Alpha Tribes: Innocent Drinks and PJ Smoothies (Pepsi)

The Contenders: Innocent vs PJ Smoothies

The Winner: Innocent

Summary

At the start of the 21st Century, many brands came to the realisation that they needed to become more personable, sound less stuffy and portray a less corporate persona.  No organisation has embraced this ethos more than Innocent and when it comes to cultural influence, no-one has quite captured this “down-to -earth” approach as well as it has.  Innocent has also built a highly-successful brand community too – think about the millions of people that contribute to the company’s annual ‘Big Knit’ campaign or about Barry, the ordinary customer that took his belief further and had the Innocent logo tattooed on his arm. Innocent – a brand of the times or just a clever business that intuitively understood the power of brand tribes?  

Performance and Sustainability

Innocent is the UK’s fastest growing food and drinks company and the nation’s number one Smoothie brand. Established in May 1999, the company is undoubtedly successful, already generating a turnover in excess of £100m per year and selling more than two million smoothies a week. Innocent also has aggressive growth targets in place, with the aim of establishing itself as the global market leader within the next 10 years.

The company has already seen off its most established competitor, PJ Smoothies, and Coca Cola has bought a stake in the organisation – Innocent is here for the long run.

Innovative Tendencies

Innocent has ensured that innovative tendencies are at the core of its business.  Seasonal versions, kids’ smoothies, the Innocent Foundation, Fruitstock, brand-led promotions like “Buy one get one tree”, ethical sourcing and Veg Pots are all key indicators of the brand’s inventiveness. And who could forget the ‘Banana Phone’, the direct line that ensures consumers can always speak to someone at Innocent Towers if they have a query – a truly innovative approach to customer service.

Tribal Leadership

Innocent does things in its own way; consistently winning awards for its employment practices and seem to have weathered the storm over their liaison with Coca Cola. There’s a reason why the owners are now regulars on the speaker circuit sharing their wisdom and their practices. They’ve done it their own way and they are widely respected for doing so.

Tribal Influence

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and many brands have tried to adopt ‘the Innocent way’. Indeed, even politicians are trying to copy this approach – as Jonathan Freedland recently wrote in The Guardian, “[The Labour campaign team have] taken a look at the branding of Innocent smoothies, hoping the authentic, unspun look might fit their own ‘unairbrushable’ product, G Brown. They were heartened by the reaction to the retouched Cameron poster, which suggests people are sick of the slick trickery associated with the age of Blair.”

Product vs Brand Focus

For Innocent, it’s always been about the brand. The tribe has followed and continues to grow because people truly believe in the brand.

Authenticity/Magnetism/Honesty

Innocent still retains its unshakeable belief in the importance of healthy and natural foods. Whilst, some consumers reacted angrily to the relationship with Coca Cola, which must have caused some damage to its tribe, the company still has a passionate and loyal brand tribe. Innocent remains a magnetic brand that is indeed authentic.

The Loser: PJ Smoothies

Summary

PJ Smoothies, backed by PepsiCo, effectively created the UK smoothie market, before a privately- owned little upstart called Innocent came along and took them on.  It’s fair to say Innocent won. The mythical Pete and Johnny never really existed and the company itself didn’t really stand for anything other than a decent product that was the first to grasp a new part of the drinks market.  With Innocent and numerous own-label smoothie brands entering the market, PJ Smoothies quickly proved to be a one-trick pony and Pepsi decided it would be best to focus on its Tropicana brand, which is still performing well in a tough market.

Whilst Innocent re-shaped the smoothie sub-category, PJ Smoothies seemed to go the other way rapidly. Once the slide started, there was no saving the brand – not even a £4.5 million marketing investment in 2008 and hopes to make their smoothie more mainstream by repositioning the product at lower price point, were able to turn PJ Smoothies’ fortunes around.  In the 21st Century it’s not always about size, product or price points, PJ Smoothies found this out the hard way.

Performance and Sustainability

Being the first into a market place supported by a corporate giant with massive resources means you’re destined for sustained success doesn’t it? Not in PJ Smoothies’ case. The company no longer exists after Pepsi decided it wasn’t convinced by the long-term health or prosperity of the brand. Pete and Johnny’s smoothies have now gone into retirement and it is noticeable how little noise was made when this brand and business vanished off the earth.

Innovative Tendencies

The company pioneered the smoothies category, however it never seemed to get to grips with the changing market or the need for a strong brand belief. With the mythical Pete and Johnny at the core of the brand, the company could have had a lot of fun and built a community around its products but in the end it seemed convinced that the product and marketing spend could win the day.

The problem was that Innocent came along with a better product in the eyes of the consumer and a brand around which a community could form.  In contrast, PJ Smoothies seemingly couldn’t innovate beyond its base product.

Tribal Leadership

For PJ Smoothies, it was originally about the product. It then became about price. There was never a focus on building or motivating a brand tribe.

Tribal Influence

PJ Smoothies had considerable economic impact in the sense that it had a considerable market share and helped to drive awareness of the smoothie market. However the brand is no longer a compelling force and in retirement it doesn’t appear to be missed by many.

Product vs Brand Focus

For PJ Smoothies it was always about the product – the brand even failed to capitalise on the mythical Pete and Johnny to create something more of a personality. Has anyone ever met anyone who worked at PJ Smoothies or aspired to work there in the same way people long to work at Innocent?

Authenticity/Magnetism/Honesty

The brand was clearly not magnetic from a customer experience and belief point of view – it doesn’t exist anymore.

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