocent fans to buy a share of the company….not sure
how. Perhaps you have to send in 100 proofs of purchase, or write a
funny poem, or draw a picture. But you somehow make it a "family
business" in a true sense."
What a nice surprise to see a first step in this direction: inviting people to attend innocent’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). AGMs are normally snore-fests, where the bored board of directors drone through pages of facts and figures on the company’s performance. The innocent one will be very different as they say:
"We see it as being like a get together in a village hall where you
find out what’s going on, have a bit of a debate and then vote on a few
things."
A sign of that the brand has an army of fans is the fact you have to sign up for a ballot that will be used to decide who can attend the meeting. How many companies are in that situation? Its also another of a long list of actions that demonstrate the company’s open-ness and transparency, along with the banana phone, invitations to Fruit Towers and the innocent blog.
I wait to see if I get my invite….
100% recycled bottle
I’ve posted before on innocent’s idea of "Fast Moving Sustainable Goods" (FMSG). Like with the area of open-ness, its the multitude of little things innocent does that makes them different in this area as well (Rainforest Alliance bananas, innocent foundation, Buy One get One Tree promotion etc.).
The latest action is the launch of a 100% recycled bottle, delivering a 55% cut in the carbon footprint of the bottle. As you’d expect, its done in an innocent way:
– The little angel’s halo has become a recycling symbol: nice touch
– Dan and his team have written some lovely copy: "Greener than your Auntie Sue on a cross channel ferry after a big night out at Wetherspoons"
So, 2 more things to add to my long list of what makes innocent special and different.
