From In-Store to Beyond: How Tactical Solutions and innocent drinks Built a Lasting Partnership
In 2013, Tactical Solutions and innocent drinks joined forces to bring the brand to life in-store. Little did they know that it would be the start of a ten-year partnership that would go beyond the shelves and into a mission to make the world a better, healthier place to live. Today, we celebrate a decade of partnership, reflect on the highlights, and look forward to what’s ahead.
Capturing Hearts with Delicious and Sustainable Products
innocent drinks was founded in 1999 with a mission to create delicious, healthy, and sustainable products. From its humble beginnings of selling smoothies at a music festival to becoming a well-loved brand across the UK, innocent has captured the hearts of many. Their commitment to creating a better world has remained steadfast, and they continue to inspire others to live healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.
Bringing the Brand to Life in-Store
Tactical Solutions was tasked to bring the innocent brand to life in-store in 2013. We worked closely with innocent to understand their purpose, vision, and values and created a team that would represent the brand in-store. In 2014, we optimised what we’d started the year before – going bigger and better, until 2015, when innocent introduced the infamous GRO initiative that aligned their best sellers and ensured they were always front and centre of any display, anywhere!
Supporting Key Campaigns and Going Beyond Retail Formats
Since then, Tactical Solutions has supported innocent’s key campaigns, including ‘The Big Knit’ and ‘The Big Rewild’, ensuring that the brand’s big dreams were present at the shelf edge on every occasion. During that time we‘ve also taken the fight into other retailer formats, creating the Travel Hubster role to support Tesco Express, JS Locals, Boots, and WHSmith in and around London.
Challenges Faced and Overcome
The journey with innocent has not been without its challenges. Together, we’ve faced global pandemics and fruit shortfalls, but we’ve always been about delivering the best service and delighting innocent’s customers. As times change, so have we. More recently, our attention has turned to scale and efficiency driving, focusing on creating the ‘Perfect Store’ and utilising advancements in our tech capabilities, Reapp, to add value and drive further efficiencies with the brand.
Looking to the Future
As Tactical Solutions and innocent celebrate a decade of partnership, we look forward to what the future holds. We’re excited to continue working together to make a positive difference in the world, one little drink at a time. Our shared values and B Corp alignment have been instrumental in our partnership’s success, and we take this approach into every store we visit.
Chris Skelding, National Account Manager, Tactical Solutions, added: “I’m super proud to work and represent innocent, it’s a brand that I’ve admired for a long time, and align closely to their vision. The future is looking positive, as innocent continues to grow the demand on the field team changes, which means no two days are the same. The team are up for the challenge and I look forward to working with the fab teams at innocent to make that happen!
“Internally we have some great developments in tech that I know will bring some new insight and capabilities to the team and to innocent – and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
A Golden Pineapple and Beyond
In another five years, we look forward to having our very own bust to commemorate 15 years of partnership with innocent drinks. But for now, we’ll settle for the iconic golden pineapple – a symbol of hospitality, friendship, and welcoming. It’s fitting for the celebration of a decade of partnership, a symbol of how Tactical Solutions and innocent have welcomed each other into their lives and created a lasting friendship.
Gareth Herbert, innocent Transformation Lead commented: “There are many things I could call out on our work with Tactical, but three things are my highlights. First, the people, great partnerships come from people working well together, from day one the Tactical team shared our values and vision for success, and you can see that coming through at all levels in the team. Second is agility, we’ve been through many highs but also some tough situations over the years, it’s been incredible how none of these are an inconvenience to Tactical they stay open minded, honest, and flexible enough to move fast with the changing pace of chilled goods. Finally, making a difference. Whether big or small the ethos of making a difference in every call, meeting or store visit is how they have made such a huge impact over the years.
“It all adds ups, in the past decade they have impacted more than just sales and now seeing their success on becoming a B Corp shows how they do business in the right way too. I enjoyed every moment I worked with the team and wish them ongoing success for the future.”
The future’s bright, maybe it includes orange?
Matt Blencowe, Business Unit Controller, Tactical Solutions said: “After 10 years of partnership between Tactical Solutions and innocent the future is really exciting. We continue to work together to understand the ever-changing retail landscape and drive the innocent mission status of ‘We might make little drinks, but we have big dreams to make the world a better, healthier place to live’.
“We have very strong shared values with both of our businesses being B Corp aligned and we take this approach into every store we visit. Our teams are always striving to put the customers needs first by being on the cutting edge of how field marketing teams operate and our relationship with innocent supports this, being great advocates for us to be that positive change and act innovatively to other agencies in-store.”
Thanks innocent – Here’s to our onward journey!
