Kaizen Event - Helena Langdon on The Future of Content Marketing
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The Head of Digital and Communities at Innocent Drinks reveals what makes their brand so successful.
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Kaizen Event - Helena Langdon on The Future of Content Marketing
- 12. So people started writing to us
- 14. They asked us to start a blog
- 16. And a newsletter
- 18. And finally, we got a Facebook account
- 20. 1. Keep it personal
- 36. 2. Make the hard sell interesting
- 43. 3. Learn by doing
- 48. “ ” “ ”
- 49. 4. Be relevant (but be relevant in your own way)
- 57. 5. If you’re 70% sure, go for it
- 62. The Future
- 64. 6. Hire the right people
Editor's Notes
- A big part of our success is down to our drinks. We’ve innovated in the right way at the right time to give us pretty big present-day portfolio of tasty, healthy drinks. Without great drinks we’d be nowhere. And we’ve hired smart, passionate people, if I can say such a thing without sounding like I’m full of myself. And without the right drinks and the right people in the business, not to mention good fortune and all the right wider cultural and social trends towards health, we’d never have got to where we’ve got to. But one of the ingredients of our success has been our ability to build a meaningful relationship with our drinkers, to talk to them in a way that connects with them, and makes them want to talk back.
- Innocent has been an incredible British business success story – probably one of the most successful British start up brands of the last 20 years. We turned 18 last year.
- And we’ve grown a great deal in that time. Going from selling smoothies in cafes in West London to selling drinks all over Europe. And selling a lot of drinks. We’re actually the fastest growing soft drinks brand in Europe, and have been for the last couple of years. And there are many reasons why we’ve been successful.
- Innocent has always been social. It is an inherently social brand.
- It was started by these three chaps, RJA – smart, inspiring people who were mates from uni and decided to go into business together, eventually setting on the idea of fruit smoothies. Before they went ahead and quit their jobs to make smoothies they did some research
- Hired a stall at a jazz festival in parsons green, London. Sold homemade smoothies their. Big sign next to stall ‘do you think we should give up our day jobs to make these smoothies’ people voted using their empty bottles. Yes bin full, no bin almost empty if you ignored the three bottles from each of the boys’ mums. But true to their word they resigned and made a go of it. I love that story because it’s true, a lot of brand start up stories aren’t, or at least wildly embellished, but I love it most because without a willingness to ask people what they think and the conviction to listen to what they had to say we might never have started, so right from the outset we’ve valued talking to people.
- In lots of ways our packaging was our 1st social media platform. At a time when no one else was going this we decided to start talking to people on our packs – little notes here and there that spoke to people in a very human, natural voice. Humans like to be talked to like human beings. We don’t talk to our mates using dull, formal language, so it didn’t make sense to us to talk to people in that way.
- Or visit us. This is entrance to old office. Funnier without the break ins. I remember first time I saw that pop round message on a bottle and I thought what a weird thing to write, I wonder if anyone actually visits, well they do, hundreds every year in fact. And anytime someone pops round someone from the innocent team, could be in marketing, IT, supply – will stop what they’re doing and show them around for half an hour. So well before the days of twitter and facebook, we had a community of people contacting us on email, phone and in person. And without a doubt that heritage has helped us build this two way relationship. To become a brand that means something to people, and not just a company that makes something.
- As well as talkig to people we invited them to get in touch. In an informal way – combination of chatting informally elsewhere on packaging, and informal request to get in touch meant lots of people did call us or email us.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- This is our wall of love, big cork board that sits at front of fruit towers. We get sent all kinds of weird and wonderful things – from handwritten letters to photos of hamsters poking their heads out of our smoothies. We put the cream of the crop on here. And this isn’t normal in the world of business. We put fruit in bottles, at the end of the day, but people – normal people, mostly – want to talk to us. I’m not suggesting that everyone who buys a drink rushes home to spend three days knitting us a bespoke wall hanging, but we’re pretty unique in terms of the quantity and especially the quality of that contact. In terms of genuinely possessing a two way relationship with our drinkers. And that’s what I’d like to focus on today.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- This is our wall of love, big cork board that sits at front of fruit towers. We get sent all kinds of weird and wonderful things – from handwritten letters to photos of hamsters poking their heads out of our smoothies. We put the cream of the crop on here. And this isn’t normal in the world of business. We put fruit in bottles, at the end of the day, but people – normal people, mostly – want to talk to us. I’m not suggesting that everyone who buys a drink rushes home to spend three days knitting us a bespoke wall hanging, but we’re pretty unique in terms of the quantity and especially the quality of that contact. In terms of genuinely possessing a two way relationship with our drinkers. And that’s what I’d like to focus on today.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- And we get great ideas from those conversations
- So now every year we do our bit to raise awareness of penguins. Which generally consists of clarifying what is and isn’t a penguin
- For lots of people. The world is confused. We help clear up the confusion. One idea – one response from paul murphy And we’ve ended up talking to thousands of people directly about penguins.
- And so it is that adults in fruit towers are paid money to spend a few hours trying to get a grape to sit inside a raspberry. Thousands of people liked and shared this – far, far more than would ever engage with a picture of our drinks. But we don’t just do it for a laugh. It’s great way to give us cost effective reach. Helps to keep innocent in the minds of our drinkers in a really positive way.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- There isn’t always the space to do interesting things, sometimes you need to keep it simple. We introduced a new drink last year called innocent bubbles. Pure fruit and sparkling spring water in a can. Quite different to the juices and smoothies we’re most famous for. So all of our advertising focused on making it really clear what’s inside that can, to help people understand it’s not a smoothie or a juice. Now when a bus goes past on the streets of London you don’t really have time to take in a lot of info, so we kept things really simple. There’s no big laugh here, it’s not the world’s most exciting ad, but it serves an important purpose for us.
- But as part of that same campaign, in those places where we had time to talk to people, like on underground platforms where people are waiting for their tube, we communicated that same message with a bit more charm. More of a human touch.
- But as part of that same campaign, in those places where we had time to talk to people, like on underground platforms where people are waiting for their tube, we communicated that same message with a bit more charm. More of a human touch.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- And so it is that adults in fruit towers are paid money to spend a few hours trying to get a grape to sit inside a raspberry. Thousands of people liked and shared this – far, far more than would ever engage with a picture of our drinks. But we don’t just do it for a laugh. It’s great way to give us cost effective reach. Helps to keep innocent in the minds of our drinkers in a really positive way.
- Going about our business a little differently to a lot of brands on social media. Our first thought, back when we first launched, wasn’t oh great, now we can tell more people about our drinks, it was how can we add to people’s enjoyment of these channels. How can we do what we did for our packaging, and make it human and interesting. And get people talking to us. We do of course like to talk about our drinks on social, but we also try to create content that genuinely entertains people. Important to remember where our posts will appear on social media – it’s not an ad break on TV where the only other things people will be looking at are other ads. Our posts will appear amongst content from friends and family, so it’s important to take an approach that is right for those places. And for us it felt right to try and entertain people.
- Try to be amusing, but also useful – again, gets us great reach. Across facebook and Twitter this reached more than 4 million people. CLICK And it gets people talking to us. One of the main reasons we choose to talk about things other than our drinks on social media is it means we can start some great conversations. CLIC or get great advice
- Try to be amusing, but also useful – again, gets us great reach. Across facebook and Twitter this reached more than 4 million people. CLICK And it gets people talking to us. One of the main reasons we choose to talk about things other than our drinks on social media is it means we can start some great conversations. CLIC or get great advice
- Try to go the extra mile in all our interaction with people, not just those we have through social media. It matters to us to show people that we give a shit. Marla’s mum emailed us, poor Marla was 7 years old, going through chemotherapy, and was struggling to eat and drink healthily, our kids drinks were often all she could stomach. And marla worked out that she’d had 554 in the last couple of years. So Kirsty in our creative team, on hearing about this, spent the afternoon hand drawing 554 of our kids smoothies on to this thank you card