innocent drinks to launch educational NPD experience

Launching on 19 February, the ‘Smoothie Lab’ programme aims to teach more than 1,250 secondary school and college students the fundamentals of product development.

Starting with an exploration of customer behaviour and branding strategies, through to the selection of ingredients, nutritional information and claims, the students will construct a fully-fledged proposal for their own fruit smoothie.

The workshops aim not only to demonstrate what goes into creating a food product, but the principles of healthy eating and restrictions British brands have around adding health benefit claims to labels.

“Making our smoothies is as simple as putting our favourite fruits and veggies into a blender – but designing them is more complicated than that: nutrition, a strong visual identity and advertising all need to be considered,”​ commented Helen Whitby, head of nutrition at innocent drinks.  

Following a successful pitch, those who develop the ‘best product’ will get to blend their own recipe.

The Museum of Brands, which will host the workshops, has piloted the programme with Year 12 students from St. George's Catholic School in Maida Vale, West London.

During this trial, the pupils undertook historical and market research in the Museum’s Time Tunnel, before going on to develop their own smoothie concepts.

The hope is that the workshops will encourage Gen Z into f&b roles in the future.

“Giving an insight into the different factors that go into creating our little drinks could spark some big career dreams, and we hope it will inspire the next generation of budding food scientists and nutritionists,” ​added Whitby.

In other news, Eco Flexibles has opened a UK production site in Northampton, following increasing demand for sustainable, flexible packaging designs.​​