Collaboration can be a fun way to increase the value of your brand. You can expose your brand to an entirely new market or territory, strengthen your existing brand awareness, or create additional revenue streams. Who doesn’t think that Doritos Locos Tacos is the most amazing option on the Taco Bell menu? Target’s Missoni line generated a shopping frenzy. Its collaborations with Lilly Pulitzer, Altazurra, Phillip Lim, Prabal Gurung, Zac Posen, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Alexander McQueen make it a super star co-brander. Febreeze is another winner, partnering with such products as Mr. Clean, Tide, Bounce and Downy. Starbucks recently announced their partnership with Spotify, linking Starbucks’ company-operated stores in the U.S. and My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members with Spotify’s global users. Spotify has already found success in its partnership with Uber.
Not all co-branded collaborations are product driven. Other examples include event sponsorships, event hosting, fundraising partnerships with charities or long term relationships between charities and social enterprises, and cobranded contests or giveaways.
Nor are all collaborations successful – like Google Glass trying to get hip with Warby Parker. From a marketing perspective, you’ll want to identify what you want to achieve out of the relationship, the possible monetary and non-monetary benefits to your brand, and whether you’re being true to your brand (the announcement that McDonalds would be an Olympic sponsor of the 2012 games faced heavy criticism from health campaigners). Once you’ve found your perfect strategic partner, it’s important that your brands are on the same page – literally.
A few legal considerations:
- How will your brand will be featured in the co-branding venture?
- How will you maintain brand integrity?
- Will exclusivity be part of the relationship?
- Who will bear any legal, market research or product development costs?
Appearance of your brand
Your cobranding campaign will fall likely fall into one of three categories: ingredient cobranding (Febreeze/Tide), cooperative cobranding (Target/Missoni), or complementary cobranding (Seagrams/7Up). The category of the relationship and power behind the partner brand will likely dictate the size and placement of your brand in marketing materials. Your tech startup’s launch party will take place at a local club. A liquor distributor will provide refreshments and give away commemorative gifts branded by one of its liquor brands. How many brands will your attendees see in marketing materials? Will one brand be featured more prominently than the others?
Brand Integrity
Another consideration is maintaining your brand integrity throughout a co-branding campaign. Co-branding companies will typically share style guides, each party licensing the right to use its brand to the other so long as the other party’s use conforms to the guidelines. Approval rights are worth negotiating for. Quality control provisions are a legal necessity when granting someone rights to use your branding. Also consider the reputation of your co-brander. I negotiated a deal involving a certain “bad boy rock star” where we had to give the celebrity some leeway to maintain his public persona. However, we wouldn’t tolerate conviction on a felony or misdemeanor. If the relationship will last beyond a single event, how can you terminate the campaign if things start to go sour?
Exclusivity
Will you ask for exclusive rights to use your collaborator’s branding in a particular product or service category, or in a particular industry? Will the relationship be limited to a particular country or region?
Costs and Ownership
Don’t overlook the costs involved in creating a cobranded campaign. If one or more of the parties will enter into a new territory, who will bear the cost and responsibility of the trademark clearance searches for the brand? If R&D is necessary, who pays and who owns any new “inventions” coming out of the R&D? For example, it’s unlikely that Carvel’s Cinnebon ice cream flavor was made by blending Cinnebon cinnamon rolls into a vat of ice cream. A lucky chemist had to develop the new flavor ingredient. Who owns that formula?
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Make sure you have your legal deal points in place before you try to maximize your brand through collaboration. Then celebrate catapulting your brand into new markets by heading to your local Taco Bell for some Doritos Locos Tacos and Cinnabon Delights.