Brand-on-brand Collaborations: That’s how our clients are overcoming third-party data distress!

For a number of years now, cookies have been looked at as the lifeblood of the online ecosystem. Today, the digital advertising industry is worth more than $600 billion, of which a significant part is attributed to cookies.?

But the cookie is dying!?

The Big Tech companies including Apple, Google and Mozilla are actively responding to the growing user privacy concerns over the recent years and are making significant moves in the areas of data protection and security by phasing out the support of third-party cookies in their browsers. This is profoundly impacting the digital advertising industry and the way eCommerce merchants are acquiring new customers.?

While diversifying ad spend, focusing on email and SMS retention marketing tactics, and leveraging first-party data that is voluntarily given by consumers to build out their profiles are all valid strategies to offset rising acquisition costs, today we will dive deeper into one specific strategy that more brands are lately embracing: Brand-on-brand Collaborations.?

Brand-on-brand Collaborations:?

Now, that we are all familiar with influencer marketing, we’d like to draw some attention to the rising trend of brand-on-brand collaborations. As advertising and acquistion costs rise and the return on ad spend (ROAS) diminishes, brands are joining forces to think innovatively about ways to reach new audience segments. By co-creating products and experiences together, non-competing brands reciprocate their audience bases and expand exposure at a lower cost than advertising.

Though this is not an entirely new marketing approach; Target, for example, launched a series of designer collaborations back in 2009 and announced an exclusive Alexander McQueen line while Amazon partnered with Calvin Klein eight years later, however, today brand-on-brand collabs are growing faster than ever before.

To exemplify, we’d like to draw examples from two of our dear clients at Avex who brought forward some interesting collaborations over the last year to create long-term and meaningful connections with their customers:

Cosmopolitan x Vitality

Sportswear and body-positive brand, Vitality, combined forces with women's fashion and entertainment magazine, Cosmopolitan, to curate a “For the Bold” line - which was also the tagline and the overarching theme of the campaign.

With the goal of creating high-quality, colorful pieces that exude confidence in everyBODY, the two women-empowering companies, Cosmopolitan and Vitality, designed a collection of styles derived from their fan-favorite silhouettes that flatter all body types.

“Partnering with the leading female-owned athleisure brand was a no-brainer for us. This inclusive collection speaks to everybody, aligning perfectly with the bold and vibrant spirit of Cosmo and our 61 million strong audiences of modern young women.” Jessica Giles, Editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan

It is safe to say that the alignment is company missions is what set this collaboration up for success. The collaboration put both brands’ audiences at the core while the messaging was carefully drafted to speak to each individual customer attracting attention on both Vitality and Cosmopolitan social media platforms and widening reach that ultimately drove traffic to their storefronts.

Simmons x Skittles?

Between the fashion industry's many mix-ups including the Gucci and Adidas, Fendace, and Miu Miu x New Balance Collections, franchise tie-ins similar to the? Disney x CDG's capsule collection, and celebrity co-signs, we're either in the golden age of collaborations or experiencing crossover overload. Get ready to add another to the list, as you contemplate the Simmons Bedding partnership with Skittles.?

Last year, Simmons Bedding Company chose to whip out an out-of-the-box collaboration with Skittles Candies to create one candy-dispensing bed that was put on sale for $1.50 USD — the same price as a pack of Skittles.?

Obviously, the collaboration wasn’t intended to generate profit. Instead, it was geared towards provoking hype and tapping into a new audience base of younger consumers, perhaps, college kids.?

While Vitality stuck to a collaboration that makes total sense when it comes to the alignment of missions and audiences, Simmons went down the road of a not-so-typical partnership. Having said that, there is no right or wrong way of collaborating with other brands. If a brand wishes to generate revenue, collaborating with a brand with a similar audience base might be its safest bet. On the other hand, if the goal is to generate hype and redefine positioning, deviant partnerships will surely get everyone talking.?

Both ways, the reciprocation of audience and expansion of exposure is guaranteed - a spirited strategy to overcome rising acquisition costs ignited by third-party data woes.?

Now, we’d love to hear from you... What was one brand collaboration you came across that immediately struck your attention? Drop us a comment below.