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By Gregory J. Pollack
Walk down any supermarket aisle and what do you see? Brands, brands, and more brands. And individually, each has its own equity – equity, along with consumer appeal, value, unique brand-defining characteristics and a brand essence that evokes loyalty among target consumers.
The smart marketer uses strategically planned distribution to enhance brand equity. Although less common, gaining new distribution with an alliance partner however, can be extremely powerful. In fact, especially during challenging economic periods, the power of marketing partnerships brings expanded credibility and a cost efficient means to gain distribution.
Many companies and managers today have mastered and are effectively using promotions. These promotional programs can range from couponing, licensing, merchandising, among others. However, most often these types of marketing tools are used independently or in more of a silo approach. And it can take a long time to create these programs, especially if another partner brand is included or a promotional overlay such as an entertainment property – theatrical, DVD, or otherwise – is involved.
And today many companies and brands are engaging in Partnership Marketing, Marketing Alliances, Strategic Partnerships, and yes even Partnership Brand Marketing programs. But often they boil down to just promotions, perhaps maybe even on a larger scale.
But the true success of Partnership Brand Marketing is understanding its power in opening up new and alternative channels of distribution for both companies and brands involved.
The whole idea behind partnership Brand Marketing is to find customers where your company and brand does not compete. Not only does it provide your brand with additional credibility in aligning with another company, it opens up distribution channels, allows you to reach and market to customers that may not be aware or thinking of your brand, and most important it captures the attention of new potential buyers that may not consider your brand top-of-mind.
But the key ingredient to everything is integration. It is not just enough to create a promotion or align with a licensed property. It is not enough to create a joint merchandising display. Well-crafted Partnership Brand Marketing should include every possible touch-point your business has with its customers. This will include traditional and non-traditional marketing, as well as internet, special events, advertising, promotions, public relations, packaging, merchandising, and a host of other marketing components.
And such, strategic Partnership Brand Marketing programs need to be created and designed not only at the senior level in each company, but also need to involve the brand group and marketing managers that will run, implement, and monitor the program’s success on a daily basis.
Creating marketing alliances doesn’t just present an opportunity to create promotions, they also establish a base in which to create distribution opportunities, providing a great chance to leverage either geographic distribution or merchandising within a store.
As an example, if an entertainment property links with a packaged goods brand to create a promotion, there could and should be advertising program overlays in the form of television, print, FSI’s, and event packaging. But to extend this to a true Partnership Brand Marketing, program other program elements such as a joint selling and distribution team between both companies should occur with the goal of gaining incremental and sustained distribution. Additionally, other items including corporate programs could come into play.
Of even a greater challenge and desired place for both companies and brands is to create an umbrella strategic Partnership Brand Marketing program, in which at least three companies and brands align together to share in their distribution and marketing programs with the goal of providing an even greater value to all three company’s customers. And the best part is that ultimately the customer, the consumer and the buyer wins. They are introduced to a number of brands, initiatives, new products, new features, and a host of other promotional activities designed to induce trial and build loyalty, while providing value.
While it is a known fact that targeted distribution is a very clear and successful strategy for ensuring success for a brand, fewer brands are actually capitalizing on ways in which to utilize marketing alliances to obtain alternative distribution for their brand.
For instance, our company, PBM Marketing Solutions, has worked with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment with the goal of not just creating marketing promotions. The key objective is actually to market and distribute DVDs in channels where they don’t compete, and in turn, provide marketing exposure to customers where partner brands don’t sell their products as well.
Recently we created a national strategic Partnership Brand Marketing program on behalf of LEGOLAND California and Volvo Cars of North America. Rather than just a marketing sponsorship or promotional program, what made this different was the multi-level marketing partnership that now extends far beyond the promotional arena. This includes Cross Promotions; Joint Advertising; a Dealer component; marketing exposure on the national Auto Show circuit; a Life-Size Volvo LEGO car placed in high trafficked areas; Volvo cars placed at LEGOLAND California; LEGOLAND marketed in the Volvo auto dealer channel; Special Events; Corporate/Employee Programs; as well as safety awareness activities.
As a result of this unique Partnership Brand Marketing program, Volvo can now reach customers in a channel where it does not compete, the theme park industry, and LEGOLAND California and the LEGO brand can now reach customers in a channel in which it does not compete, the automotive channel.
But more important, it is key to realize that companies and brands have two types of equity. First is their Brand Equity. But of equal validity is a company and brand’s Distribution Equity. The Brand Equity is the value consumers and buyers feel about the brands they are loyal to, whereas on the other hand Distribution Equity is a brands foothold, strength, and presence where their products are sold.
Being able to parlay such a marketing partnership into an ongoing alliance to help gain further distribution and sales takes this to a higher level. In fact, often times a marketing alliance can have more than just one promotion built into it – it can feature multiple program layers that can transcend beyond the supermarket, including the internet with web-site links, on-pack messages and co-branding placed in alternative channels, as well as unique locations where consumers are most apt to see your product.
In today’s busy world of brand marketing, utilizing the strength of marketing alliances to get product into new channels and venues is an essential marketing tool to generate incremental sales.
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