In the world of Marketing there isn’t anything much more important to a company than the intrinsic profile and reputation of its brand. Legal departments spend just as many millions protecting the outward image as their colleagues in marketing spend promoting it.
For this reason the strategy of co-branding, which is taking on exciting new dimensions across a number of industries, is an interesting development within the realm of brand promotion and the launching of new products.
Co-branding refers to a marketing arrangement where two different brands join forces to create a product or service indicative of both their identities. This approach opens up an opportunity for one brand to introduce their product or service to the devotees of another brand.
With the added benefits of sharing some marketing costs, improved market acceptance, synergies in sales ie: linked web traffic, shared real estate space and cross promotional deals the whole idea must be very attractive to Marketing execs all over the world.
A very recent example of co-branding which occurred close to home was the ‘Project Botanicals’ pop up restaurant experience which ran for three weeks in Melbourne during July. This event saw the Bombay Sapphire Gin brand joining forces with Gary Mehigan of Masterchef fame to put on the exclusive ticketed event. Guests were treated to a number of dishes designed by the celebrity chef and cooked by his team whilst matching Bombay sapphire cocktails accompanied each course. The guys behind Bombay Sapphire also used the event to promote the launch of their new super premium offering, the Star of Bombay. This product is targeted towards connoisseurs, as it is a much more refined, not to mention stronger, spirit. By capturing a market of ‘foodies’ using the Masterchef connection, Bombay Sapphire was able to create a targeted campaign albeit it on a fairly small scale.
Bombay Sapphire has a history of co-branding and collaboration since its very inception. In fact the brand itself is a testament to what can be done with great marketing. The Iconic blue bottle and the brands creator Michel Roux’s pursuit of a long lasting connection with the design world literally revived reputation of the whole gin category globally.
It was no longer the stuff your grandmother drank, gin was cool again.
In the aforementioned example, the project botanicals pop up created a massive post event spike in the sales of Bombay across Victoria. The event was such a success the concept is now being transplanted to Sydney in the coming months.
There is of course many such examples of this strategy being utilized. Take Nike and Apple for example, very separate businesses selling separate products in a very similar market segment, but with an amazingly profitable synergy – apparently runners like to listen to music when they run. Who would have guessed that little connection would turn out to be so profitable….
The Nike / Apple team-up is a really great example of the importance of “fit” when choosing to Co-Brand. Both are very strong companies with reputations based on a quality product, products that obviously do well in the consumers mind when offered as a going concern.
And how about this for one out of the box. Carmaker Toyota is now including a mount for a GoPro action camera in their new 2016 line up of their more adventurous vehicle models. Similar thinking to Nike and Apple, similar segment of the market and attempting to Co-Brand to capture the essence of the experience this partnership can create ie extreme sports / offroad 4WDing etc. Only time will tell whether they hit the mark with this one, but I am sure the videos on Youtube will enlighten us as to how effective they have been in appealing to the segment.
These are examples where two companies are plying their products in the same segments and hoping the synergies will help them rattle a little bit more gold out of the consumer’s purse.
What about one of the more interesting Australian attempts at co-branding last year, with the release by Cadburys of Vegemite chocolate? Whilst financial results aren’t in, and the product is certainly no longer a regular offering on the shelves, could you honestly say this was a co-branding failure? Think about it, even American Late Night host Jimmy Fallon felt the need to comment, and I am sure many purchased it and had a go “just to see what it tastes like”. Is it possible in this case that whilst the product could be a failure, the brand exposure could be hailed a success for the companies existing products and brand??
Of course brands need to be very careful to ensure they are clear on the fit and the segment they are marketing too, but even more so, who they go to bed with in a co-branding or co marketing exercises.
For example, negative press around one partnership can have a devastating effect on the other brand through their association.
Remember this guy?
The nine year partnership between Nike and the Lance Armstrong ‘LiveStrong’ foundation revolutionized the way charities raise money and also sold a lot of Nike shoes and apparel along the way. After Armstrongs confession to doping aired on the Oprah Winfrey show Nike was very quick to cut ties with any link their brand had to the disgraced cyclist.
Whilst the result is evident that the longevity and reputation of the co-brand wasn’t great, the company and the foundation survived and moved on. Lance’s standing in the global community unfortunately didn’t quite make it…
So in closing, we have a number of questions to pose to the groups out there…
What are the factors in a co-branding exercise that are likely to make it more successful and are there any obvious pit falls that should be avoided?
Is the future of co-branding taking a new dimension as in the Bombay case, where the product created isn’t one of commercial substance, but of brand attraction and retention?
Can negative press of one side of the partnership greatly affect the other?
Is the saying “there is no such thing as bad publicity” true?
How much control does each side need over the message being released?
Can you extend your reach in the marketplace without upsetting your existing segments?
Appreciate your feedback! 🙂
References
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/bombay-sapphire-tests-online-brand
http://www.impactbnd.com/co-marketing-vs-co-branding-whats-the-difference
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1165917/champions-design-bombay-sapphire
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