Coca-Cola’s interest in taking a stake in Innocent is a classic example of a wealthy elephant company seeking to share in the goodwill of a virtuous mouse, like Cadbury’s stake in Green & Black’s, L’Oreal’s stake in Body Shop and McDonald’s stake in Pret. The goodwill that Coca-Cola and other interested parties value in Innocent is consumer preference that is rooted in the socially-progressive narrative that Innocent communicates. See earlier post about the HBR paper on Social Brands for more on this topic.