Innocent uplift the result of marketing

Innocent has hailed marketing as playing a vital role in growing the size of the company by 20% in value last year.

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The drinks maker is now the largest smoothie brand in Europe and grew in value to £135m, from £112m in 2009, on the back of a 30% uplift in sales year-on-year.

Innocent has made a commitment to invest significantly in its brand for the rest of the year, particularly across its juice and smoothie brands, as it looks to double the size of the business by 2013.

Marketing director Thomas Delabriere says the company’s smoothie marketing activity in particular, which focused largely on above the line campaigns, has “done a great job” in encouraging more consumers into the brand by highlighting its health benefits.

Around 63% of chilled juice drinkers are now aware that a smoothie provides them with two of their daily fruit and veg portions, according to YouGov.

Delabriere adds: “This communication has given consumers a clear reason to purchase and has reinforced our brand image as the provider of healthy and nutritious food and drinks.”

A multi-platform campaign earlier this year to support the launch of a new range of orange and apple juice resulted in awareness of the range reaching 47% in the first two months, Delabriere claims.

He adds: “The campaign has had a strong positive impact on all our brand values and has brought new buyers to the innocent brand. As a result we’ve seen sales grow six-fold since launch.”

Coca-Cola has a majority stake in the company.