Four Reasons
Brands Need
to Partner
Dan Khabie
I’ve been in Italy for the past couple weeks, which really put
a crimp on my LinkedIn correspondence, but as I voyaged
through the beautiful countryside and tasted many different
kinds of delicious Italian food and gazed upon a grand
panoply of classic architecture and distinctive villages, I
gradually realized something was missing.
At first I thought it was the lack of Starbucks, but then I
noticed that the Starbuckslessness was only a small piece
of the puzzle. The big picture was a near-total lack of
brands partnering with and among each other. The only
time I noticed some form of partnership/sponsorship was
watching football (pardon me, American readers: soccer)
on TV. Other travels have brought me to places that
understood the need for alignment, and thus the absence
of it was clearly noticeable.
Again, I love Italy for its simplicity, and found the lack of
advertising refreshing at times. But it did get me thinking
about why the partnership of brands is critical in this new
economy. Here are four reasons why:
1
Partnerships create relevancy and added value. A
partnership has to be mutually beneficial, it has to impact
your bottom-line or create a level of brand awareness
that sets each involved brand apart. As PBM Marketing
Solutions’ president Gregory J. Pollack writes, “For a true
strategic partnership brand marketing program to work,
both brands must complement each other and deliver
similar customer profiles.”
A good example of what Pollack says would be Nike and
iTunes, which struck an incredibly relevant partnership
because their pairing connected your daily activity with
your everyday joy of listening to music. By doing that,
Nike continues to position itself around innovation and
distinguishes itself in the fitness category.
2
A successful partnership aligns similar values, which
allows you to talk to the right audiences for your brand.
Late last year, the Guardian reported that a survey from
over 130 companies and non-profits cited nearly 60% of
respondents as saying they place a greater emphasis on
cross-sector partnering than they have in the past.
A good example of this is the (RED) campaign, which
brought famous musicians together through a cause; you
can purchase a (RED) card at places like Starbucks and
other retailers. People want to feel like they’re giving back,
and (RED) has made it easy to do so through partnerships
with brands like American Express, Apple, Coke, Bed Bath
& Beyond, and beyond.
3
Partnerships encourage a long-term view of your
brand. When thinking what and with whom to partner,
it is important to understand that some investments may
appear short-term, but, as they say, you become who you
spend time with -- it will force you to think more longterm around your brand. You will not just jump into any
partnership, but be much smarter about who you bring
into your home and why. To return to Gregory J. Pollack:
“As consumers, we know what we like. And we know what
we want. We surround ourselves with a select group of
brands that encompass and define who we are and—of
equal importance—define our lifestyles.”
4
Partnering might actually keep you alive! Look at
the way Netflix partners with game consoles, or Zynga
aligned with Facebook. But another recent example
is the partnership between Crossfit and Reebok. I like
this partnership because Crossfit (a nationwide fitness
community) has become a great platform for Reebok to
align with and help reposition its brand around fitness and
active athletes.
As microeconomics professor Patrick Rishe wrote in Forbes:
“The burgeoning relationship between Reebok and CrossFit
may take the connection [between fitness and profitability]
to another level altogether.” And Dave Castro, Director of
the CrossFit Games has said “We have seen large gains in
commercial success with bringing on Reebok as a partner
to the CrossFit Games.”
I’ll close with a reference that anyone who’s spent time
in Italy and visited St. Marco Square in Venice, watching
the crowds flow from one live orchestra to another: If you
look up one day and think the world has passed you by,
always remember that the crowds didn’t disappear -- they
just went somewhere else! A savvy partnership may keep
that from happening.