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.

A recent paper by Harvard Business School talks about the notion of socially progressive brands and how their social value is sought after by multinational corporations. The concepts discussed support the Civil Branding hypothesis that companies who build socially progressive values and narratives into their brands will reap the benefits of increased positive regard and preference, and ultimately economic value. Whilst the paper deals specifically with the economic and social benefits of merging the ‘Virtuous Mouse’ and ‘Wealthy Elephant’ companies, e.g. The Body Shop and L’Oreal, we believe that companies can achieve the same benefits if they incorporate Civil Branding thinking into their brand strategy.

View the paper