Better Together 💞

A thermonuclear ☄️ pop-bomb is about to go off, it seems. Two luminaries of teen pop - Justin Bieber and K-pop superstars BTS - are collaborating on a new song 🎶🎵!

In what could be one of the biggest east meets west crossovers, fans are going to have a moment of pop-culture euphoria. It is being speculated that the seven-member South Korean band will lend their voice 🗣️ to one of the tracks from Justin’s latest album Justice for its deluxe ✨ edition. According to Page Six (a brand that has authority on celebrity news and high society gossip), the two artists will be collaborating nonetheless and considering the fan-following they both have, globally 🌍, it surely is going to be a chart topping song.

Making your brand stand out from the crowd in a hugely competitive marketplace is one of the biggest challenges for a business. But there are times when teaming up and collaborating with another brand for a commercial project or social campaign can effectively double the brand exposure and reap dividends for both businesses.

The concept of Brand Collaboration can be defined as the strategic alliance between two or more brands for curating a unique and specific product or service with an intention to carve a niche 🤏 and attain a competitive advantage at the marketplace. It is the modus operandi when two companies formulate a mutual alliance to work together creating a marketing and sales synergy that is beneficial for all the parties involved.

Brand collaboration can involve some surprising, at least at first glance, cross-sector alliances. Think Nike 👟 and Apple 🍎. The sportswear brand Nike and the technology giant Apple are famous and enjoy the loyal customer base respectively but the basis of their Brand Collaboration was the result of sharing the common goals 🥅, the similar set of target 🎯 audience, and the objective to offer something innovative and novel to the customers. And hence, since the early 2000’s, Nike and Apple have a strategic alliance of creating fitness trackers, mobile 📱 apps, sneakers, and other products that track the workout data and the daily activity of the fitness 🏋️‍♀️🤸‍♀️🚴‍♀️ enthusiasts. As envisioned, the Brand Collaboration was an instant hit amongst their target audience.

Another examples of clever brand collaboration include the pairing of Uber 🚕 and Spotify 🎧. Uber is the very famous ride-hailing app and Spotify is the music streaming app and both the brands came forward for the Brand Collaboration as they share similar goals 🥅 of innovation and cater to the same target 🎯 audience. The customers waiting for their Uber ride to arrive were presented with the option of connecting to the Spotify and becoming a DJ for their trip by creating a playlist 🎶🎵 of their choice and enjoy the same during the course of the ride.

Who could forget the partnering of Ford and Tinder. The automobile car giant Ford had a unique Brand Collaboration with the hottest dating 💘 app of today’s time Tinder with an objective to promote its latest offerings to the young generation and enhancing the brand value and customer base. The collaboration involved selecting 5 couples for a carpool karaoke 🎤 style blind date in their very famous offering Ford Mustang. The collaboration was indeed a successful attempt with both the brands benefiting from one another creating an identity in the market.

So what is the key 🔑 to making a brand marriage, albeit a brief one, work? In all of these examples of collaboration, the key thing is that the two brands are complementary; they have similar values and target audiences but are not competitive, explains brand marketing consultant Mike Berry.

"There are huge benefits to be gained, including sharing customer bases, cross selling, adding interest using the other brand. If it is done as a contra deal, it can even be a true win-win 🏆🏆 situation," he says.

So what are the advantages of Brand Collaboration 🤔?

🤝 Increased market share and higher profits

When two brands come together with an objective of Brand Collaboration, the main objective is to share the expertise and offer the unique and innovative product to the customers that will help them gain the competitive edge and advantage in the market increasing the market share by manifolds, meanwhile it generate higher revenues and profits too. With the elevated market share, both the parties enjoy the higher return on investments and increased profits 📈.

🤝 Knowledge Sharing 💞

Every brand in the industry is expert and has knowledge resources on specific parameters but has to outsource or rely on the third parties on the elements and facets on which the brand lacks knowledge and proficiency. Hence, the aspect of collaboration provides impetus to the factor of knowledge sharing that helps both the brands to enhance their creativity levels and come up with the product that is path-breaking in nature and ideation process utilising their respective elements of knowledge and expertise.

🤝 The widened base of customers

Both the brands that are coming together for the Brand Collaboration enjoy the huge base of customers and followers who are loyal to the brand and its various offerings. And the collaboration helps both the brands to widen their customer base as the target market and customers of both the brands are tapped with the common goals 🥅 and motives of higher sales and elevated profits.

🤝 Increased brand reach

The Brand Collaboration not only grabs the eyeballs 👀 of the industry veterans, peers, and market insiders but the customer base of both the brands are equally excited about the outcome of the collaboration. The brands use the potent mix of traditional and modern media and marketing channels to make the customers aware of the alliance and what is in store for them.

As discussed earlier, in today’s dynamic markets and the ever-changing business scenarios, it is very important for the brands to survive and thrive in the market retaining the loyal set of customers by offering the products that are unique and innovative amidst the tough competition. And the business strategy of Brand Collaboration is the one of the best 👍 and go-to tool today.

Tell us what do you think of the following collaborations by comment below 🤗👇👇👇.

References:
Mara Siegler, April 29, 2021, Justin Bieber to collaborate with K-pop superstars BTS on new song
May 04, 2021, Reports of BTS Collaborating with Justin Bieber
Alison Coleman, 26 June 2017, What are the benefits of collaboration for big brands?
Hitesh Bhasin, July 14, 2018, Brand Collaboration