Are Co-Branding Partnerships the Newest Thing?

I recently took a flight to New York on a Delta Airlines flight.  Having become more keenly aware of brands and their marketing efforts, I was surprised to notice the total integration of marketing the Delta brand directed at me, the customer, because I’d hardly noticed their marketing efforts before on other flights.  Now that I’m a savvy customer (lol) much more aware of marketing tactics, I found myself trapped in a captive audience role on a flying brand. I was bombarded with marketing, from the minute I sat down to the :30 second “Delta is everywhere” seat back digital video ad, followed by the government required, but Delta PR packaged safety video, to the 136 page “Sky” glossy magazine in the seat pocket before me.  The cabin steward wandered up and down the aisles offering additional skymiles to any customer that wanted to sign up for an Delta American Express.  Getting off the plane, the wall was plastered with a Delta billboard advertising their “#stay connected” wi-fi ad campaign that featured an attractive cosmopolitan, yet earthy 30-something-ish Delta customer with her iPhone in one hand and a cup of Starbucks in the other, obviously content that she was able to be so happy and connected because she flies Delta.  

  This experience got me thinking about co-branding and partnerships between different companies.  The Delta billboard utilized and Apple iPhone and a Starbucks coffee cup to give voice to Delta’s “#stay connected” wi-fi message.  According to Lindsay Kolowich, co-branding works, but only if it’s a “win-win for all players in the game.  The value perceptions, target audiences, prices and promotion channels need to match” (Kolowich, 2016).  She also says that a huge opportunity exists in co-branding campaigns by introducing the new brand or product to a new customer that already likes and uses the old and faithful co-brand.  

  We live in a brave new world where “the information and communication technology revolution is altering existing business models and practices that have regulated the industries for decades” (Sigismondi, 2011).  The goal today with business analytic tools is to find a connection between a company and the environment it works in (Grant, 2002). Data analytics are collected resulting in improved customer retention. Here are some examples; Tesco, a large UK retailer sends new Dad’s coupons for beer because data analysis showed that new fathers who went into the store to buy diapers, also purchased more beer from the grocery store because they could no longer spend as much time at the pub after the new baby.  Another example from American Express, the company tailors its card offerings to customer’s “life events.”  Card holders who have recently  lost a spouse are flagged for special attention.  Or a newly married customer is a good candidate for additional products like a home insurance policy or a new mortgage (Rust, 2010).

  So with all the data analytics out there about every purchase we do or do not make, every product or brand we search, every latest and greatest we like or heart, is it a wonder that brands are migrating together to reach us, their audience, through co-branding and partnerships?  

  Here are a couple more co-branding partnerships I particularly like; 

BuzzFeed and FurBaby Rescue partnered together on an article entitled, “We Gave Drunk Girls a Bunch of Puppies and There Were Lots of Tears” (Kolowich, 2016).   

Lastly, remember Dr. Pepper flavored Bonne Bell?  I still buy Dr. Pepper flavored Bonne Bell lip gloss when I can find it in stores.  The ad copy read, “From Bonne Belle of course: the cosmetics company that understands your tastes.” (Kolowich, 2016). This co-branding partnership originated in 1973!  Maybe marketing hasn’t changed all that much after all.

Sources:

Grant RM (2002) Contemporary strategy analysis: concepts, techniques, applications, 4th edn. Blackwell,  Malden, p. 15.

Kolowich, L., ( 2016). Examples of Successful Co-Branding Partnerships (And Why They’re So Great.)  Hubspot. March 8, 2016.

Rust, R., Moorman, C., & Bhalla, G., (2010). Rethinking Marketing. Harvard Business Review, January- February, 2010. pp. 1-9.

107. Sigismondi, The Digital Glocalization of Entertainment, 119 The Economics of Information, Communication, and Entertainment 3, p. 107.

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0908-3_10, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011