Dan Germain, Head of Creativity at Innocent Drinks argues that creativity must be maintained in the fast-growing company.

Innocent Drinks started in 1999. Dan Germain commented ‘Try as we might have to keep things as they are, we’ll just have to face facts that our company is hopefully going to get a bit bigger. And we all know that once you get a bit bigger, you get a bit lazy; you stop caring; you cease to love the business that you took such care to nurture. And things get rubbish. That is what always happens’.

How could the company keep hold of its original spirit and keep on doing all of the creative things that made it special. There was unease that as the company becomes bigger, the less creative and fun it would get. According to Germain, this idea is un-revolutionary but it is surprising how many companies always just come up with product re-launches and new brand philosophies in order to try to keep their spirit intact.

Innocent is highly selective in hiring people. It uses interviews to ascertain skills and aptitude, but also screens for people who are ‘innocent’ individuals who will fit in and enjoy themselves and take the initiative.

The people manifesto

Clarity is making sure that everyone knows what Innocent wants to do as a company. It means making sure that each individual knows his or her part. People love knowing how they can make a difference, so you should tell them, and make sure that they know how their work will make Innocent a mighty place.

Responsibility is about letting people get on with their job. Let them be the experts in their area, let them make mistakes and let them change things that could be better.

Fraternity means celebrating all of the good stuff: rewarding people for teamwork, and fostering an open, informal culture where people can say what they want without fear of recrimination.

When Coca-Cola made a minority investment in 2009, the founders commented: ‘The three of us who set up the business will continue to run and manage Innocent. We will be the same people making the same products in the same way. Everything that Innocent stands for, remains in place i.e., to only produce natural, healthy stuff; to push hard for better quality, more socially and environmentally conscious ingredients; to find more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of producing and packaging our drinks; to support charities in the countries where our fruit comes from; to have a point of view on the world, and to not take ourselves too seriously in the process. In fact, this deal will simply allow us to do more of these things.

‘As we said, Coca-Cola is a minority investor. They have a small stake of between 10 to 20 per cent, which they paid £30M for. We chose Coca-Cola as our minority investor because as well as providing the funds, they can help us get our products out to more people in more places. Plus, they have been in business for over 120 years, so there will be things we can learn from them. And in some small ways we may be able to influence their thinking too.

‘Innocent is ten years old this year. We sold 24 smoothies on our first day, back on 28th April 1999.

This week, we will sell approximately 2 million.’

QUESTIONS

As the company develops following the investment by Coca-Cola:

1.How is it likely to change?

2.What impact is this likely to have on innovation and creativity?

What should Innocent be doing to adjust to these changes?