All change at Innocent as European expansion starts

Innocent Drinks, the maker of Innocent Smoothies, is recruiting a UK
marketing director following the decision to promote Jamie Mitchell to
the role of UK managing director.

The move is part of a reshuffle that will see the three founders of the
com…

Innocent Drinks, the maker of Innocent Smoothies, is recruiting a UK marketing director following the decision to promote Jamie Mitchell to the role of UK managing director.

The move is part of a reshuffle that will see the three founders of the company, Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright, extend their roles to focus on Innocent’s European expansion.

The company is also beefing up its UK marketing team and has 27 vacancies to fill including brand manager and campaign managers for above and below-the-line campaigns. In addition there are eight similar new positions to fill in foreign markets.

Mitchell, a Harvard graduate and former management consultant at McKinsey, arrived at Innocent 12 months ago and will take up his new role in January 2007.

The moves reflect Innocent’s rapid growth – turnover is expected to double to 70m this year and the company now has offices with bespoke teams in France, Holland, Belgium, and Scandinavia. Next year will see Innocent launch in Germany and Austria.

The recruitment will free the three founders Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright of the “day-to-day running of the UK business”.

Mitchell says: “As the business branches out into European markets, Richard, Adam and Jon all have the job of driving strategy and coaching our teams abroad in the culture of Innocent.

“They’ll still be based here with Adam looking after growth, Jon managing production and Richard remaining brand director, but the reshuffle gives them space to focus on growing abroad.”