If you’re looking for an example of a smart UK company blogging very well and really engaging its customers, look no further than the Innocent Drinks blog.

The blog itself is an entertaining mashup of news, Youtube clips, Innocent staff views and photos and of course pictures, feedback and creative uses of Innocent packaging by its customers.  Gillian, for example, who has turned an Innocent carton into a hamster home! 

What a contrast.  Just two years ago a couple of impoverished young Americans made creative use of some old Fedex boxes to build some furniture they couldn’t otherwise afford.  They thought it was fun and posted pictures on the internet.  Fedex promptly sued, making themselves the laughing stock of the blogosphere.  The company came across as corporate, humourless and completely lacking in imagination.  The marketing opportunity to make the most of a brand mashup was wasted.

Of course Fedex and Innocent are superficially very different brands.  But the fact remains protecting your brand is one thing, allowing people to embrace it is another.  An embrace is warm and affectionate.  Protection is hard and defensive.