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What the latest controversial tie ups can teach brands about collaboration

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Marketing is as susceptible as any discipline to fads and fashions. Whether it’s new buzzwords, calls to action or messaging approaches – or, as we’re currently seeing, brand collaborations.

Gucci was one of the first – if not the very first –luxury brand to establish unexpected partnerships in new spaces to reach future new targets. These partnerships – from NY Yankees to North face, to name a few – were all iconic moves clearly part of a deliberate strategy to expand to new areas and capture new audiences. And they succeeded.

However, the latest tie up between Nike and Tiffany & Co has been dubbed less a marriage of love and more a marriage of convenience. Many are questioning the use of Tiffany & Co’s brand identity, the lack of creativity, and whether it is trying to cash in on the streetwear market a decade too late in an attempt to modernise its heritage brand for a younger audience.

Brand collaborations are not without risk and brands need to make careful consideration of the choice of a partner and the nature of the collaboration. But as brands look to reach new customer sets, especially with niche and unusual tie-ups, we can expect to see more activity in this area in 2023.

So, what can brands learn from some of the more recent collaborations that have polarised opinion and what steps should brands consider if they are to proceed and succeed? Interbrand Italy CEO Lidi Grimaldi thinks she has the answers.

Align brand purpose

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De-risking collaborations means ensuring your brand values are aligned. While these collaborations may seem like short-term executions, they should still fit with a business’s long-term brand building approach. Great brands, with the right strategies and acting as leaders, effortlessly balance power and responsibility; they make the right decisions and with integrity – and this is what consumers now expect from them.

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s and chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely entered a collaboration – two limited edition bars and ice cream tubs. The partnership came to life after the two brands agreed they were a good fit in terms of purpose. The starting objective of the partnership wasn’t to create a buzz, it was to shine a light on the cocoa supply chain and embark on a mission to make chocolate completely slave free. The brands sensibly trialled their partnership before embarking on a longer journey together.

Elsewhere, the Yeezy and Adidas collaboration created issues for Adidas because of Kanye West’s antisemitic rants. It meant the brand was seen to be endorsing values and messaging that were not aligned its customer base or brand purpose – and so Adidas ultimately ended the collaboration.

Nurturing existing customer relations

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Some collaborations are simply rejected by customers if they do not perceive any utility or are undesirable – think U2’s free album ‘Songs of Innocence’ on Apple Music which backfired for both the band and Apple.

Brand collaboration isn’t just about attracting new customers, it’s about appealing to those brands have already worked hard to gain. Brands must look closely at their existing customers to better understand their behaviours, habits and desires. This deep analysis will help ensure any collaborations still meet the needs of a loyal fan base, while understanding where best to market a new product.

Branding that has a new cultural value

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Collaborations are not just about co-brandings; they should create a stronger meaning through careful creativity and strategy – one that authentically resonates with the intended audience.

For example, the KFC x Hype collaboration aimed to tap into the younger demographic by creating a range of clothing and accessories people could wear at festivals. The collaboration had a clear purpose and target audience and fitted with festival culture. The Hype x KFC bucket hat sold out in just 10 minutes and the launch pop-up shop saw queues of fans waiting around Carnaby Street.

Be bold, disruptive, but most importantly authentic

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Brand partnerships have a significant impact on both brands involved – good and bad. The successful ones will be beneficial in strengthening both brands’ image and value – to create the highest Return on Investment and Return on Equity.

Take Primark x Greggs; it was bold and disruptive, but the real success lay in their authenticity and shared values. Primark x Greggs was showcased as bringing together not only two “greats” of the UK’s town and city centres, but two brands that focused on customer value, with a sense of humour.

So, brands need to scout for authentic but differentiating partnerships that build momentum and allow a relevant story to be co-created with new and existing customers, and which incorporates a distinctive participating experience. They will need to carefully de-risk investments by leveraging distinctiveness and coherence while creating trust and affinity.

And as for Nike and Tiffany & Co, it has certainly created a lot of buzz and awareness (not all positive), but its lack of purpose and meaningful reason to collaborate may limit its success. We will likely continue to see Nike act as media platform for luxury brands, but whether this recent collaboration can go beyond one of convenience, remains to be seen.

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