On Point: The Power of Co-branding
A pair of Adidas sneakers now bears Goodyear rubber soles, new home
owners in a North Carolina real estate development receive a John Deere
tractor lawnmower upon move-in, and everything from face soap to power
tools is given overt placement on television programs like Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Yes,
marketers have brought co-branding to a new level, but as Assistant
Professor of Marketing Melissa St. James suggests, not all partnerships
work out and few rival the frequency of the celebrity endorsement.
On creativity versus
effectiveness
You hear of new examples almost every day. An interesting recent one was
Delta Air Lines tapping clothing designer Kate Spade for the cabin
interiors and flight attendant uniforms for its new airline, Song. They
really are all over. One of the most successful has probably been the
Intel partnership with Dell featuring “Intel Inside.” It’s not as
glamorous, but they’ve been able to reap the rewards of each other’s
expertise. Intel didn’t have to make a computer, and Dell didn’t have to
make their own chip, so it cuts down on their R&D costs and both
products get sold while capitalizing on their mutual perceived
expertise.
On bikes and the automobile industry
The automotive industry stands out as doing it fairly well most of the
time. I thought Volkswagon’s promotion of including a free Trek bike
with the purchase of a Jetta a few years ago was really well done
because both products convey the same youthful image. The Eddie Bauer
edition Ford Explorer is the same thing, but a little more upscale.
On co-branding in movies and
television shows
The entertainment industry used to overtly try to use a generic soda
can, but now, they think nothing of throwing in a Diet Pepsi product
placement. One of the famous early examples is Reese’s Pieces in E.T.
Shows today like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition almost flaunt their
product placements, and I think the fact that co-branding in TV and
movies is becoming more prevalent means that we’re more comfortable with
it. Generally speaking, I think that goes for all forms of co-branding.
On the power of the celebrity
Despite all of the different kinds of co-branding though, the most
obvious one has got to be the celebrity endorsement. People may not
think of it as co-branding at first, but really, it’s using the
personality of the celebrity as a brand. For example, Tiger Woods the
brand becomes associated with Buick the brand because Buick wants to
take on the persona of Tiger Woods. It’s got to be one of the easiest
ways for a company to co-brand because it doesn’t take any long-term
strategic alliances, but it is expensive. Oprah’s Book Club has got to
be one of the most successful ever. Just putting a sticker on a book
turned it into a bestseller overnight.
On Celine’s swan song
The most important thing is that no matter the partnership, the two
products or brands or personas have to match up. A notorious example is
when Chrysler signed Celine Dion to endorse their minivans. People hated
them, because Celine has nothing to do with a minivan. Recently though,
I saw something that said a Canada Air ad campaign with her as their
spokesperson helped the company stay out of bankruptcy. She’s from
Canada so I guess that people identified with her endorsement.
On celebs and controversy
Anytime a celebrity falls out of the public’s good graces, it can hurt a
brand too. Janet lost a movie deal after the Super Bowl incident. Pepsi
cut Madonna after the controversial “Like a Prayer” video came out. And
of course, O.J. and Michael Jackson aren’t great spokesmen now either.
On our fascination with fame
That’s my favorite thing, though. We have this weird fixation with
celebrities, so much so that even O.J. has an endorsement deal now with
a small company in Europe.
On the bottom-line
What it comes down to though, is that all of these partnerships are
about financials. You can be trying to change your image, enhance your
image, or trying to save money, but the biggest incentive is to sell
more products. It’s always about the bottom-line. |
