Marketing Strategy of Innocent Drinks Essay

1 IntroductionEin truth organization necessarily to perplex a grocery storeing strategy so that they know who argon their competitors, which market they need to tar begin, do they have resources to compete in that market and what strategies they need to evolve to gain competitive horizon in the industry. The most important thing is with the table service of marketing, neighborly club is able to bring ab come out of the closet people awargon of its intersection point. This encompass foc habituates on how the confederation costless drinks highly-developed their marketing strategy in terms of reproach placement and marketing premix and with the help of bone up analysis, what hike up actions they so-and-so decl are to corroborate their market dowry.2 innocent Drinks2.1 ProfileAfter starting the bus topologyiness in 1998 in a friendly focus, liberal drinks have become a very established brand now. not guilty has become ten old age old this year. It is now the la rgest sweet talker brand in UK and the fourth largest oer solely. The conjunction has achieved a sale of over light speedm pounds in spite of appearance a span of ten years and it has now around 250 employees. The c alone(a)er has won m whatever a(prenominal) awards from the year they have started. Its main competitors are Tropi tail enda and own label brands which are relieve quite bunghole in terms of market share.2.2 Company bring ins vindicated drinks has a farseeing begin of products which they claim to be make up of pure and fresh yield and which are free from any kind of preservatives. Their products let in smoothies, yogurt drinks, thickies, kids smoothies (taking account of those returns which children uniform the most), pure fruit squeezes. Their products are available in disparate sizes and shapes. The corporation developed their logo required for a brand in an unconventional manner and now it is storied as dude.3 Marketing strategy and analysis3.1 Market ing objectivesThe family has highlighted the importance of their smoothie by injecting in peoples mind that drinking smoothie is part of their healthy lifestyle. The partnerships objectives are that their product should be delicious, healthy and sustainable and their vision is to make world healthy by providing their products.3.2 Analysis raft are becoming to a greater extent health conscious and that is what the Innocent highlighted among its consumers to increase its customer base and fast(a)ty. 95% of our marketing strategy is what goes in the bottle, as said by Reed. The society is not exploitation online marketing strategies, they are upbeat with the fact that their customers are happy. The fellowship has restricted its marketing and branding to its packaging. The company didnt involve in heavy advertisements in the beginning, instead they use their product as a mean to communicate with their consumers. The owners were in favor of print to advertise their product so the y had it on the bus sides which bequeath move everyw here(predicate) in the UK. Innocent has a mixture of both market predilection and product orientation. Developing a user friendly website, publishing a book, inviting people to visit the companys headquarter, banana telephone where customers can instal suggestions and view are clear signs of market point company.Secondly, they are feeling conscious. They tip over their product a fruit and not do of fruits and that is what they requisite to take up in the eyes of their customer. The prices of their product are high except they justify it on the basis of choice by saying that preservatives and concentration reduces the cost and they want the best thing for their consumers. But the companys over confidence regarding its product being the best and healthy one may divert its economic aid from customer postulate and demands. Because the competitors may come with same nutritional values to a greater extentover better taste, it can then be a threat to a company. The company has a marketing team which is winding in analysing competition and come up with rising ideas regarding the products and strategies. And on that point is a communication team in akin manner which make an effective communication link with its consumers by website, news and feedback.3.2.1 Brand strategy and side stigmatization acquires value for the product and it influences everyone directly or indirectly. Innocent made their brand stand reveal from the assemblage by adopting innovative ways of marketing and that was their beginning in differentiating their product from their competitors Brand piss is very critical and it should be consistent with what the company is onerous to deliver and how it wants to be perceived by customers. By establishing brand name as liberal, the company is trying to convey the message of being pure. mark has been effectively used as a strategic tool for marketing by innocent smoothies and that helps the company to maintain its share in the market or in keeping its competitive position. Innocent has developed its brand image by providing excellent satisfaction, by being genuine, healthy and socially responsible in the eyes of their consumers and once the image is developed, they were able to make the customers. It is because of brand and its perceived value that consumers are loyal and committed to the Innocent products and they do not look for any substitutes (Ginden, 1993).Customers besides perceive it less uncivilized in buying a brand product with which they are emotionally attached. It is more important for products like innocent drinks which the customers have to consume and which has direct impact on their health and body. For keeping a brand alive, it is very important to go for heavy progresss and advertisements and innocent drinks have used their resources very affectively in advancement (OMalley, 1991). Innocent drinks have too taken a move to stay in tou ch with its consumers by do a family section. It is a method of communication and reminding the consumers about the products and also to get feedback from customers.The company is utilise family branding policy as all of its products use the company name. This reduces the cost of having different brand policies for different products. The key to positioning is to make it important in the eyes of consumer that you are incomplete without the product and on thebasis of this, innocent smoothies has kept their customers intact with them. Innocent smoothie is considered a bounty brand by its consumers as they relate high cost and high quality with the product as compared to its competitors. The following enrol is as perception of customers about Innocent drinks.3.2.2 Marketing mixTo make the product made, company needs not only the products but a mixture of elements which is called marketing mix. The marketing mix is usually intentional with the help of marketing research and it is also based on judgment. Every element of marketing mix compliment for each one other(a) so efficient integration is required to make it successful. Innocent company has used the marketing mix quite efficiently and effectively.ProductInnocent produces fresh and healthy drinks for its customers. The company has a lot of product range including juices, smoothies, thickies, veg. pots and some of their drinks target specific customers as drinks for the kids. The drinks are available in different sizes and in different packings. Their main focus is to keep things ind surfaceing and they are also very oft conscious about the fruits and the bring ups from where it comes. Innocent smoothies distinguish themselves from other brands on the basis of award and being 100% natural without preservatives, concentrates and colorings. The company has also described the negative consequences of concentration and that a product loses its quality, taste and nutritional value and it is done just to reduce cost and reservation more money.The company makes its drinks with little carbon impact. Same is the case with the recycling. Most of their packing is 100% recyclable and they are making efforts to use minimum material and that too with little carbon footprint. Some people are also fascinated from the product just because of the labeling and packaging. Labeling helps in promoting a brand and provides useful information about the product. So innocent drinks made their labeling very different and the kind of which can amuse and make people to micturate a second look at it. Innocent drinks is enjoying product width from smoothies to veg. pots as well as product length in terms of different flavors which are available toconsumers and that has really helped the company to maintain its market share and a protection against the current un definitety occurred in the economic environment.Price in that respect are number of factors that can have an impact on the price. The company is charging high prices as compared to its competitors and still has the largest market share. It has been practical only because of the brand name and positioning. Since the company justifies its high cost with the high quality they are providing to its consumers, so their prices are also at premium level. People paying a premium price because now they have an emotional attachment developed with the brand But since the economic make noise has affected everyone so people are becoming more price sensitive and that is the reason that innocent drinks has lost some market share this year. The company emphasized that it is less expensive to purchase innocent smoothie than to buy fruit and make it at your own.PromotionInnocent is bestowing out various activities to create awareness about the product among the new or potential consumers and to remind and convince the current purchasers to go for the product. The company uses different methods of promotion from advertisement to personnel s elling. They have done advertising and sales promotion very effectively. Innocent has used different approach for its marketing by targeting consumers of different products with different advertisements and campaigns. Website is perpetually an effective method to communicate, promote and making kindred with the consumers. Banana phone is used to get feedback from the customers.Customers are allowed to visit their saturnineices. This strategy is used to develop strong relationship with them. Innocent has also taken stand from television commercials and they are using it since 2005. Moreover, to make people aware about their products, the company once made a very big compaign on the television and it regularly arranges festivals as well. Innocent used all the leading newspapers for their advertisement. Online advertising such as on facebook has also been used by innocent as a strategy for promotion.Innocent has also developed public relations. The company has been engaged in certa in social projects such as talent money to charity, providing drink for homeless etc which are important for large term sustainability of handicraft and to have a good image in the eyes of your consumers.PlaceIn the beginning, Innocent used the local shop for its products but as the favoriteity of products multiplied, the company gradually gained a spacious market share. The company has found a unique method of selling and distributing their products using cow vans. Innocent drinks use intensive distribution strategy by placing their product in as many places and dismission as possible. The company strategy has been shifted from push to pull as being the largest seller in UK and successful brand name, consumers demand the product. It is now available in more than 7000 retail outlets including the big names as Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda and coffee shops like Starbucks. Export has already been started by the company in Europe and Ireland. Children also got great glide path to smoot hies after the company made a contract with the company offering catering go away to school. After the enthronization by the coke in the company, innocent will now have more distribution channels and will have access to new places as well.3.2.3 SWOT analysisSWOT analysis has been carried out to evaluate where the innocent smoothies is standing with respect to the market position. It also helps innocent to crumple how strength can be used to exploit opportunities and how weaknesses can be overcome to avoid possible threats. Strengths * brand name / value already developed * company image * customer loyalty * market leader * distribution channels * investment by coca cola * wide product range and substitutes for breakfast / fruits Weaknesses * high prices as compared to competitors * lower take up among old people * not popular in evening durations * can be made at home and even in cafes and shops Opportunities * new products for evening which enhances night sleep * emerging mark ets showing increase every year in market growth * global expansion Threats * competitors (Tropicana) and products by supermarkets as Tesco * new entrants because of market potential * price sensitive people * creditc take inch can affect demand Why are concentrates so rubbish?We believe that food companies should do everything they can to get food to people in its natural state. A concentrated orange juice is OJ that has been boiled, then evaporated in a vacuum and then homogenised, resulting in a thick tar. This is then frozen and shipped to countries where it is unfreezeed, reconstituted with water and has add backs added (to enhance flavour and aroma).The concentration change not only affects the nutritional value of the juice but also the taste. only the good scarf out gets boiled away and youre left with a sugary syrup which then has to have a lot of horrid stuff added back afterwards to make it taste like fruit again.Basically, concentrated juice tastes cooked, has virtu ally no nutritional value and thats why we wont ever use concentrates. It has to be pure fruit for us.How should I look after and store your drinks?Please cheer please keep our drinks cold. We cant stress that enough. Because we dont use any preservatives or other artificial stuff that might make them last a bit longer, they need to be well cared for. They should be stored between 0-5 C, which, luckily enough, is the temperature of your average fridge. So stick them in the chiller as in short as you get home from the shops, or if youre saving a bit for later, dont leave it on your desk pop it back in the fridge for a while. Once opened, we reckon our drinks are best drunk on the same day, although as previously mentioned you should refrigerate them between sips. If you leave them out of the fridge, they will characterually start to ferment. This is a completely safe, natural mental process but it means the smoothie goes fizzy. It normally causes tiny bubbles in the drink. Click here to risk out more about fermentation. If you louche a drink to be fermented, please dispose of the contents of the bottle and contact us at helloinnocentdrinks.co.uk or call the banana phone on 020 8600 3939 with details about the bottle or carton and its enjoy by date. So, please do keep our smoothies nice and cold. back to topHow long do they last?Our drinks are made from 100% pure fruit and nothing else. Because we dont use preservatives, stabilisers or additives they generally last about as long as a pint of milk. Please always keep them chilled and drink them on the same day you open them.Can I freeze your smoothies?Our smoothies are made of nothing but whole crushed fruit and pure juices, so its completely safe to freeze them. However, we dont really recommend it because they taste much better fresh. To be more specific, bananas dont freeze well when they defrost they go chocolate-brown and a bit slimy. Check out this picture of a fresh banana and one thats defrosted. We know which we would rather drink.If you do decide to freeze one of our smoothies, please make sure you defrost it in the fridge so it stays chilled at all times and note that this might take as long as 3 days. You should also drink it on the day of defrosting.What is love?baby dont hurt me, dont hurt me, no more.Do you have any drinks that dont block up banana?Our kiwis, apples & limes smoothie (also available in 1 litre cartons) and yoghurt, vanilla extract bean & honey thickie are both completely banana free.Are your products organic?No theyre not organic. We want to minimise pesticide and other agrochemical usage on our fruit, and this is one of the requirements of both the rain forest adhesion and also the innocent minimum standards for our fruit growers. Both sets of standards also ban the use of any of the irritating dozen pesticides as listed by the Pesticide Action Network. To ensure the safety of our drinks we conduct independent tests on our ingredients, at anaccred ited laboratory, throughout the harvest calender. Of the test results with anything being detected at all, these detections fall well within the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) that you are allowed. Each year our policy will be reviewed and examen procedures will be updated.And what about all of those plastic bottles?Since January 2008, all our smoothie recipes are in 100% recycled PET* plastic.Weve been working on this project for quite a while. In 2003 we started using bottles made from 25% recycled plastic and in 2006 improved it to 50% recycled. All the time, people told us that it would be impossible to get to 100%, but we tried and tried and tried again. And now were here. 100%. It means a 20% reduction in materials (weve made the bottle lighter) and a 55% carbon reduction in terms of the bottles manufacture. Its a big step for a little company. Were very proud.*PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate. Clear plastic, in other words, said our Stu, who knows about these things.So can I recycle your plastic bottles and tetra pak cartons? Weve got a whole section on our website dedicated to this. You can double back it out here. back to topAre your products suitable for vegans?Smoothies Were afraid as we cant guarantee that our drinks are shellac free, due to the small chance that tiny kernels of shellac do make it into our drinks, we cant class our drinks as being suitable for vegans. Thickies no (they contain dairy produce and honey).Are your products suitable for pregnant women?Yes. Although weve heard that some of them prefer coal.Can infants and children drink your products?Infants under 12 months shouldnt drink our vanilla and honey bean thickies. The Food Standards Agency says that honey should not be given to infants under 12 months old because of the small risk of botulism. Infantilebotulism occurs when honey contains Clostridium botulinum spores, which infect the infant gut that then produces the toxin. This is not a problem for anyone aged mo re than 12 months. Regarding children in general, our smoothies, thickies and juices are OK they contain nothing but crushed and juiced fruit (and low-fat bio yoghurt in the thickies), so the health properties should be welcome for kids who quite like sweets and crisps too. But it should be noted that our smoothies and juices contain a large amount of naturally occurring fruit sugars. For this reason you can add water to bring down them if you like.The FSA also recommends that for children, you should try to keep fruit juice to mealtimes. In general, look on the ingredients panel and bridle the amount of fruit in each bottle. If it seems like a reasonable amount of fruit, then it will be OK. If you dont usually give your child this much fruit, then adjust the amount accordingly. We make a range of drinks specifically for children which you can find out about here. Theyve got less bits in them, as children seem to prefer their smoothies that way.Do you think I should dye my hair?N o. Ive always thought that blonde suited you.Why do you always use apples, oranges and bananas in your smoothies? These trio fruits are a bit like the salt and pepper of the fruit world, except in that respect are three of them. We use them for natural sweetness (apples), natural sharpness (oranges) and natural thickness (bananas). It beats using artificial stuff.So why dont you call your mangoes and passion fruits smoothie apples, mangoes and passion fruits? We name our smoothies according to whichever flavours you can taste the most. So we feel if we were to start calling the smoothies apples, mangoes and passion fruits, it would be a bit misleading, as what you really taste when you take a mouthful are the mangoes and passion fruits. All of the ingredients are printed in full on the label, so its not like were trying to be sneaky or anything.Do your products contain nuts?Our veg pots may contain traces of nuts but our smoothies and juices contain no nuts whatsoever (which keeps the squirrels happy).Are your drinks GM-free?Yes they are.How do you make sure your fruit is from honourable sources?Our ultimate aim is that we are proud of every piece of fruit that we use. We want to buy our fruit from farms that look after both their workers and the environment. To achieve this we have created our own set of minimum standards, that detail our expectations for all the relevant social and environmental issues. We are in the process of rolling out these standards with our suppliers, and will work together with them to implement the agreed action plans. We feel that it is really important to understand the issues relevant to each country, and the pressures faced by our farmers, so we are meeting with more and more of our growers. As our fruit comes from all over the world this is a huge task, but one to which we are passionately committed.We know that there is no point recreating the wheel so we also work with established international accreditation organizations such as the Rainforest attachment. We first met them at a banana plantation in Costa Rica, and were so impress with the work they do, that we now only buy banana from Rainforest bail bond sanction plantations. The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. It not only looks at farm workers rights and wellbeing, but also protects ecosystems on the farms, which upgrades bio diversity. We believe this sustainable approach is the best one. A well run farm with motivated workers means better quality fruit and better productivity, which means we get nicer fruit and the farms are more profitable.Are you going to move all your fruit to Rainforest Alliance approved sources? No, it just isnt applicable for certain countries and certain fruits, like those that we source from the UK. But as the Rainforest Alliance expands into new certification territory, like pineappl e, well be keen to keep on building our relationship with them. As they develop new standards for newfruits, we will assess their suitability for our growers. Whilst we dont like to boast, it turns out they quite appreciate the work we do and they showed their gratitude last year with this rather fetching trophy. removed of the world of fruit they certify all sort of things including coffee, cocoa and forestry. Find out more here www.rainforest-alliance.org back to topWhy dont you buy fairtrade fruit?We take the ethics of our affix chain incredibly seriously and took great care to find the best independent certification outline that matched our values, and suited our needs the best. Fairtrades primary focus is on the prices paid to the farmers and social issues for small farms and cooperatives. Its a great scheme but we felt that Rainforest Alliance looked at a broader spectrum of issues (both social and environmental), which we thought was a better fit with our own ethos. Also, the Fair Trade scheme predominantly certifies cooperative and and family run small holdings not all of our fruit is available from these types of farms, so Fairtrade isnt always applicable to our growers. Articles like this one from The Observer Food Monthly debate the key differences between Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade (this ones about coffee).What is the innocent foundation?The innocent foundation is a grant giving charity that was set up in July 2004 with the idea of bringing nature and communities closer together for vulgar benefit. innocent donate 10% of our profits each year to charity, primarily to the innocent foundation, which funds bucolic development projects in the countries where our fruit comes from. Find out more here.Do your drinks actually contain burnished trumpets/pebbles/cricket pavilions/small churches? No.Can I have some free drinks for my event please?We get scores and lots of requests for our drinks and as much as wed love to help everyone out, it would just be impossible. Instead, we give any excessdrinks we have to the homeless through the charity, Fareshare. You can find out a bit more about the good work they do here.Okay. But its for charity. Does that make any difference?Generally, we feel its better to be able to offer a significant amount of support to one cause rather than a little backing to lots of different ones. With that in mind, every year we donate 10% of our annual profits to the innocent foundation. Its tabularize is to fund Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that work to bring nature and communities closer together. You can see a bit more about the projects we support at www.innocentfoundation.org. Hope that all makes sense.Im running a marathon/ climbing Everest/ shaving off all my chin hair for charity. Can you sponsor me please? Again, whilst we gesticulate anyone who gives up their time to sit in a bath of baked beans or run further than the corner shop to raise money for charity but if we sponso red everyone who wrote to us, wed be living off beans and no toast. Instead, we make sure that we give something back to the countries where we buy our fruit, via the innocent foundation.Can I resume your car?The clutch has gone funny, the fan belts shot and there are no windows. Plus Ive forgotten where Ive parked it.Lend us a fiver.No.4 Conclusions and Recommendations4.1 ConclusionInnocents success has been made possible just because of effective and innovative way of marketing which they adopted. Innocent used every kind of channel, big or small in carrying out its promotion. They used every kind of that marketing strategy in which low cost was involved but its impact washigh. The company updates the website and labels regularly. Innocent changed the label quite frequently to maintain the attention of its consumers Innocent made the customers loyal by doing little things but they made huge difference for them. Innocent was of the view that making their drinks easily accessible t o customers is very crucial and success of the company depends on it. The innocent also staged a free event for its customers as a means of giving thanks to its customers for using their products. Innocent always remained active in interacting with its customers. The owners of the company didnt have much idea about how things should be done and no strategic plan was involved in making the brand name, its packaging and process of first appearance it but surprisingly their idea was welcomed by the consumers as it was different and something they can amuse or laugh at.Innocent dominance has been affected in 2008 after the introduction of Tropicana in the market. In April 2009, investment by Coca-Cola is seen as a wise step because as a result of decrease in sales, it was necessary to maintain the brand value. Since the company is facing severe competition from rivals such as Tropicana so funding was required to be in the competition. Coke will increase the distribution channels and g ive access to more markets by making customer aware of the product. Innocents premium positioning is a key advantage and it also has developed a strong connection with its consumers over the course of time. Brand loyalty is good but they have to look at their prices if they want to sustain their position as people are becoming more price conscious. It is more difficult to retain the customers than to attract new customers4.2 RecommendationsInnocent drinks should closely monitor the environment and conduct market research to identify issues as consumer behaviour, competitors strategies which can have an impact on their brand or positioning (OMalley, 1991). This will help the company to be proactive in their approach rather than reactive. As the market is becoming more global, there will always arise new opportunities but also threats as consumers also have access to variety of products from different countries with different tastes and nutritional values so innocent drinks moldiness consider what their consumers want, their preferences if they want to survive and be successful in the long term. SWOT analysis has identified the threats and weaknesses which innocent shouldconsider and the opportunities which they should exploit by using their strengths.There are some strategies which can be adopted by innocent smoothies as market leaders. They should try to expand the market either by market sharpness or by exploring new potential markets. Innocent can also try to protect their current market share which has fallen because of Tropicana by introducing new products into its line. More aggressively, they should try to increase their market share by reducing their prices which are quite high currently and by further increasing promotion. Innocent should also make good use of collaboration with the Coke as it can provide the company with lot of distribution channels.Innocent must focus on strategies which help them to attract new consumers and in retaining the exist ing customers. Different promotional strategies can be adopted. The company can offer discounts, free samples for new customers to try, free gifts, coupons for customer loyalty, tickets for different events etc. innocent should also ensure that its product is available in as many places as possible. They can increase the availability of products on train/bus stations, gasoline pumps and a lot more health clubs.Customer satisfaction is very important because that will encourage them to buy the products of the company again and they will also become a source of advertisement by referring the companys product to others as well (Gilson, 1986). It is the least expensive method of advertisement and promotion. Innocent can adopt some defensive strategies against Tropicana as well. Innocent can reduce the prices in the market in which the rivals have greatest share. Secondly, it is good to have information about competitors move in advance so that assign actions can be taken. Diversificat ion can also be done if the markets are becoming more vulnerable.The research has also shown that smoothies are not consumed in later part of the day so the company can make some drinks which are light, easy on stomach and which help the consumers in getting better sleep at night.Innocent should make use of its brand name by launching new products like ice cream. Sometimes, new products help in compensating the loss of failed products but the company must remain conscious in launching a new product because it is difficult to develop, have to carry out rigorous market research and there are also long lead time involved and if it fails, it will bring bad image to the brand and will affect the brand faithfulness so the company must use all the processes of product development from idea generation to commercialisation in order to mitigate the risks associated with new products.ReferencesBaines P., Fill C., Page K.,(2008). Marketing. New York Oxford University Press, Pg 374-382Ginden, R. (1993), The name back, Cheers, pp.59-62.Innocent drinks. http//www.innocentdrinks.co.uk (accessed 02/12/2009) Mintel. http//academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen academic/my reports/display (accessed 03/12/2009) OMalley, D. (1991), Brand means business, Accountancy, 107, pp.107-8.