Brands please partner with other brands, a sincere request!

Hello, Creative Souls!

Brands insist on having their independent identity. This is a must. But does that mean they should never collaborate with another brand? You don’t see this happening too much, but it seems almost like an unspoken rule at this point.

Here’s the thing: The rule doesn’t make any f***ing sense.

Why can’t brands collaborate with non-competing brands to increase their visibility and footprint in areas that they are looking to conquer, or to establish their standing in an existing market?

See this brilliant brand(s) collab:

THE GIST: The campaign when it came out (June 2012), aimed to address the complex registration process that leaves many of the 650,000 leukemia and lymphoma patients diagnosed annually without a marrow match.

The idea was fairly simple - a significant number of blood samples had to be collected, with the consent of the prospective donors, to see if they could be a potential match.

By integrating a registry kit into over-the-counter bandage boxes, the campaign turned an everyday act into a life-saving opportunity. "Help I Want to Save a Life" reached over 50 million people, gained attention from TED and major news outlets, and increased Help's bandage sales by 1,900%, with major retailers placing new orders. Most importantly, marrow donor registrations tripled since the campaign's launch.

In the digital era where the barriers to accessibility are diminishing, brands that share similar or complementary values can team up to drive insane value and this is exactly why Brand Custodians should foster collaborations.

Why?

• Collaborations reduce costs and increase visibility for all parties involved

• Partnering enables you to go wild with how creative you can get with two brand identities coming together - it’s almost like a multi-starrer movie

• For brands that serve similar markets but aren’t competitors, it helps capture a wider user base.

The success of the underlying mechanism of partnerships & collaborations is very well visible in the B2B space, where ‘Partnerships’ is a function on it’s own. Software products that cater to similar personas collaborate together all the time to drive initiatives forward, and of course, make money while doing it.

Remember when Apple almost went bankrupt? You probably don’t. But a timely partnership with Microsoft where you saw Steve Jobs & Bill Gates take the stage(Well, Bill was on video call, but you get the point) ended up generating a lot of noise for the frenemy founders, & the products they were selling itself - Hardware and Software.

Ideas corner:

• A coffee brand could partner with bookstores to help them become make-shift cafes and run a campaign around how books and coffee go very well together

• A dating app could team up with a fashion brand or eCommerce player to help you land that ONE outfit that could help you make a great first impression - this could be with any brand that can help you make an impression

• This is my favorite - A lot of homegrown fast-food brands are popping up every quarter. So are homegrown beverage brands. Both challengers taking on behemoth multinational corporations that have been around for decades. Imagine they forge a partnership and start making waves. Just some… food for thought. (Pun absolutely intended)

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.