Brand Partnerships Can Deliver The Unexpected

Partnering with an established brand and gaining discreet access to their customers via their owned media channels – whether online or offline – typically in exchange for exclusive discounts, benefits, competition prizes, IP, content or experiences. No money changes hands between partners. Gaining an endorsement from a trusted brand can give you a valuable leg up in a competitive market space.

The flipside of a distribution partnership – giving your customers exclusive access to a brand they love, or will come to love once they’ve tried them out. Can set you apart from the competition, drive engagement and build valuable loyalty with your brand. Added value partnerships can be with a single brand, or with multiple as part of a wider loyalty programme – combining a series of discounts and benefits to reward customers for spend, behaviour or continued loyalty.

Aligning with carefully selected events, individuals, teams or media can drive awareness, and shift or reinforce perceptions of your brand. Sponsorship is becoming ever more elaborate, as consumers seek authenticity from their brand experiences, and businesses find innovative new ways to activate sponsorships.

Affiliate marketing marries up a primary partner (the advertiser) with a secondary partner (the affiliate or publisher). The publisher promotes the advertiser’s product or service on their website in exchange for a fee. Simple.

High footfall brick & mortar stores, and high traffic websites are the holy grail of retail. Space in either can be purchased by a secondary partner to gain access to this sought-after audience, whilst the primary partner benefits from the revenue and an enhanced offering for its customers.

Trust and respect are crucial for brands to thrive over the longer term. One time-tested approach to building a positive reputation is aligning with charitable organisations or causes. Whether the brand simply pays for the association or uses its platform to raise money and awareness, consumers see this as a valid litmus test to measure a brand’s conscience.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

There are often easier routes available than starting from scratch – and this is where a trusted partner can come in. Whether it’s enhancing an existing product, or developing a new one from scratch, collaborating to create joint products and services can drive innovation, open new markets, save costs and build brand reputations.

Much like joint products, content partnerships enable brands to benefit from the knowledge, insight, IP and credibility of a partner. To drive engagement and connect them with customers in deeper, more immersive ways.

Building a trusted, credible brand, loved by its customers doesn’t happen overnight. Nor does developing a product or service that’s worthy of such hard-earned brand equity. This is where two partners can come together for mutual benefit – to extend the reach of the well-loved brand into new verticals (whilst earning a handsome fee), and growing market share of the quality product by licensing the partner brand and its popularity.