But because it’s not enough to simply double the number of calls to action in order to achieve your strategic objectives, multi-brand campaigns have to compete with each other in terms of originality if they are to find their audience. In this article, we take a look at the marketing competition format. This will enable you to boost your visibility through co-branding.
What are the benefits of a co-branding strategy? What are the different uses depending on your objectives?
What is co-branding ?
Co-branding is a marketing strategy in which two companies enter into a partnership by co-creating and marketing a common product or service. This operation therefore serves to promote both brands simultaneously.
Within a multi-brand partnership, we tend to distinguish between so-called “ingredient” brands, which benefit from a higher profile and visibility, and so-called “partner” brands, which benefit from this alliance to reach a wider audience.
The cornerstone of co-branding is therefore the choice of this famous partner. This can be based on a number of criteria and strategic interests for both parties:
- Complementary value propositions, with each partner benefiting from the expertise of the other to enhance the relevance of its product or service ;
- Complementary audiences, The two companies may have similar sized audiences, but with different consumer groups or in different markets. Co-branding will enable each partner to extend its area of inlfuence to a new audience.
The benefits of co-branding for brands
While they are never strictly equal in terms of what they bring to partnerships, each co-branding player enjoys significant advantages :
- Synergy: co-branding makes it possible to combine the strengths and competitive advantages of the two companies so that they can gain expertise or recognition in a specific marketing or reach a wider audience.
- Cost sharing. This partnership also enables brands to halve their advertising and promotional costs and expenditure.
- New audience. By opting for a partnership with one brand, companies can easily access the customer base of the other brand. This is an excellent way of reaching new marketing segments, a new type of consumer, etc.
- Strengthening the brand image. Associating with a complementary brand (in its value proposition or range of product/services) essentially improves the perception and credibility of your company.
The multi-brand marketing competition technique
Co-branding is a highly effective marketing lever for boosting brand visibility and growing your customer base. But like all marketing levers, it is not sufficient on its own to achieve strategic objectives.
For a campaign in partnership with another brand to resonate with the communities of both brands, it must be based on an innovative format that captures and engages consumers beyond the original partnership betwen the companies.
Gamification offers a number of advantages when two brands are associated. It introduces interactivity, promises rewards and give users the chance to test their skills or challenge each other.
The benefits of marketing gamification
By building a campaign around a competition (such as a creative challenge, instant win or prize draw), partner brands can benefit from:
- The virality of competitions: gamification encourages sharing, which naturally increases the reach of the co-branding campaign (particularly on social networks).
- Increased engagement with their respective communities. Competitions attract attention and encourage active participation from consumers (usually to win a reward or benefits) ;
- A higher conversion rate. Competitions can be used to offer discount coupons, vouchers or even complementary products. So it’s an excellent way of sharing effective incentives to encourage participants to make a purchase by going directly on the two brand’s online or physical shops.
- Customer date collection. To take part in the competition, users will have to fill in a form. This will enable brands to gather relevant information about their respective audiences as well as optins. They can then reactivate this data in future campaigns (retargeting, for example).
Example of a multi-brand marketing competition
The Aubert brand uses co-branding via marketing competitions. The company has used this lever on several occasions to reach a wider audience. As well as developing and marketing products and services co-designed with its partners, Aubert has chosen to gamify its campaigns by offering the respective communities the chance to win them free of charge via a competition.
The products and services on offer will enable the two partners to leverage their respective expertise and boost their value proposition to a shared audience: young parents.
The competition format is designed to arouse the curiosity of this consumer segment and engage them by offering them the chance to win the products or service for free. The mechanics are simple: all you have to do is fill in an entry form and you”ll be in with a chance of being drawn.
3 tips for a successful co-branding competition
To replicate the success of Aubert’s co-branding campaigns, you need to:
- Ensure that your target market and brand image are aligned and consistent with those of the partner brand. The two companies must share common values while targeting affinities with different audiences ;
- Meet the needs of your audience. The campaign in partnership with another brand must meet an identified need in its market. The value propositions of both partners is strenghtened because they benefit from each other’s expertise ;
- Adapting the mechanics of your competition to the challenges of co branding. The prize must be linked to the world of the two brands (and preferably linked to the co-created product or service). The winners should also be announced on their respective channels, or an opt-in should be included for the partner brand.
Co-branding is a powerful way of boosting your visibility to a wider audience. By opting for a competition, your co-branded campaign will naturally gain in virality and engagement. Discover our interactive mechanisms to boost your communication and capture the attention of your respective audiences!
