brandopus

When I first saw advertised that Dan Germain, Creative Director at Innocent was giving a talk at the Design Museums 'Designer's Breakfast' I was keen to go. Whether you are part of the 'Love Innocent' camp, or more of the 'vehemently hate' mindset, there's no denying it is a brand that has caught the eye, and I was curious to see what the man behind the creative output is really like.

Dan gave a précis of the start-up of the brand, back to 1999 when the 3 founders, went to a music festival selling their smoothies at a stall. They asked festival-goers to put their empty bottles into recycling bins labeled 'yes' or 'no', under the header "Should we give up our day jobs?" At the end of the festival the 'yes' bin was overflowing and there were only 3 bottles in the 'no', so they each resigned the following day.

What's in a Name? Everything. At this time the brand was known as 'Fast Tractor', but after a brainstorming session in Huddersfield library, huddled around a thesaurus, an array of names including 'Nostrum', 'Newborn' and 'Innocent' were put out to research, and thus the brand we all know was truly born. Between then and now the company has grown to about 220 people, and with a turnover of £180-200 million this year.

So what was Dan's part in this growth? How and why has Innocent succeeded where others have failed? He gave us three reasons...

1. Use Your Own Voice.

If you watch a Woody Allen movie, even if you don't know it's a Woody Allen movie when you first tune in, you know pretty quickly. He has a distinct style - him doing his own thing, not like anybody else. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but he does what is true to him. Innocent take the same approach- they have a voice of their own. 

All along they have just been trying to have a chat to their consumers. Back in 1999 there was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - the packaging was their equivalent platform, and over the years they have continued to use that space and retained their voice. The chatty, jovial tone and whimsical lines like 'Stop looking at my bottom' stamped into the plastic bottle base.

Innocent are always writing stuff, and people are always writing back. At Fruit Towers (Innocent's headquarters on Ladbroke Grove, West London) they have a noticeboard with all sorts of things pinned to it that people have sent in. One woman even sends a tapestry of a cow every year - that's quite an investment of her time. I'm not sure how many other brands customers would do that for? The team reply to as much of the mail as they can, and Dan reminisces about one of his responsibilities during the early days of Innocent being to respond to people who emailed 'hello@innocentdrinks.co.uk'. It was like 'the best job ever' he said, 'like emailing your friends all day from work'.

For all the people who love to chat with Innocent, there are also those who are not drawn in. The Sabotage Times offers an interesting perspective on talking brands. But Innocent do not waver, they do not try to be something to everyone.  They understand that if they did then they would dilute their message and the brand would suffer. 

2. Be interesting.

Dan brings up a picture of a big yellow picnic hamper. It turns out on closer inspection that the picture is in fact the Longaberger headquarters building in the US. They make picnic hampers and decided it would be far more interesting to build a big yellow hamper to work in than a regular run of the mill office building. More importantly, how much more interesting is it to be employed by someone who makes that kind of decision? This is a good analogy for Innocent, where their ethos runs through the whole of their business. They don't work in a big smoothie bottle, but the employees do have a 'shared cultural understanding' at Fruit Towers.

3. Never listen to 'No'.

This has been a winning mindset of the Innocent team. They have tenaciously pursued avenues that seemed closed and found ways around obstacles. When one of the marketing team suggested putting little wooly hats on the bottles, they stuck to their 'Yes' principles. Against a barrage of 'Nos' that anyone working in the food packaging industry can appreciate, the project went ahead, and has become their biggest in-store promotion, growing in popularity and recognition year-on-year. Great things start from people who don't give up.

The talk opened up to questions at the end, which ranged from asking about the use of external creative support, through to Innocent's involvement as Olympic sponsor this year. But for me, the most interesting question asked how Dan feels about other brands that have appropriated the Innocent language. Flattered and annoyed, was his honest answer. If it is truly their voice, then that's ok with Dan... but if the story a brand is telling is a veneer, then that's pretty rubbish really. But, ever-positive, Dan turns this into a plus for Innocent, explaining how the creative team have really raised their game in response over the last few years, and 'just try to do it better'.

"I've interviewed Bailey before, he's un-interviewable and uncontrollable" quipped the evening's compere; Andrew Graham-Dixon as he settled into a seat opposite his subject. David Bailey, looking up, threw the audience a side-long glance, a quick smile and over the course of the next hour promptly indulged his reputation.

Conventional it seems, is not David Bailey's style, his approach to being interviewed being wilfully contrary at mildest. Striking up an immediate and entertaining rapport with his interviewer, the two proceeded to bounce stories and jokes of each other, raising laughter at every turn. Through-out Graham Dixon coaxed Bailey to reveal details of his up-bringing in 1950's East London, revealing a story of local boy made-good against a gritty post-war backdrop. It was a story directly at odds with that of a conventional creative education. Let alone having ever been to 'or even having heard of art school' we heard of east-end odd jobs, and life in RAF national service.

"Did you ever visit galleries growing up" asked Graham-Dixon
"Galleries...?" growled Bailey
"You were lucky to get a cheese bun in the East End"

In amongst the rags to riches rhetoric, Bailey's back story was illuminating, if only in showing how these experiences had defined his character, and allowed his creative instincts to flourish.

Curiously for a photographer, he seemed unwilling to show and discuss any of his actual photography, deferring instead to talk about his perhaps lesser know parallel career as a director of TV ads. Several were screened to the audience, notably Greenpeace and Volkswagen adverts from the 80's. Sharp editing and close framed shots evoked the spirit of his photography, a technique which he jokingly referred to as 'if in doubt get in close'. He largely seemed coy about speaking at length upon his work, instead stating how he preferred to look forward instead of back. Perhaps this was a symptom of the ubiquitous nature of his shots, in a way they require no elaboration. 

At times however, he divulged fascinating titbits on the people he had worked with, sometimes in a startlingly candid way. It became clear that the core of what everything Bailey did was about people, with his creative output being formed from his relationship with a subject. He stated that before he ever photographs or films anyone, he sits down and gets to know them. "How could I photograph them without knowing what they're about".

On reflection this attitude of immersive involvement with one's subject struck direct parallels with the D&AD talk that Bob Gill gave a month previously. Perhaps it was this direct and uncompromising attitude that drove such creatives of the 1960's to define their field so stridently.

It strikes me that this advice has never been more relevant than today. With technology, and process providing distraction at every turn, maybe a re-connection with the root of our subject matter is just what we need.

Thanks to all those who made the time to join us at the Understanding Ideas & Ideas about Understanding workshop that we hosted with BrainJuicer yesterday. A tremendous amount of energy and participation made the day a great success, and we hope you left feeling as inspired as we did.

For those who didn't make it along, the day was divided up into five talks around the theme of generating ideas and the nature of creativity. We were joined on the lineup by Creative Creatures, Punchdrunk, Sign Salad and BrainJuicer. Nir from BrandOpus discussed the notion that creativity is an ambiguous idea, a way of perceiving ideas, which in turn need nurturing in order to mature.

If you'd like to find out more, take a peek at the presentation slides or watch the video contact Charlotte Ellis.

This month sees the launch of our striking new designs for the PizzaExpress retail range. The new-look retail range follows on from the identity redesign, which saw us unify and contemporise the distinctive PizzaExpress logo, placing it at the heart of a new visual identity, inspired by the black-and-white stripes of the shirts worn by the pizzaiolos in their restaurants.  Now we have extended the redesign across a range of 47 products launching into selected supermarkets shortly.

Edward Clark, designer at BrandOpus says of the packaging redesign, "The iconic PizzaExpress stripes are brought to life on pack, complemented by striking flashes of colour. This heralds a fresh and contemporary look for the range, whilst providing visual unity with the restaurant experience."

Harriet Rhys Williams, Director of Retail, PizzaExpress, says, "We are delighted with the redesign.  It has amazing standout and really meets the brief of building a single brand identity across the restaurants and retail"

We have helped Fox's venture into the world of savoury snacks, creating the designs for Magnificos, a new range of baked bites which launched into stores just a few days ago. 

Aimed at group occasions, Magnificos come in a 150-gram format, perfect for sharing.  The concept of the Victorian circus inspired the design of Magnificos, the pack echoing the quirky world of the Fox's brand, which has dedicated itself to producing innovative, imaginative and indulgent treats since it was founded in 1853.

The range comes in three flavour variants: Red Chilli & Lime, Mature Cheddar & Spring Onion, and Sea Salt & Black Pepper, each presented by circus personalities on the front of pack.  The muted colours are featured on a brown paper bag background, whilst the tops of packs form a larger string of bunting when merchandised side by side in store, appealing to younger and older children alike. 

Valued as £391m and growing at a strong 10%, Savoury Biscuits (which includes Crackers & Crispbread) accounts for 17% of the Total Biscuit market and is seen as an area of strong opportunity for Fox's, and we look forward to hearing how the designs fare on shelf.