innocent not naive

Yep, we’ve had a bite of the innocent apple too! We partnered with the brand to refresh the packaging for their core smoothie range.

innocent burst onto the scene with a simple, yet charming identity that provided a much-needed antidote to the artificiality of the category. But over time they’d begun following the rules rather than setting them. And this, along with the growth of their product offering, had left the smoothies that started it all, blending into the background.

Thanks to the influx of new brands entering the category, being natural just wasn’t enough anymore. And although innocent had a whole lot more to say, they were trying to say it all at once. This had left the ingredients taking a backseat in favour of a ‘hero’ flavour – but with their key competitors and own label doing similar products for half of the price, they needed to work harder to communicate their point of difference. That’s where we came in. innocent came to us to lead the design direction for their core smoothies, which they later finalised and rolled out in house.

As the most iconic element of the brand, it made sense to keep the innocent ‘halo’ as a proud and consistent beacon on pack. But to give the design more of a confident, grown up feel, we tapped into what first made innocent great (how much fruit and veg they pack in each drink) and used stacked fruit photography to showcase the fresh ingredients.

When it came to claims, we chose to say less and communicate more, with short, snappy annotations that clearly call out the key USPs. And to ensure that core would stand out from the rest of the ranges, we added a clear ‘smoothie’ call out, and ditched the plastic wrap for cream paper labels as a nod to their original design.