brand collaborations used to be sparing targeted special even but
now we see a feeding frenzy of tactical viral Itty
based on one magic symbol Balmain and barbie Sure,
Zara and never lasts. Why not click Oh and
Kazuma come on in. The clicks are lovely.
No collaboration is to cookie no partnership to wacky in
this patchwork harlequin aid. But why do brands collaborate
? The most obvious answer is the magic that happens
when brands commingle fans. When Taco Bell joined forces
with frito Lay, they sold a billion dollars of
Doritos Locos tacos in 14 months. Similarly, the
calabar to our between Yeezy Gap and balenciaga created a
presence far greater than the sum of its already great
parts. Much of this is driven by media and
social media for whom collaborations are catnip, especially when
it's startling as liquid skateboards painted with Tony hawk's blood
and then there is the network effect exemplified by James
bond product placements where middle level brands like Toyota and
Heineken bask in the glory. Not just of seven
but of luxury marks like Aston martin and Bollinger how
brands collaborate is equally fascinating. There are the high
low collaborations popularized in the nineties by target which created
moustis collections with everyone from MS only to victoria Beckham
, there are strawberries and cream collaborations when say Nike
supplies for shoes, but apple tracks the steps or
when Red Bull provides the energy that GoPro captures the
proof. There are taste bud collaborations that monkey with
our senses like coffee mate and snickers or coca cola
tic Tacs, there are digital divide collaborations where analog
brands joined with next gen tech like Gucci and Xbox
or Laurent and google their beachhead collaborations that introduce new
shampoos to unsuspecting hotel guests or attempt fast food carnivores
to experiment with plant based proteins. And finally,
there is shock and go for collaborations championed by Supreme
, which seems to be on a quasi periodic quest
to see if there is anything that can co brand
that won't sell out in seconds collaborations are going nowhere
, not just because they add to the gaiety of
nations, but because they work the cleverest and most
viral collaborations don't really add value. They multiply it
. And this is why of all the characters on
the keyboard. This cross, maybe branding is most
lucrative for collaboration leads to fascination, which in turn
leads on to cash. I'm Ben shot the branding
and advertising columnist for Bloomberg opinion