Product Portfolio
Innocent’s ‘Primary Product’ is their Smoothies. These products are available to the public in two sizes which are 250ml and 1 Litre. All smoothies mostly contain freshly crushed fruits or even juiced fruits however they sometimes used crushed carrots and ginger. Smoothies are pasteurised to prevent micro-organisms growing which will avoid the product from being contaminated. Innocent also release seasonal smoothies which are usually smoothies with slightly different ingredients.
Innocent even have a product called ‘Superfood Smoothies’. This is the name of the product because these are just ordinary smoothies which contain extra vitamins for example natural vitamin C (Blackcurrants, Acerola Cherries & Rosehips); natural detoc (Pomegranates, Blueberries & Acai - high in antioxidants), natural vitamins A & C (Oranges, Carrots & Mangoes) and natural slow release energy (mangoes, guavas and goji berries). These smoothies also can be bought in either 250ml bottles or 1 litre cartons.
Innocent creates a product called originally know as ‘Juicy Water’ but now known as ‘This Water’, it’s basically a mix of freshly squeezed pure fruit juice, crushed fruits and fresh spring water. These products where created to be more quench thirsting then their smoothies. They are limited into only four different flavours: blackcurrant, cranberry and raspberry, lemon and lime, and mango and passion fruit. Unlike Juicy Water, which was made under the innocent name, This Water is an entirely new brand.
They have created ‘Smoothies for Kids’ which is sweeter then regular smoothies and even smoother then regular smoothies. The label is changed to be suitable for kids as is has facts and activities they can do, and are ideal for lunchboxes, also they can be frozen to make ice-lollies. Each of these smoothies are a portion of a one a day fruit for the children. The Kids smoothies are available in 'wedges' and also 1 litre cartons like the other products.
Marketing Mix
Product
Innocent drinks are the leaders of the UK smoothie market. Innocent’s product range consists of smoothies, Thickies and fruit flavoured water which are known as ‘this water’ or ‘juicy water’. They have released more varieties of products just to attract more customers. By using the name innocent drinks, they follow this name by refusing to put anything bad in their products. This gives them the right to charge people higher than usual, which is also higher than their competitors prices. It’s important for innocent to have the right edge on the competitor when it comes to the product e.g. flavours, they must be flavours known and still unique while enticing the customers to buy the product. Also the packaging must be attractive but again unique from the competitor so that it stands out on the shelf etc. Again it is important to use these factors effectively and they do this by having the right product on the market e.g. To attract people in certain seasons to their product innocent create new packaging relating to that season so for example when it’s Christmas innocent design Christmassy packaging and also they change the ingredients to suit the season as well. This helps innocent sell their products because it’s so attractive that when customers are looking at shelves in supermarkets it’s the first thing that they notice.
Promotion
Innocent use many promotional ideas to attract customers. One example is the ‘Guest Smoothie’ which is produced every three months and designed for option, which also can be used to test new flavours without using expenses on development and research. They use promotion to raise money for charity e.g. at an annual festival (Fruitstock), encouraging customers to knit woolly jumpers and hats. This helps advertise there name and enforce their brand name along with their reputation of being innocent. To create advertisement they send out a fleet of eye-catching vans and Astroturf covered DGV’s (Dancing Grass Vans) to distribute drinks across the country in the summer, this again shows they are innocent as they give them for free on hot days in the summer. They genuinely believe in the word of mouth but the believe to rely on stronger advertisement to spread their organisations name
Price
As there is no preservatives, there is a limited shelf life of only 14 days, so this means they have to think carefully of the price they cannot have it at a high so customers will not purchase it, if they do they will be wasting time and money creating them as they are just being thrown away. But they can’t be sold at a low price as well as they may not have faith in the product because it’s so cheap they may believe the quality of the product is poor, also if the price is too low the business might not be able to meet it’s cost or break even. This will reduce their overall profit. As they have a strong name and quality product with a name that is known they are able to sell their product at high premium prices which is more than their rivals. This is why they have to work closely with research and development when deciding the price, but also the product designers have to make sure that the market researchers are doing the right research in the most effective and reliable way to have the most results and findings to improve the product, to gain market shares and to gain higher profit the next year. Price is important to intrigue the customer while keeping in competition with your rivals also still able to make profit or if it be break even e.g. ‘Morrison’s’ sell smoothies £1 where as ‘Tesco’ sells theirs at £2.09 and ‘Morrison’s’ do this to invite the customers into the shop and continue buying more products and continue shopping at their shop. Even though they may be loosing money on one product while the customers see the popular products at a cheaper price they will be intrigued to buy more products, so in total they will be gaining money.
Place
Innocent sells their products over a range of places all over the Europe and America, however the Netherlands currently represents Innocent’s biggest market outside the UK. This show they have done their marketing research and listening to customers needs and what would make them satisfied with the product when designing the labels, flavours and target audiences, and we know this because their products catches the attention of a wide range of customers and ethnicities. They sell and test their products at festivals such as Fruitstock and they sell their products in 4,000 independent retailers and the major chain of supermarkets e.g. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and Asda. They do this to show and advertise their product to a wide range of customers so their product shares will rise. It is so important when choosing where their product is to be sold so it gives the right message of the company and give full attention to the product and advertisement so that the product can be known and raise awareness to the potential customers in the market.
How do all the functional areas support a marketing activity when launching a new product?
When a new product is launched all the functional areas play vital roles. Finance is the area that controls where the money goes to when launching the product and where the money will come in e.g. how much it will the product get in a certain amount of time, what budgets you will set for each part needed to launch the product like how much will go to advertising and packaging etc. Quality assurance is also vital because it must not be a faulty product and be 100% what we wish to provide and promise to our customers when releasing a new product. The customers services is their for any questions that people may want to know before buying the product as it is not released they may want to know be hand, and it is their for them to ask what would they want to change or to make it more appealing so in a way it is their to be used as a research technique. Administration and ICT Is essential when producing and advertising the product as the labelling on the new product will de done by computer technology as well as leaflets and such when advertising, and the producers will have to have close communication with the administration to make sure all ICT is done correctly and to the standard they wish for the new product. Research and development when launching and creating a new product so you know where to sell the product and how it would appeal to the customers, also how much to sell it for. Operations/production is consulted a lot when launching their product as they check to make sure it is exactly how they want it to be created to appeal to the target market also they how many they want to create when launching a new product as they don’t want to create to many and make a loss.
Conclusion
Innocent must have the right product on the market to grab the attention of the right customers and to be able gain enough and the right attention to give the most potential profit for the product e.g. innocent can’t have a product that has a Christmas theme to it whilst it’s summer time otherwise that will just completely be the opposite thing. They must also have the right price at the right time so that it competes with it’s competitors and gains profit, but they must also base it on the time of year because for example if they raise the price after Christmas holidays they will not have many customers because the majority of people will be low on money after purchasing gifts for friends and family. Innocent also must sell their products in the right department of a shop because for example if it’s in the sweets section of a supermarket the customers may not find it as they will be searching in the drinks or milk section.
