Innocent's branding - has it gone nuttier than a fruit cake?!

At Nae Bother we really admire the Innocent brand and its marketing, particularly its CSR campaign, The Big Knit. Recently though, the company's branding has gone nuttier than a fruitcake, to use the only fruit-related idiom we could think of! Since the UK company was founded in 1999, it has developed a reputation for its fun, quirky branding which differentiates itself from its rather ‘boring’ competitors. Importantly, even with Coca-Cola owning 58% of the company, the brand has clearly maintained its independence with regards to marketing, whilst taking advantage of Coca-Cola’s extensive distribution network to grow the company. 

Why are we now questioning the company’s branding one may ask, and wondering if it has lost the plot? Well, it all boils down to the labelling that we spotted on a 900ml bottle of apple juice - see exhibit A below.

If you buy Innocent’s products you’ll be quite used to seeing humour in its labelling and branding; however, in order to get away with it and not look ridiculous, it needs to be funny and make sense. We think Innocent is trying too hard here and comes out looking a bit silly. Hand-picked apples, an aghast otter and a tank top – what on earth is going on!? We can only wonder if the guys over at the company’s HQ, Fruit Towers, have been using the apples to make cider and have become a bit over-exuberant during product testing. Is the company planning to roll out an alcoholic brand extension?