Search no beyond co-branding if you want to increase brand awareness while raising sales and expanding your audience. After all, co-branding is a fantastic method to expand your company’s reach. By strategically partnering with other businesses, you may increase the range of products and services you offer your customers and unlock a potent new channel for business expansion, branding strategy,  and brand recognition. You may acquire exposure to that loyalty and attract new clients who might not have otherwise heard of your brand through a strategic relationship with a co-branding company that already has a devoted customer base. Co-branding has numerous advantages, but you must understand how it operates to make it work for your company. In this post, we define co-branding, explain how it operates, and discuss approaches to consider before entering a co-branded collaboration. All you need to understand is to launch a co-branded collaboration successfully using a co-branding company.

Understanding What Is Co-Branding

Co-branding definition is, usually referred to as brand collaboration, is a branding tactic in which two or more companies collaborate to develop or market a good or service. This does not merely entail adding the names of two brands to a good or service. In a co-branding collaboration, each partner’s assets, identities, and brand histories are combined to produce a new product or service, typically with a new logo, brand colors, brand awareness, etc. What is co-branding? entails sharing assets, know-how, technology, and clientele so that each partner can capitalize on the strengths of the other. Even while two companies with nothing in common can still form a brand alliance, it is typically better to have at least one shared value that unites the brands.

What Are The Perks Of Co-Branding For Your Firm?

Each partner in a well-thought-out and well-executed brand alliance stands to gain greatly. Each party can use their respective markets and audiences, and their skills or areas of expertise, through this kind of partnership.

Better Reach

You can boost your brand’s exposure to your partner’s current customer base by forming a branding alliance. Loyal clients of your co-branding company are more likely to believe the endorsement of your service or product from their preferred branding services and consider buying than they might have in the past. Additionally, you can utilize co-branding to attract new clients outside your current clientele who are curious to learn about your relationship by creating a buzz about your brand or both co-branding companies. You can refer to this guide for tips to drive more traffic.

Build Brand Credibility

The legitimacy and dependability of each brand are demonstrated to their particular audiences when they are strong co-branding companies. As was already established, devoted clients are more likely to believe in your brand if another well-known brand endorses you than if they just happened to come across it. Additionally, connecting your brand with another’s improves brand exposure and recognition. Additionally, by collaborating with that other brand, you demonstrate to other companies that your brand is one they want to collaborate with, further enhancing your brand’s reputation and increasing others’ desire to trust it.

Reduced Costs And Risks

For any size brand, introducing a new product or service, venturing into a foreign market, or tackling an entirely new industry can be dangerous. You can cut down on the risk you’d take by going it alone by collaborating with a company that is already established in the marketplace you’re seeking to enter. Additionally, by forming a relationship with a brand already recognized in the industry you aim to penetrate for its associations, values, and ideals, you’re deciding on a low-cost strategy for communicating the changes inside your brand to audiences. Since co-branding campaigns can be expensive, collaborating with a brand that aligns with your goals will help you demonstrate the pivot to innovative offerings or services within your business.

Which Co Branding Strategy Is Appropriate For Your Business?

Co branding isn’t a one-stop solution. Businesses get into various co-branding contracts based on their work fields, offerings, and branding goals. Let’s find out which co branding strategy will be most effective for your brand.

Local-National Co-Branding

When local and national businesses work together to create a new product for the market, this is the case. This co-branding strategy aims to increase the visibility of small enterprises and, conversely, to help major brands win over local consumers’ hearts. This kind of cooperation is advantageous to both organizations. However, it can be challenging for small enterprises to secure one. Groupon’s contracts with small businesses are an excellent co-branding example of local to national co-branding strategy. Small businesses can increase their customer base by making their services available to Groupon users. In return, Groupon receives a portion of the revenue. Everybody benefits from the situation.

Ingredient Co-Branding

Contrary to how it appears, ingredient co-branding refers to the collaboration of brands based on shared ingredients or components. The key components of this co-branding strategy are finding a shared characteristic across the brands, combining the brand personas, and marketing the new product as a solution to a market need. Co-branding between Dell and Intel is a prime example of co-branding. Dell makes laptops that require a quick processor, and Intel makes these processors specifically for laptops.

Multi Sponsor Co-Branding

When two or more businesses collaborate to share technology, information, sales, and promotional events, this is known as multi-sponsor co-branding. How does it help in increasing online sales? Each interested business typically gains the chance to boost revenue, brand recognition, or reputation. Maybe one of the most well-known co-branding ideas is this one. The relationship between Citibank, American Airlines, and the Visa card is an example of cobranding, where one business gains from the other’s technological advancements and marketing initiatives. You will automatically receive advantage points when you open a Citibank account for use with a Visa card to make transactions.

Composite Co Branding

To develop a more effective marketing plan for their company, well-known and well-established businesses collaborate in this co branding strategy. Instead of attracting new clients, composite co-branding focuses on keeping the ones you already have. An example of co branding is the Adidas and Kanye West cooperation. Developing the “Adidas Yeezy” collection of high-end footwear, apparel, and accessories demonstrates how two strong brands—Kanye West and Adidas—can forge a successful co branding strategy.

Successful Example Of Co-Branding Companies

Co-branding helps add value to the brand when synergy exists among the brands, which leads to emotional energy and starts communications, and develops buzz surrounding both partners. It also helps in developing a one-of-a-kind type of product. Co-branding, when both brands are compatible and leverage efficiencies, generally places both companies under one roof for a win-win situation.

1. BurgerKing And McDonald\’S

The co-branding project between LV and BMW may appear improbable, but the information above demonstrates why it makes sense. But this is the startling but incredibly true thing. Instead of competing for the same consumers, two burger joints work together. 2019 saw McDonald’s and Burger King work together on a co-marketing campaign while holding hands. Burger King removed its best-selling item from the menu in Argentina and several nations as part of “A Day Without a Whopper.”

They urged consumers to get a Big Mac instead. McDonald’s reciprocated by giving $2 to charity, in this case, the Children With Cancer program, for each Big Mac order.

2. Red Bull And GoPro

Another stunning co-branding example from back in 2016, Red Bull and GoPro unveiled a multi-year worldwide relationship that will cover content creation, distribution, cross-promotion, and product development. Due to their common beliefs, both companies have positioned themselves as lifestyle brands, which made them the ideal match.  To carry out this co-branding, GoPro provided athletes and adventurers with the equipment and funding to record competitions, tricks, and sports on video. Red Bull provided the event sponsorship. Both GoPro and Red Bull were able to grow their brands and their sales as a result. Co branding ideas can lead to a very effective promotional strategy to enhance brand exposure, recognition, sales, and penetration into new markets. So how can a company ensure co-branding is done right and results in a successful run? The right guidance can help you to brand your business appropriately.

3. Spotify And Starbucks

Starbucks customers in 2015 could listen to music from the streaming service Spotify. Starbucks has long incorporated music into its atmosphere, and its collaboration with Spotify has been highly accepted. This was done to persuade people to sign up for their loyalty program because people in this age group primarily consume information on their smartphones. Starbucks then added Spotify’s streaming platform to its “My Starbucks Rewards” mobile loyalty program. While Spotify has a client base of 60 million, this rewards program has more than 10 million users worldwide.

4. Target And UNICEF

Along with the benefits we’ve just mentioned, working with an NGO has additional benefits. Additionally, it demonstrates to the world that your company is ethical. Because of this, Target and UNICEF’s co branding efforts are legendary.The Kid Power initiative, developed by the two organizations, intends to provide every child in the nation access to the first “wearable-for-goodTM” Kid Power Band. The exercise equipment can assist in teaching children the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle and keeping wellness as a way of life.

5. Rachel Comey, Victor Glemaud, Sandy Liang, Nili Lotan & Target

There Co-branding Campaign is- High-End Fashion. Those who’re designer-conscious understand high fashion and Target aren’t specifically of similar caliber related to quality. Dresses designed by designers such as Sandy Liang starts from around $600; on the contrary, dresses designed by Target cost more likely $35 per pair.What do I mean? The discrepancy between pricing is exactly why these designers and Target brands chose to co-brand with each other. In order to support the brand positioning of Target as trendy and fashionable, they co-branded with trend-setting fashion designers like Rachel Comey, Victor Glemaud, Sandy Liang, and Nili Lotan to provide exceptional branded items for a limited time period.

6. Joybird & Sherwin-Williams

Co-branding Campaign is: Being Boldly Original When the home lifestyle brand Joybird and paint company Sherwin-Williams did a co-branding campaign, “Beign Boldly Original” – to provide a broad-ranging home furnishings collection and color palettes. Together they built a luxury product line of home design inspiration and paints that allowed customers to choose paint colors that complimented their furniture choices effortlessly.

7. Casper & West Elm

Co-branding Campaign is: Test a Casper Mattress You might have heard about Casper – an online mattress and bedding brand selling mattresses in a box. On the other hand, a high-end furniture brand – West Elm, partnered so shoppers can try out the comfortable mattresses before buying. Thus West Elm can advertise its exclusive bedroom furniture.

8. BMW & Louis Vuitton

Co-branding Campaign is: The Art of Travel BMW, a car manufacturer and designer Louis Vuitton might not be a distinct pairing, but if you think twice, you’ll see some crucial things in common. If you look at the signature luggage lines by Louis Vuitton, they both are in the travel business and value luxury. Ultimately, they both are well-known, conventional brands popular for exclusive craftsmanship.

9. Apple & MasterCard

Co-branding Campaign is: Apple Pay At times; co-branding isn’t just cool ventures between 2 brands – they in fact have practical value when it comes together.When the Apple Pay app was released by Apple, the brand efficiently changed the way people did transactions. This application helps people save their credit or debit card data on their mobile phones to utilize them without physically having any cards with them. But for this application to succeed, credit card companies must implement this technology. Using the same token, credit card companies must face fierce competition if they aren’t compatible with advanced customer buying tools.

10. Airbnb & Flipboard

Co-branding Campaign is: Experiences You may have heard about Airbnb, the room-sharing app that lets you find affordable and convenient lodging real people offer. And its latest partner, Flipboard, could also have been on your list till now. Flipboard is a news collector that gathers news and textual information that people share on social media platforms and lets you “flip” through the things such as social media feeds. Now, Airbnb has currently partnered with Flipboard to build “Experiences”, that serve Airbnb customers with lifestyle content customized to their interests and provided by users with the same interests as the readers.

11. Uber & Spotify

Co-branding Campaign is: Soundtrack for Your Ride Spotify, a music streaming application co-branded with ride-sharing app Uber to develop a “Soundtrack for Your Ride.” an excellent co-branding partnership between 2 highly different products with the same goals – to earn more no. of users.When riders are waiting for a ride, they’re asked to connect with Spotify and become the DJ of their ride. Riders can select from their playlist to decide what they want to listen to.

12. Levi\’S & Pinterest

Co-branding Campaign is: Styled by Levi’s Worlds, one of the oldest and most popular jeans brands – Levi Strauss & Co. recently partnered with Pinterest. People pin posts they like on this social platform to their user profiles. Users often visit Pinterest for inspiration related to fashion, which made a co-branding partnership with Levi’s a native partnership. Their co-branding campaign is “Styled by Levi’s”, which provides a customized styling experience for styling insights customized to all the user’s tastes and interests.

13. BuzzFeed & Best Friends Animal Society

Co-branding Campaign is: Emma Watson + Kittens Few co branding companies are more complex as compared to others. This partnership between BuzzFeed and Best Friends Animal Society is the simplest one, and it indicates that a best co branding effort doesn’t need to take months of planning or loads of dollars. Some co-branding campaigns are more complicated than others. This example from BuzzFeed and Best Friends Animal Society is one of the simplest ones—and it shows that a great co-branding effort doesn’t have to take months of planning or millions of dollars. For this Emma Watson + Kittens campaign, Best Friends Animal Society wanted to strengthen BuzzFeed’s more than 200 million readerships. For this, they co branded with BuzzFeed to develop and publish an article titled, “We Interviewed Emma Watson While She Palyed With Kittens, And It Was Really Adorable.” This article is exactly the same as it sounds: Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson, answered fans’ questions when she was playing with adorable kittens.

14. CoverGirl & Lucasfilm

Co-branding Campaign is: Light Side and Dark Side Makeup Anytime a new sequel to the highly popular “Star Wars” gets released, it causes global turmoil. Similarly, the launch of “Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens” in 2015 wasn’t an exception. The parent company, Lucasfilm, for this series, co-branded with CoverGirl to attract a broader audience and earn new and old fans’ enthusiasm about the movie’s release.

15. Amazon & American Express

Co-branding Campaign is: Amazon Business American Express Card eCommerce giant – Amazon is a global company with millions of customers, and approximately 2 million businesses sell on this platform, looking to enhance the way small businesses are selling products on their platform. Therefore, they co-branded with American Express, on a co-branded credit card.

16. Nike & Apple

Co-branding Campaign is: Nike+ Nike, an athletic brand, and tech giant Apple have partnered since the early 2000s when the first version of iPods was released. This co-branding started as a means of bringing music from Apple to Nike users’ workouts with the help of technology.Nike+iPod developed fitness trackers, sneakers, and clothing that monitored the activities whereas connecting people to their tunes. This partnership has evolved into Nike+, which uses activity-tracking technology developed into athletic clothing and gear to align with Apple iPhone applications to monitor and record workout-related data. For that, tracking transmitters could be created into shoes, armbands, and even basketballs to evaluate time, distance, heart rate, calories burned, etc.

17. Bonne Belle & Dr. Pepper

Co-branding Campaign is: Flavored Lip Balm Dr. Pepper-flavored lip balm is simply genius. Lip Smacker was first launched by Bonne Belle, in 1973, which was the world’s first flavored lip balm, with flavors such as strawberry, lemon, green apple, etc. In 1975, just 2 yrs later, the brand formed its first co branding partnership with the ageless Dr. Pepper brand. The ou, connectinglavor that’s been popular among teenage girls.

18. Warby Parker & Arby\’S

Co-branding Campaign is: The Warby Collection Warby Parker, a well-known glass seller at stores across the US and via almost completely virtual fitting platforms. Arby’s, a restaurant chain popular for its slogan, “We have the meat!” Looking at them, you might think there isn’t much common between them. But this didn’t prevent them from co-branding an April Fools Day campaign in 2018. For this campaign, both brands played one common thing: the fact that the word “Arby” was the common part in both their names.

19. Taco Bell & Doritos

Co-branding Campaign is: Doritos Locos Tacos When Doritos Locos Taco was first launched, it instantly became the most popular fast food industry and widely accepted item. On the contrary, Frito-Lay took the crunchy taco recipe of Taco Bell and gave the Locos Taco a special signature twist – “Doritos shell.”Both the brands wanted to keep the Doritos shell as close to the original cheesy chips as possible, utilizing a corn masa recipe and coating it in that unique nacho cheese dust.

20. Tim And Eric & Purple

Co-branding Campaign is: Purple Boys Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, also known as Tim and Eric, are the comedy duo behind Adult Swim shows. For now, Purple, the brand and HubSpot client known for the well-known Purple Mattress, normally releases distinct ad campaigns that have allured the millennials and Gen-Z demography. It seems logical for a brand to partner with celebrities who can market their product, and the comedy style of Tim and Eric is highly unique and hilarious. So, one might wonder how this kind of comedic style transforms into a mattress-promoting campaign that generates sales.

21. AirAsia & Kabali Movie Team

The best example of a co-branding effort was AirAsia and Kabali, a Rajinikanth movie, in 2016, where AirAsia airline connects Malaysia with the remaining Asia operating flights from India to Malaysia. The movie was mostly shot in Malaysia and indirectly endorsed Malaysia to India and the world to boost Malaysian tourism. If AitAsia endorses Kabali, the audience will watch it, and if people also wish to visit Malaysia, they can book a flight, probably an AirAsia flight. Thus, the airline will earn more revenue and profit. And with AirAsia endorsing the Kabali movie, more people will watch the movie throughout India and Malaysia, and other overseas countries, thus, the producers of the movie will earn more profit.

Final Thoughts

Co-branding is a fantastic approach to expanding your marketing initiatives while cutting costs and increasing awareness of your brand’s activity. Even though it has some drawbacks, properly executing it will undoubtedly help your company extend your reach, your offering, and the credibility of your brand. We at Digifos Digital Design comprehend your branding objectives and offer the top co-branding concepts and tactics.

FAQs

Q1. When Is The Right Time To Initiate For Co-Branding? Ans. Co-branding may start when multiple or two parties willingly decide to collaborate on a niche product. A merger or purchase of a company may also result in the transfer of a brand associated with an established product or service provider to an even more recognizable company and brand. Q2. How Can Co-Branding Benefit For Your Business? Ans. Co-branding can help your business in a number of ways, including expanding your market and customer base, increasing customer loyalty and engagement, discovering new revenue streams (like with branded items), and delivering added value to customers. Q3. Essential Initiatives For A Successful Co-Branding Ans. Make a well-thought-out co-branding partnership plan by taking into account both your own and your potential partner’s target markets, contrasting their brand personalities, evaluating their total reach and visibility, and so on. Additionally, expert Co-branding businesses are available to help you with this process.