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Coca-Cola-owned innocent Drinks has unveiled its major pan-European campaign since 2022, touting the nutritional value of its ingredients with a playful push, “Even More Innocent.”
The work follows an 18-month hiatus from big budget ad campaigns, with Innocent using the end of a strategy cycle to regroup and sharpen its proposition. It also comes just over two years after the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned an ad from Innocent for “misleading” consumers about its sustainability practices.
Innocent’s CMO, Kirsty Hunter, told ADWEEK the business used its break from big budget advertising to take a “step back” and get “really clear” about its purpose, vision and long-term goals.
“Sometimes when you’re growing, you keep adding stuff on to [your marketing strategy], but it’s important to take a moment and ask, ‘Where are we going?’ and ‘What are we trying to achieve?” she said.
The resulting campaign takes the brand back to basics to promote its Super Smoothies and iPlus drinks ranges. The positioning is aligned with Innocent’s business objective to get Europeans to consume a billion more portions of fruit and vegetables by 2030, because while the World Health Organization recommends eating 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day, only 12% of Europeans are doing so.
Created by Innocent’s in-house agency and London-based creative shop Neverland, “Even More Innocent” showcases how much fruit, vegetables and vitamins are squeezed into each Innocent bottle; so much so that the marketing copy explaining the nutritional benefits barely fits on the posters or social posts.
The multichannel platform will run across all formats including TV, out-of-home and social. As well as supporting the brand’s fruit and veg ambitions, Hunter sees this push as an opportunity for Innocent to drive penetration among younger health-focused consumers.
“Our big strategic challenge is using this functional range to build awareness and do that,” she explained. “We’ve always had a really clear tone of voice as a brand,” Hunter added, saying she wanted to keep the creative brief simple to help Innocent excel within the “quite traditional” soft drinks category.
Going back to basics
Founded by three friends, Innocent made its debut in 1999 at the stall of a small jazz festival in London. It was long ahead of the brand purpose curve, launching with a mission to “make it easy for people to do themselves some good.” By 2013, Coca-Cola had taken full control of the business in a deal worth more than $350 million.
The brand underwent a period of rapid growth in the years that followed. However, it remained purpose-driven in its marketing, highlighting its ethical farming and sustainability initiatives. It also forged a strong, engaging tone of voice on social.
Recent years have seen Innocent’s creative output underscoring its role in contributing to a “healthy, happier planet.” Such campaigns have included its 2021 animation “Little Drinks Big Dreams” and its 2022 experiential “Big Rewild”project, for which it partnered with local organizations across Europe to create and protect natural spaces and fruit orchards.
Critics including activist group Plastics Rebellion questioned how this messaging contrasted with the brand’s use of plastic bottles (which they claim Innocent produces 32,000 of each hour). It also highlighted owner Coca-Cola’s position as one of the world’s top plastic polluters.
Innocent fell foul of the U.K’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and was reprimanded for “misleading” consumers with “Little Drink, Big Dreams”, which featured a cast of characters singing a catchy jingle about “fixing up” the world accompanied by images of people recycling and squeezing fruit from a tree into Innocent smoothies.
At the time, Hunter told ADWEEK advertisers needed “more consistent guidance” they could get behind when it came to marketing sustainability claims. “My biggest fear is that brands and businesses will feel as though they can’t do anything because they’re too nervous,” she said. “This is one of the biggest challenges [society] has ever faced, and brands have a massive role to play in solving it.”
Now, she said discussions are ongoing with both regulators such as the ASA (which recently updated its environmental claims guidelines for brands) and senior marketing peers to get more “clarity and simplification” around green advertising. For her, Innocent’s latest work isn’t a pivot away from its sustainability messaging, which will continue to be part of its communication strategy.
Working alongside Karina O’Gorman, who Innocent hired as its head of force for good to oversee sustainability and nutrition in 2021, the brand will continue to be a business that puts investment into “doing good all round for to profit people and the planet.”
“This is something we monitor carefully; it’s on our company scorecard, it’s part of our business strategy,” Hunter said, pointing to initiatives such as its £1 million Farmer Innovation Fund, which supports regenerative fruit and vegetable farming within its supply chain.
