Brand partnerships are when two or more companies come together to market or create a product or service. This requires businesses to share risk, audiences, and reputations. To minimize the risks with partnering, companies should make sure their collaboration has key characteristics that point to success. 

It’s no secret that brand partnerships require a ton of work. Not only are partners sharing potential risk, but they’re also counting on each other to outperform typical expectations. 

What Makes a Brand Partnership Work?

• Familiarity: 57% of consumers trust products with recognizable brand names.
• Innovation: 29% of consumers recognize the Apple Pay brand partnership between Apple and MasterCard, known for being innovative in the digital wallet space.
• Quality: 44% of consumers continue buying from brands that continuously offer high-quality products and services.
• Problem Solver: 38% of consumers avoid trying co-branded products that do not seem helpful.
• Audience-Minded: 43% of consumers are loyal to at least one food and beverage company, an industry often praised for branding that understands audiences.

Familiarity: Betty Crocker and Hershey’s Chocolate

People may be more likely to trust products from brands they know about, making familiarity a powerful tool in digital marketing endeavours, including brand partnerships. 

Over half of US consumers (57%) trust products from widely-known brands more than those with names they don’t recognize.

Hershey’s candy-inspired Betty Crocker cake mixes launched in 2013 during a bake event. Then, the company took branded trucks on a 12-day sampling tour that featured a stop in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The positive buzz and momentum from these promotions jumpstarted the success of the products, which remained mainstays in grocery stores and home kitchens across the country. 

Gregory Young is the Chief Experience Officer of software company Convincingly. Young asserts that familiarity with brands and social proof of quality protect buyers from purchasing regret. 

“With household name brand products, countless people have direct purchasing experience. The consumer experience is very well documented,” Young said. “You, as a consumer, can call upon the wealth of their experience and come to a well-informed decision before making a purchase.”

With household name brand products, countless people have direct purchasing experience. The consumer experience is very well documented.

Customers easily trust well-known brands, making partnerships that feature these companies more likely to be a success. 

This article was edited. Read the full report at Visual Objects