If anyone has ever done justice to the saying ‘love it or hate it, but you can’t ignore it!’, it is the American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. So, unless one has been living under a stone, they will know about the recent fallout between him and the famous shoe brand Adidas, ending the production of the Yeezy sneakers.

According to MarketWatch, Adidas's share of the secondary sneaker market increased from 1% to 30% since Yeezy’s first shoe was introduced.

Collaborative marketing means brands working together for marketing initiatives to benefit from each other and appeal to the intersection of their respective audiences. With Adidas’ production power and Ye bringing in the cool design quotient, this was a great and fruitful association. Sadly, it ended.

But let us look at some latest successful collaborations with Fresh Gai!

Burberry - Freedom to Go Beyond

A latter-day example of robust co-branding is the one of Burberry and Minecraft. This collaboration offers “a game and capsule collection which brings digital lives into physical worlds”. The gaming landscape will allow the players to explore four ‘treacherous’ domains with a total of 15 downloadable skins. Whereas the capsule collection features Burberry’s classics that include a hint of pixelated finish. A great experience for all Burberry and Minecraft fans!

FloAtverse - Into the Metaverse

As aspirational brands, many are thinking about heading 'into the Metaverse'. That is if they haven't already done it. Well, at least, BoAt's has.

The Indian tech brand BoAt held a virtual K-pop concert on the Loka app and featured avatars of stars like Priyanka Mazumdar, Rashmika Mandanna and Radhika Bangia. An estimated 11,600 people were exposed to the entire activity, of which 3,112 actively participated in the K-pop event, with 15+ minutes of average engagement time.

Let’s find out with Brainy Gai what really goes into making these collaborations and tie-ups work.

Let’s start by looking at some interesting collaborations of the past.

Pepsi - Nothing Official About It

Yes, the OG influencer/celebrity collaborative marketing!

In 1996 when cricket fans all across the world were gearing up for the Cricket World Cup, two big soft drink brands - Coca-Cola and Pepsi were competing to become the official drinks partner for the event. Although Coca-Cola became the official sponsor, Pepsi wasn’t one to go down easy

To counter Coca-Cola’s success, they launched the ‘Nothing official about it’ campaign and collaborated with several international cricketers to create a marketing campaign so iconic that it is still talked about to this day.

The Dewarists

A collaboration to showcase creativity!

As a part documentary and part travelogue, the alcohol brand Dewars and numerous music icons created tons of exciting fusion music and became the Dewarists. By releasing the music in a series of YouTube episodes, the brand induced passion in its fans to follow their dreams. This brand-to-celeb crossover brought the brand to the public’s attention and gave the public some iconic music.

Finding the ‘X’

No, not the ‘X’ from mathematical equations, but the ‘X’ that marks the collaboration between a brand and a celebrity or two brands or two celebrities.

As a part documentary and part travelogue, the alcohol brand Dewars and numerous music icons created tons of exciting fusion music and became the Dewarists. By releasing the music in a series of YouTube episodes, the brand induced passion in its fans to follow their dreams. This brand-to-celeb crossover brought the brand to the public’s attention and gave the public some iconic music.

Example:

Supreme X Louis Vuitton (Supreme is the king of collaborations)

Nike X Apple

Uber X Spotify

According to a study by PartnerPath, after seeing co-marketed campaigns, 68% of consumers are able to make buying decisions before even speaking to sales representatives.

When two or more businesses come together to create something, the collaboration becomes mutually beneficial.

• It brings the fans or consumers of one brand to explore the other; this increases people’s awareness of both brands and brings in new customers.
• If a relatively new or unknown brand collaborates with a well-established brand, it instantly boosts the recognition and credibility of that brand.
• It offers an opportunity to discover new content for the brand - a new point of view can help a brand explore other business and marketing strategies.
• It grows the brand’s social media community and followers - which is extremely important.

Let us explore some fun co-marketing campaigns with Quirky Gai.

Red Bull Go(es) Pro

When it comes to collaborative marketing, nothing beats Red Bull. It’s wild, it’s crazy, but it’s effective!

Red Bull is known for bringing customers to its product rather than following the conventional path of taking the product to its customer. This time, the Austrian brand collaborated with another brand synonymous with extreme sports, GoPro. The camera business is, in fact, an exclusive partner to provide point-of-view imaging technology to capture the energy drink brand’s events. These mainly include sports that give a rush of adrenaline, like jumping off dirt mounds or even jumping from space.

Meesho - Hiding in plain sight

Is there a thing called ‘mystery marketing’? Meesho says yes!

The online marketplace got big names to promote its upcoming sale but revealed little to nothing. The brand quirkily wrote its name on the poster in reverse order; nobody had a clue. The poster looked like that of a Bollywood movie, and the campaign would’ve successfully let the audience await the movie's release if not for the goof-up done by the marketing team of Saurav Ganguly.

Pizza Hut

When asked to choose between traditional advertising and social media marketing, Pizza Hut chose the trendy influencer marketing strategy.

The quick-service restaurant collaborated with influencers to promote its new Momo Mia pizza. To tap into the millennials’ attention, Pizza Hut chose witty influencers like Akshar Pathak to add the tangent of relatability.

All brands, big and small, are open to collaborations. While Adidas and Yeezy might not have worked as either party wanted, it doesn’t mean this will be the end of all brand collaborations.

What brands should look for when collaborating with other brands:

• Similar goals: It is great to ensure both parties will go in the right direction.
• Customer persona creation: It is always better to know what your customers like and expect and then address the needs accordingly via collaborations.
• An uncontroversial ambassador: It is generally a good idea if the face of the collaboration does not express views that jeopardise the partnership.
• An ‘adapt and overcome’ mentality: A brand should adapt to the new market to overcome business challenges or market slumps.