Proving that there is life after Cindies, the three Cambridge graduates who founded drinks company, Innocent, are celebrating as the drinks company is voted one of Britain’s most influential brands.

In an annual poll of 1,000 opinion leaders, Innocent was officially named the seventh most significant ‘thought leadership’ brand in Britain, pushing reigning retailers such as Virgin and Marks and Spencer further down in the rankings.

Despite being the smallest company featured on the British list, branding experts cite the quirky drinks firm’s ethical values as the reason behind its defiance of the economic downturn.

The three founders of Innocent met when studying at St John’s College, Cambridge. Richard Reed, Jon Wright and Adam Balon studied Geography, Engineering and Economics respectively.

The smoothie recipes born from procrastination in the college gyp-room now sell over two million a week.

In words that will undoubtedly reassure any stressed Cambridge undergraduate, Reed revealed the secret to their success: “We saw university as a social rather than an academic thing. Cambridge isn’t renowned for its nightlife so we would hire out nightclubs in town and put on events.”

It seems that a knack for herding drunken students towards Fez isn’t the only path to entrepreneurial success after leaving the Cambridge bubble. Reed also divulged his dabbling in the college memorabilia market.

 “I made some red baseball caps that said St John’s on the front,” he recently confessed. “I sold about 70 to people at the college for something like £7.50 but they cost me about £1.50.”

The trio was given the courage to launch Innocent after testing their product at a local jazz festival in 1998. A sign above their stall asked, “Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?” Customers were asked to vote by placing their bottles in the “Yes” or “No” bins.

A full “Yes” bin convinced the three friends to resign the next day. The company now has an 80% UK market share and turns over in excess of £100 million every year.

The brand’s inspiration came whilst the graduates were on a skiing holiday. So those lucky enough to get tickets for this year’s Varsity Trip could potentially return home with a multi-million pound idea to soothe their week-long hangover…