Cross Branding In Many Retail Sectors…

What is Cross-Branding? 

It’s a marketing strategy which combines two offerings from separate companies. The technique is usually used to sell complementary products or services. Also called cross promotion or cross merchandising.

There are some fabulous examples out there in many retail sectors. Capturing the attention of a customer can be quite an art, if there is an opportunity to concentrate on other interests of the customer to strengthen the purchase or an insight into their life style choices, it can make the purchase an easier decision.

Take a look at LEGO + Harry Potter + PlayStation, not only are you hitting the children’s audience but it makes LEGO gaming acceptable for adults to play as well who also like Harry Potter; so it widens the audience.

Bonne Belle + Dr. Pepper. The oldest partnership on the list started in 1975 between the cosmetics company Bonne Belle and the beverage company Dr. Pepper. After launching the flavoured lip balm line Lip Smacker in 1973, Bonne Belle successfully formed a partnership to create Dr. Pepper flavoured lip balm. This flavour of lip balm still exists today and continues to be successful.

Nike + Apple iTunes, what a powerful combination.

This is an absolute no-brainer and is an example of very successful complementary branding. Nike knows that their customers who are runners want to listen to music when they exercise and track their progress. So, they formed a partnership with Apple where their customers could do both. Nike developed a footwear line called Nike+ and Apple created a microchip that fits into the shoes which records the user’s progress when they activate the feature from their iPod or iPhone. This microchip will tell the user statistics like the number of calories burned, speed, distance, and time. You can even program your Apple device to start playing a particular song when you reach a certain point during your run.

Apple have successfully partnered with others. Apple Pay + MasterCard. Both Apple and MasterCard understand that cashless transactions are where our society is headed. MasterCard became the first credit card company to support Apple Pay. This gave Apple an ample customer base to work with while it tweaked its service and gave MasterCard a brand new functionality that was exclusive to their customers.

The food sector has exploded with some classic to interesting collaborations, from Baileys Häagen-Dazs to Oreo Reeses!

The cross branding partnerships have had a knock on effect where a secondary link becomes an important factor when a customer is considering a purchase.

Some of the most obvious examples are with the use of an APP. For instance even though Nike have partnered with Apple to create seamless music when running, an APP such as Strava latches on so it is included in the considered purchase, as the runner will want somewhere to log the activity such as Strava; which leads me to the Pokémon phenomenon back in 2016, when children and adults were aimlessly walking around trying to capture a virtual Pokémon, travelling between the real world and the virtual world. The App maker Niantic says it has driven 500 million visitors to sponsored locations like McDonald’s Japan where gamers can score a special virtual Pokémon which creates huge footfall for the MacDonald’s franchise. The sponsorships turn these locations into Pokémon GO “gyms” that players can win for their team through virtual battle, and “PokéStops” where they can gather eggs and Poké Balls to capture more pocket monsters.

Sky TV+ Netflix. Sky TV have retained the monopoly in the television market for many years, however so not to be complacent and assume they will always have the monopoly they needed to move with the growing market and realise the power of long-time competitors Netflix. In order to not get left behind and to not have to fight for their percentage of the market they joined forces to offer a combined service to their customers, so once again will commandeer the majority of the market. A clever manoeuvre embracing advancement, users will be able to access Netflix directly through a Sky service and can pay for both subscriptions in one bill.

Co-branding can be an excellent way to grow a company without having to make a major investment in resources or create expensive marketing campaigns. It creates a “best-of-both-worlds” relationship where each business benefits from the reputation, image, and customer base of the other.

At Impulse we have also worked with branded collaboration displays, we produced the Dare2b Clothing apparel display with the luxury fashion house Julien MacDonald and the Training Gear SIXPAD Display with the world’s No. 1 football player, Cristiano Ronaldo below.

Why not see what we could do for you and your brand by calling us on 01767 682756 or contacting us by email here.

We look forward to hearing from you!