Brands spend lots of time in their comfort zones. Especially as we find ourselves in such unprecedented times, it’s easy to see why many luxury brands have resorted to these safe spaces of old, trustworthy messaging. However, now is not the time to be retreating into the background. Instead, brands should be looking at how to cut through the noise with new initiatives, one of which could be a brand collaboration. 

Amidst the lockdowns at different stages across the globe, consumers have more time to engage with the content that brands who are ahead of the curve are distributing. At this crucial time for consumer engagement, brands are enjoying something of a captive audience as people turn to their social media platforms more consistently over this period. The question is not about whether to withdraw funds from communications like this but to ask how to leverage the potential of the lockdown for creative, compelling campaigns. One way of doing this through news generation, which could include the formulation and execution of brand collaboration that flatters and elevates both parties, driving awareness and sales in an unstable market.

So, what are some of the defining characteristics of a good brand collaboration? Firstly, as mentioned above, a primary consideration should be that both parties in the collaboration are flattered and elevated by the activity. For example, a heritage, luxury brand may wish to partner with a contemporary design company to create a product that incorporates the values of each. There has to be a level of synergy that highlights the qualities of both parties while bringing something new and exciting to the market. A great example of a mutually-elevating collaboration was the 2015 Hermès x Apple Watch, which, with its classic Hermès bands, not only generated newsworthy stories in both fashion and tech titles but introduced a whole new awareness discourse about wearable tech.

The second consideration for brands looking to undertake a collaboration is the availability of new markets. Any good collaboration will open up a new set of customers for each brand, be they different geographical cohorts, age ranges or sub-cultures, leveraging both respective route-to-sale capacities. English pottery Burleigh’s collaboration with fashion house Ralph Lauren is a fantastic example of this. Burleigh’s quintessential English aesthetic appealed to Ralph Lauren’s large American customer base, while Ralph Lauren’s ceramicware patterns introduced Burleigh to the fashion-focused homewares buyer. The collection appeared not only in features in the national press but straddled both home interest and fashion titles.

Finally, the third consideration for any brand collaboration is their own or their potential partner’s history of collaboration. Over the years, many brands have failed to maintain a core brand identity due to over-collaborating. It is essential to ensure that your brand doesn’t become a sole collaborator, or become known purely for its collaborations. Suppose brands choose collaborators wisely and intersperse collaborative launches with core collections created in-house. In that case, they will feel the benefit of a news-worthy story and a re-ignited consumer interest with each new initiative.