The WTCE Team sat down with Isabelle Maratier, Head Brand & Portfolio UK, innocent Drinks to discuss innocent’s ongoing wellness trends in the beverage sector as they move into onboard.
innocent drinks is a well-known household name that produces smoothies and juices containing whole crushed fruit. In our talk, we covered the changing passenger expectations regarding health and wellness and innocent’s plans for their first year at WTCE.
Wellness onboard is becoming a more important consideration for consumers, and more specifically passengers.
What are the current trends in health, well-being and wellness in your sector of the industry?
“After the pandemic, we’ve seen the health landscape change quite a bit: the binary of healthy vs unhealthy is certainly being replaced by nuance and holistic wellbeing. Narratives around health and mental health have transformed in recent years, and people have more open conversations and access to so much information today, facilitated by digital and social media.
At innocent, it’s important for us to stay up to date with what our drinkers say so that we can ensure our offering meets their needs.”
How have these changed over recent years? As a company, how have you responded to market expectations?
“We have seen a shift from simple healthy living to living well, which is more dynamic, zoomed-out and less binary. People are embracing more choice, have a better understanding of the interrelatedness of mind and body and champion more and more a holistic view of balance and variety.
This trend has certainly accelerated over the past years: there is so much information now that is easily accessible to people helping them increase their knowledge. They are even taking things into their own hands, scrutinising brands, institutions, looking for ways to best their own needs.
Having access to so much information can definitively be overwhelming – often contradictory and we definitively see trends come and go. People absorb information through popular culture, but really trust their peer’s opinions.
And at innocent, we know how important trust is and therefore transparency is key. Our doors are still open and yes anyone can pop to our office, chat to us to hear more about what we do and how we develop our products for example.
We actually love it because it means we can also hear what is important to them and ensure we have the right offering which can be part of their daily lives. We don’t believe we are the only answer to a balanced lifestyle, but we do believe we can credibly be part of it.”
How do you ensure that wellness is at the heart of both your company and your products?
“When our 3 founders set up innocent, the challenge was clear: people needed to eat more fruit & veg – so they created delicious smoothies to make it easy for people to have their portion of fruits & veg.
Today, that mission still guides our company and our culture. We are determined in making it easy for people to have fruit & veg as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle.”
What are you most looking forward to at the next WTCE event? Are you launching any new products during the show?
“We are so excited to be part of the next WTCE event as this is our first time exhibiting: as we mentioned before, people strive to find a balance in their life and want to have options to suit their choices, even when they travel.
Therefore, it is important that we can partner with the customers to offer a selection of great tasting juices to travellers who are looking for some healthier options. We look forward to meeting as many as possible and collaborating with new partners who share the same ambition.”
innocent Drinks has also splashed out it’s first ever, new state-of-the art £200m factory with a sustainability bid for it to be carbon-neutral by 2025.