Innocent in Rogers’ Bell curve

As Rogers argued in ‘Diffusion of Innovations’ (2003), diffusion is the process of innovation communication through certain channels over different social groups or systems. Rogers stated that innovations are diffused through five categories; Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We believe that Innocent is situated at the Late Majority stage of Rogers’ Bell curve. This stage is where enterprises already own sufficient technology and information about the market and have developed different products. The customer segment of a company within the Late Majority stage has a mass market appeal. Due to the company being in this late stage of the life cycle, Late Majority companies face increasing competition from those in the Early Adopter stage. At this stage in a company’s life cycle penetration of the target market becomes increasingly difficult, leading to a so called ‘rat race’. Thus it is more important for them to identify clear competitive advantages and target markets.

 

Key Moments

                                                           

                                                             

                                                  Innocent drinks was founded from customers’ opinions right from the beginning. In 1999                                                                               Richard, Adam and Jon, Cambridge University graduates, sold their first smoothies at a music                                                                     festival in London. In order to gauge customer feedback on the proposed business, they asked                                                                     consumers to throw their empty bottles into bins marked Yes or No. Obviously, yes won.

 

 

 

 

The diffusion of Innocent drinks is incredibly rapid and in only eighteen months the team                                        found an inroad into the market successfully. During the first week of business, they persuaded sixty bars                                       and coffee shops in London to sell their products and test the market. Fourty five of these shops continued                                         to order the smoothies after the initial trial ended. This showed huge market potential and gave strong                          confidence to the team.               

 

                                                                   

                                                               

                                                         Without any advertisement, Innocent Drinks got a trial listing of their smoothies in ten                                                                                  Waitrose stores within eighteen months. The success of this trial in Waitrose caused other                                                                          supermarkets and shops to stock the product. Presently Innocent Drinks are stocked in over ten-thousand retail outlets including supermarket chains such as, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, SPAR and Starbucks. After the successful launch of Innocent Drinks in the UK, overseas expansion is on the agenda. Their first overseas office opened in Dublin in 2002 and since then Innocent Drinks has expanded into over twelve other European countries.  

 

 

 

In 2007, Innocent signed a 5-year trial with McDonalds, placing Innocent smoothies                                             into their ‘child focussed’ happy meals. Partnering with McDonalds helped Innocent to gain a greater                                        share of the market, by attracting a different type of customer not normally targeted; this also increased                                                 Innocent’s revenue. In 2009, Innocent sold an 18% stake of the business to the Coca Cola Company. In the                                              years following the Coca Cola Company gradually increased its stake share in Innocent, reaching a final                                              90% share by 2013. The acquisition of Innocent by the Coco Cola Company funded sufficient capital and                                                 cash flow for Innocent, whilst gaining them a greater business platform to compete with other similar, rival companies. For example, the Coca Cola Company, as a global corporation, can provide detailed and in-depth market analysis worldwide, helping Innocent yield further diffusion effectively, in America and China for example. 

 

 

How did they expand?

Innocent has a very clear product orientation, they provide the customers with a tasty and convenient way to consume nutritional ingredients. They continue to innovate new products by creating new and exciting flavour smoothies, which helps to attract new customers, whilst retaining existing ones. Innocent operates a simple but efficient marketing strategy. They provide healthy drinks with simple, cute, transparent bottles, which are attractive to the consumer and allow a clear view of the fruit smoothies without large and clumsy packaging. Moreover, Innocent communicate with their customer in a very friendly way. They provide jokes and little stories in a daily newsletter, along with information on new products going to launch. This communication builds a harmonious relationship with their customers, and helps them expand more successfully. Innocent employed experts in fruit and vegetables, purchasing and website design in order to create an impact through all facets of the business. As Gladwell (2000) discusses in ‘The Tipping Point’, there is a specific moment in time whereby a trigger causes diffusion to occur rapidly. The Innocent team have a deep understanding of The Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor and Power of Context (Gladwell,2000). Innocent continued to ensure that a high quality of juice was produced in order to maintain a sound reputation. This was important because good feedback from innovative customers during the beginning process helped to build brand awareness to the fringe consumer. Afterwards, they realized more people were beginning to change their lifestyle and they used this opportunity to attract customers, using and promoting Innocent’s brand as being fresh and initiating a healthy lifestyle. Innocent also insist on improving the quality and creating new styles of their products in order to meet a constantly changing market demand, this helps them to diffuse rapidly as a late majority company. 

 

Chinese Market

Innocent drinks’ current business strategy is focused on a global market. China has the biggest potential due to its stark economic growth and the improving quality of people’s quality of life. More and more customers are concerned about the content of their food and drink instead of its price. Innocent provides 100% fruit smoothies, which fits the Chinese market and meets its demands. The content and safety of food and drink is a huge problem in China, especially products created children. Innocent has a range of smoothies specifically targeted at children, while the healthy drink remains suitable for all age                                                                                                   groups, thus the target market is wide. As the graph shows (Qianzhan.com,2012)                                                                                           the market prospect of a fruit juice drink in China is very promising and there is an                                                                                         obvious gap in the market that none of the current leading drink brands are                                                                                                     meeting; China is missing a pure, nutritious and fresh drink like Innocent. Thus the                                                                                       potential diffusion in a fast developing country such as China is evident. 

                                                                                                   

                                                                                  With its background, specifically its links with Coca Cola, Innocent is a much                                                                                                   easier brand to launch into China. The Coca Cola Company would help Innocent                                                                                             penetrate the market effectively as it has sufficient information and experience                                                                                             within the Chinese market.

 

However, a global expansion strategy means Innocent Drinks should provide different products in different markets since climate and geographical position affects people’s taste. The most popular products in Europe may not get the same reaction from an Asian market. Also, the logistical problems need to be considered because of time-critical shelf lives, while particular demographics (such as age and income levels) and ‘psychographic segmentation’ (i.e. varieties in attitudes, values and lifestyles) also need to be considered.