Strength in Numbers - Co-marketing strategies defray costs, extend reach and add value to consumer experiences

In today’s difficult economy, every marketer is looking for ways to make 1 + 1 = 3. One way to do that is by aligning your brand with a strategic partner. Whether you’re exhibiting at a trade show, producing a mall tour or activating a sponsorship, co-marketing with a non-competing brand can help you stretch your budget and take you places you’ve never been before.
Cindy Syracuse, senior director-cultural marketing at Burger King, is a big believer in the power of partnerships. “Co-marketing is the most efficient sponsorship you can develop, looking for brands that are compatible with yours that want to reach a common target market,” she says.
Burger King partnered with Boost Mobile in a national tour this spring, the BK Famfest, which is hosting family-reunion style events for African-American consumers in public parks in six cities. Boost Mobile is sponsoring the BK mobile kitchen where attendees can sample mini burgers. Families can also visit the Boost Mobile booth to create and download customizable ringtones.
“Boost Mobile was very interested in reaching this market, a family market, in a targeted way,” Syracuse says. “And by bringing on a sponsor it helps us defray costs as well as bring added value for the consumers. It’s a product and service they like, so it’s a win-win partnership that meets common business objectives”
In a separate program, LaCroix Sparkling Water found efficiencies of scale by partnering with Pepperidge Farm as sponsors of the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk Benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a series of three-day 60-mile walks that raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research, education and community health programs. LaCroix, which had sponsored the tour for the previous two years, approached the baked-goods brand when it signed on as a sponsor in 2008. The partnership resulted in shared fuel costs, shared staffers decked out in co-branded shirts and on-site “Inspiration Stations” where walkers relaxed and recharged with Pepperidge Farm cookies and LaCroix Sparkling Water.
Also on site, the LaCroix Lounge, filled with 40 pink and white chairs arranged in a semi-circle where the walkers received five-minute foot massages and samples of its sparkling water, sat next to the Pepperidge Farm Inspiration for the Tour experience where cookies and crackers were served. The two brands also partnered in the Her Voice campaign, a website and virtual community in which walkers share their stories of motivation, inspiration and survival. A continuous loop of the campaign ran on a flat-screen TV in the Pepperidge Farm tent.
It was a tasty partnership, for sure. “Co-branding can give you double the coverage at half the price,” says Vanessa Walker, director-strategic brand management at LaCroix. “We realized significant cost savings in ’08 over the prior year, especially when you consider there were two more cities."
Sounds like a winning combination.