Brand collaboration - Approaching potential brand partners including concept, acquisition, development & roll-out of the brand partnership

Brand collaborations have always been an integral part of the marketing toolbox. Today, however, cooperation between brands is becoming increasingly important, which has been obvious to everyone since the successes of Supreme or Off White. In the best-case scenario, a well-designed brand cooperation enables both partners to smartly and efficiently expand their respective market positions while optimizing costs. However, not all brand collaborations are the same. Cooperation between brands Brand cooperation is defined as a strategic alliance between two or more brands. The aim of every brand cooperation is to jointly offer unique and specific products or services on the market. Whether co-branding, affiliate marketing, cross-selling or classic co-marketing - brand collaborations can create a win-win situation for the cooperation partners in a variety of ways. Because in constantly changing markets with consumers always panting for the next trend, entrepreneurs must dare to break new ground in order to remain competitive. Brand collaborations are a very smart way of securing attention on the one hand and simply expanding your product range on the other - provided the alliance is coherent. WIN-WIN situation In order to achieve a genuine win-win situation, brands need to get out of their own bubble and think carefully about what benefits the respective brand partner could gain from a joint cooperation: What are your brand's strengths? Which brand values of the collaboration partner can you benefit from? Where can the collaboration partner benefit from you? And in which areas do you complement each other? A precise analysis of the current situation is the basis for successful brand collaboration. After all, the best-case scenario should result in a win-win situation for both sides. In reality, only such situations see the light of day or are sustainably successful. Cooperation requires a balance of power. Advantages of brand cooperation Skilful cooperation can enhance the image of the brand in the long term and permanently expand the customer base. Show new facets and the courage to develop further in order to make your brand more diverse. It is vital for a company to move with the times and adapt to the constantly changing market. But without becoming arbitrary or even touching the core of the brand. Brand collaboration is therefore also a very popular means of developing and testing new brand values - without going too far and conducting dangerous experiments with and on your own brand. The consumer understands that this is a brand partnership and not a brand marriage. In the best-case scenario, they will honor it - in the worst-case scenario, they will ignore it. Under no circumstances, however, can even a halfway thought-out brand collaboration lead to a loss of target group or even endanger the brand itself in the long term. Brand collaborations can stimulate purchases, open up new target groups, enhance the image and, in the best case, even save costs. However, this is not without risks. In order to avoid negative impulses and, in the worst-case scenario, investing a lot of budget in the wrong direction, you should consider a few important parameters when choosing a brand for your brand collaboration. Collaboration marketing: focus on the target group A look at well-known brand collaborations shows that there are no limits to your imagination. Because innovation and creativity are in demand. A really good collaboration stands and falls with the friction between the two brands - like a young love, the collaboration must be exciting, new and unexpected. It must literally conjure up butterflies in the consumer's stomach. And this is only possible if the collaboration hits consumers unexpectedly and generates absolutely tremendous vibrations. Many brands start their search with a brand partner that is as similar as possible. In other words, instead of searching for the spectacularly unknown and new, they look for the familiar and appealing - and usually find it. This often results in a list of brand partners that could also be described as the "usual suspects". And at this point, most brand collaborations are already dead. Because instead of a collaboration that stands out and generates attention, there is a collaboration that often only generates a pleasing brand agreement. Finding suitable cooperation partners This is why we repeatedly appeal to our clients to boldly explore new and unknown paths when looking for brand partnerships. Your main focus should always be on considering the most unexpected constellations and collaborations possible. Even before the first approach, play through how the product to be launched together with the brand partner will probably be accepted by the consumer on the market. If your brainstorming results in a product that is too appealing for your existing customers - cross this brand partner off your list. Influence factors in cooperation marketing First of all, you need to be very clear about your goals: Do you want to enter new markets?Expand your expertise? Or use the sales channels of your collaboration partner? Do you want to enhance your image?expanding your target group? or are you pursuing completely different goals? The more precisely you define your goals, the easier it will be to find the right brand partner. Creative concepts But always remember that we are not looking for the expected or even the usual, but for the new and unexpected. So be open to unconventional ideas and collaborations - because only those who dare can win. This is truer for brand collaborations than for any other discipline in marketing. Because there is no such thing as a half-good or almost-good collaboration. Either you have done your job really well and created an exceptional collaboration, or you have sunk into arbitrariness and done a lot of work without this being honored by the customer. Light and shadow are closer together in brand collaborations than anywhere else in marketing. And all honor and prestige goes to the brave. For everyone else, there is not too much to lose, because in the worst-case scenario, nobody will realize that you have put a lot of effort into a brand collaboration. So: be brave and take unconventional paths. Because only those who leave the beaten track and really get involved in something new can create a brand collaboration that customers don't expect. The most important goal of any brand collaboration is to create and launch an unexpected product or service that your customer is not expecting and that catches him or her completely off guard. The seemingly most unlikely partnerships are often the best. A brand partnership at eye level It is important that both brands benefit from the collaboration. Otherwise, the desired partner will not want to commit to you. So don't just ask yourself what you hope to gain from the collaboration, but also what you can offer your counterpart. Only the prospect of a win-win situation makes a brand collaboration possible. When choosing a collaboration partner, carefully weigh up the benefits and risks that may arise. Shared values between the collaboration partners It is particularly important to have a common set of values with your potential brand partner. After all, not all media attention is in your interest. The desired brand alliance should be checked to ensure that it does not convey any harmful brand attributes or even damage your image. Well-known collaborations such as that between Versace and H&M show that a brand with a high-quality image that specializes in a high-earning customer base can also work successfully with a brand with a mass-market sales strategy. In this case, H&M benefited from the image of the Italian fashion label and Versace from H&M's large customer base. A modern version of this is, for example, the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Supreme. A high-class brand that lives from its high quality and prestige must of course not lose its reputation and core clientele. The balancing act between possible negative effects such as loss of time and money and the advantage of a collaboration that reaches a completely new target group must be carefully analyzed and executed with skill. For brands that share common values and goals, complement each other and have enough imagination and imagination to think of a unique collaboration, a strategic brand collaboration can open up a unique win-win situation. We help you to achieve successful brand collaboration! ALPHA POOL supports you on your way to a successful and unique brand collaboration that is tailored to your wishes and needs. Using our proven tools, we identify the most suitable brands and find the right partner for your brand collaboration from this hotlist. Our robust system guides you step by step from the complete list of all possible brands to the hotlist and through the acquisition process to the final collaboration partner. ALPHA POOL is your full-service provider for the entire brand collaboration process: Identifying and searching for the best possible brand partnerStandardized and transparent acquisition process with guaranteed successand finally the implementation, which, if done well, will certainly contribute another 50% to the overall successAll our services - with a guarantee and zero risk for youWe give you a guarantee of success for every step up to the successful conclusion of a brand cooperation and even link our fee to this promise. You can choose between a completely success-dependent variant or one that is divided into a small fixed fee per process step and a success component. The ALPHA Brand Partner Program - 10 steps to a successful brand collaboration: Concept - creation of the pitch presentation and development of the search parameters Data-driven - development of the search matrix, on the basis of which the brand partners can be verified, among other things Long list - listing of all possible brands (maximum of 60 possible brand partners) Hot list - prioritization of the top 60 brand partners and reduction to the top 20 brand partners to be approached in stage 5 Acquisition - Approach the top 20 potential brand partners through our C-level partner program with simple follow-up reporting. Leads - Generation of a maximum of three brands from the top 20, who in turn express interest in a brand partnership. (If this is not possible within the top 20, further brands are approached until at least one potential brand partner has been acquired). LOI - Conclusion of an LOI with the remaining potential brand partners. Concept - Creation of a rough concept for further cooperation with regard to sales & marketing so that no decisive components are forgotten in the contract process. Contract - Support of the contract process by our highly qualified contract lawyers Conclusion of contract - At the end, we guarantee that you will conclude a contract with a brand partner that will lead to an exceptional brand collaboration. We will be happy to advise you in a personal meeting.

The following ALPHA POOL Brand Partner Program takes you to a successful brand collaboration in 10 steps: Concept - creation of the pitch presentation and development of the search parameters Data-driven - development of the search matrix, on the basis of which the brand partners can be verified, among other things Long list - listing of all possible brands (maximum of 60 possible brand partners) Hot list - prioritization of the top 60 brand partners and reduction to the top 20 brand partners to be approached in stage 5 Acquisition - Approach the top 20 potential brand partners through our C-level partner program with simple follow-up reporting. Leads - Generation of a maximum of three brands from the top 20, who in turn express interest in a brand partnership. (If this is not possible within the top 20, further brands are approached until at least one potential brand partner has been acquired). LOI - Conclusion of an LOI with the remaining potential brand partners. Concept - Creation of a rough concept for further cooperation with regard to sales & marketing so that no decisive components are forgotten in the contract process. Contract - Support of the contract process by our highly qualified contract lawyers Conclusion of contract - At the end, we guarantee that you will conclude a contract with a brand partner that will lead to an exceptional brand collaboration. We will be happy to advise you in a personal meeting.