Lots of little things make innocent different

In my last post I looked at how to fight back against the own label bully boys, leading with a product punch. One of the key ways to do this was creating differentiation through 100's of little things. I suggested doing a 5 minute brain bank on one of your favourite brands, listing the little things that add up to a big difference.

Here's my 5 minute worth's on innocent, not quite 100, but a pretty good list:
1. the great products, which win in blind test
2. the constant effort to upgrade and improve the recipes
3. the range of flavours, including my fave, strawberry and banana
4. the seasonal special versions, like New Year Detox
5. adding functional "superfood" fruits
6. ethical sourcing
7. the distinctive little "angel" on the pack
8. Dan's brilliant and ever-changing pack copy that makes you smile: a mini magazine on a pack
9. the fact they started by distributing in delis and upmarket grocery stores
10. giving 10% of profits to the innocent charitable Foundation
11. sampling at the innocent live events like this year's Village fete
12. taking the live event out into communities, with local village fetes
13. the innocent grass vans, which get the brand noticed
14. having more than 100 highly motivated people working for you who all love the brand
15. feeling you know something about the people who run the company, and their story
16. the new tetra-packs
17. the innocent for kids range
18. putting effort into merchandising the product well
19. the "Supergran" promotion to raise money for charities at Xmas, with wooly hats for innocent smoothies knitted by grannies
20. not from concentrate (unlike leading competitor, Pepsi-owned PJs)
21. sticking to the same visual identity (unlike PJs which has changed 3 times in as many years
22. having a real banana phone you can actually call
23. having leaders like Richard who don't just talk about the values, they live them
24. Delivering left-over product near the sell-by date to consumers for free, rather than chucking it way
25. innocent blog where they ask for views and debate about issues, such as selling in McDonald's
26. sticking to the core of tasty little drinks, and avoiding the temptation to stretch (so far!)
27. being famous for fruit (careful with Juicy Water boys)
28. hiring fruit specialists, who focus on knowing certain fruits in detail
29. making their pack as environmentally friendly as possible
30. the lovely innocent pin board
31. Finding loads of ways to be nice to their people, which in turn creates great products

Would be cool if people could add their own in the comments section. Or do 'em on your blog and link back to here?

Comments

[Wendy Wilson-Bett]

- Being prepared to admit they're not perfect. In a speech I heard given by Richard, he admitted they are far from perfect environmentally, but striving for improvement.Like their product, that's very refreshing!

- Remaining "porous" to the real world not trapped in a corporate world. eg calling the consumer "those very special people who buy our brands"