Is Co-Branding a Risk to Your Brand?

Betty Crocker’s brownies mix + Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup; Dell Computers + Intel Processors; Kraft Lunchables + Oscar Meyer meat, Nike + Michael Jordan.

These aren’t just tasty treats, fancy computers, or the latest pair of sneakers. These are all examples of successful co-branding efforts, which is a branding strategy that aligns two separate brands with one product.

There are many advantages to a co-branding a product, as well as a few risks. But what successful business venture doesn’t come with risks? Here are a few things to consider when deciding if co-branding is right for you:

Advantages of co-branding:
1. A powerful way to introduce one brand’s loyalists to the other
2. Cost Effective: A great example of this would be brands like Dunkin Donuts & Baskin Robbins who
typically share the same building, the same staff, even the same registers and counter space. Not only
are the saving money by joining their real estate but because the traffic for these two brands don’t
generally coincide it guarantees steady foot traffic throughout the day.
3. Shared product development & marketing
4. They say two heads are better than one? Well, same goes for brands. If there are two brand names
associated with a product the buzz around it will surely be much louder than if one brand was going at
a new product launch alone.

Disadvantages of co-branding:
1. Co-branding can dilute a product because the positive experience a consumer has with the product is
now spread across two brands whereas normally one brand can claim all the glory
2. Similarly, if there is a negative experience with the product that negativity is now associated with two
brands and the damage is not limited to one company.
3. No one can deny that one brand is going to be seen as secondary or weak compared to the other…but
will it be your brand? Or the other?