A marketing co-operation or marketing cooperation is a
partnership
A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...
of at least two companies on the
value chain
A value chain is a progression of activities that a business or firm performs in order to deliver goods and services of Value (economics), value to an end customer. The concept comes from the field of business management and was first described ...
level of
marketing
Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce.
Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...
with the objective to tap the full potential of a
market by bundling specific
competences or resources. Other terms for marketing co-operation are marketing alliance, marketing partnership, co-marketing, and cross-marketing. Sometimes, called as Consortium as well.
Marketing co-operations are sensible when the marketing goals of two companies can be combined with a concrete
performance measure for the
end consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or Service (economics), services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or busi ...
. Successful marketing co-operations generate “win-win-win” situations that offer value not only to both partnering companies but also to their customers.
Marketing co-operations extend the perspective of marketing. While marketing measures deal with the optimal organization of the relationship between a company and its existing and potential customers, marketing co-operations audit to what extent the integration of a partner can contribute to improving the relationship between companies and customers.
In recent years, marketing co-operations have been increasingly popular between brands and entertainment properties. This usually involves a minimum exchange of name and image rights on behalf of a film studio for a specified advertising commitment from the partnering brand.
Importance
The importance of marketing co-operations has significantly increased over the last few years: Companies recognize partnerships as an effective means for untapping growth potentials they cannot realize on their own. In the big
merger and acquisition wave at the end of the nineties it became apparent, that co-operations (especially on the value chain level of marketing) often present a much more flexible approach with a more immediate growth impact than merging or acquiring entire business entities.
Studies show, that companies recognise the increasing relevance and potential of co-operations.
Objectives
There are five main objectives of marketing co-operations:
* Build-up and/or strengthening of
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
/
image
An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...
/traffic by implementing joint or exchange
communication
Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
measures
* Access to new markets/customers by directly addressing the co-operation partner’s customers or by using its distribution points
* Increase of customer
loyalty
Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...
by addressing own customers with value added offerings from the partner - often useful for community building
* Reduction of marketing costs by bundling or exchanging marketing measures
* Measure the potential value of an
intangible asset
An intangible asset is an asset that lacks physical substance. Examples are patents, copyright, exclusive franchises, Goodwill (accounting), goodwill, trademarks, and trade names, reputation, Research and development, R&D, Procedural knowledge, ...
through how much consumers are willing to pay the premium
3M'
corporate site describes the value they see in Joint Marketing
:Joint marketing refers to a situation where a product is manufactured by one company and distributed by another company. Both parties invest in commercialization efforts. Joint marketing differs from a joint venture in that it deals with commercialization and marketing dollars, rather than equity. The prominence of each logo generally is relative to its use as a primary or secondary contributor. Joint marketing differs from third-party relationships because both brands are present in the product itself. Normally, third-party relationships have both brands on literature and sales materials, but only the manufacturer is present on the product.
Forms
Marketing co-operations can take on many different forms, for instance:
* Joint
product development
New product development (NPD) or product development in business and engineering covers the complete process of launching a new product to the market. Product development also includes the renewal of an existing product and introducing a product ...
or
Co-branding
* Joint
communication
Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
or “Co-
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
“
* Joint sales measures or
Co-promotion
*
Co-marketing
Co-marketing (Commensal marketing, symbiotic marketing) is a form of marketing co-operation, in which two or more businesses work together.
"Co-marketing" began in 1981 when Koichi Shimizu, a professor at Josai University, published an article ...
*
Cross media
*
Product bundling
*
Sponsoring
*
Branded entertainment
*
Product placement
Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...
*
Music-brand partnerships
* Sales partnerships
*
Licensing
A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...
Examples
Examples of marketing co-operations include:
*
Apple Inc. and
Nike Inc. have formed a long term partnership to jointly develop and sell “
Nike+iPod” products. The "Nike + iPod Sport Kit" links Nike+ products with Apple's MP3-Player iPod nano, so that performance data such as distance, pace, or burned calories can be displayed on the MP3-Player’s interface.
* The South Korean manufacturer of electronics products
LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG, LG Corporation, the fourth ...
has teamed up with the luxury brand
Prada in order to better tap the potential of the growing mobile phone high-end market by creating a Prada branded phone, the “
Prada phone by LG”.
*
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...
and Mango have established a pan-European marketing cooperation around the
Tigra TwinTop campaign "Every street is a catwalk" with a focus on communication. This cooperation includes joint marketing communication, events/PR, and promotional activities.
*
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
NBA have joined forces to develop a special NBA Channel on the video platform, which is an individualised microsite providing primarily NBA material and offering user recordings of NBA games/players.
*
NAPA Auto Parts sponsors th
Napa Parts 200 Through this sponsorship, Napa Auto Parts validates to
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
fans that Napa Auto Parts is the place to go for quality auto parts
NASCAR gets promoted by Napa Auto Parts.Napa's competitor,
Kragen also sponsors NASCAR in the form of th
Winternationals* Banner and link exchanges
[ Linkexchange]
Examples of entertainment based marketing co-operations include:
*
Omega
Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
partnered with the James Bond franchise to help promote their watches; Daniel Craig appeared in advertisements.
*
The SMC Group worked with Alexandra Burke and
Unilever
Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
on the company's Sure Deodorant Campaign. This was done during her album cycle, helping to promote album sales as well as Unilever's product.
References
Further reading
* Cristal, James (2018). "The Complete Guide to Partnership Marketing: How to create successful marketing collaborations". London.
* {{Cite journal
, last1 = Conlon , first1 = J. K.
, last2 = Giovagnoli , first2 = M. K.
, title = The power of two: how companies of all sizes can build alliance networks that generate business opportunities
, place = San Francisco
, publisher =
Jossey-Bass
, year = 1998
, isbn =
External links
* Bucklin Louis P., Sengupta Sanjit.
Organizing Successful Co-Marketing Alliances Journal of Marketing v57, n2 (Apr 1993):32-46
Marketing techniques