Marketing,Brand Awareness,Public Relations » Marketing

The Quality of the Door Knobs Matters

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:14:37 +0000

Taking a perfunctory attitude to home improvement will not improve the prospects of the home and those who live in it. Rather it will ensure that the house maintains that dreaded look of permanent negligence. Home owners who have an equity interest in the home normally take the effort to put some work on the improvement of the home. They do this by looking at some of the decorative elements including the door knobs. The theory is that if they buy high quality products, then this will rub off onto the home.

They might even want to look at the fundamental structural issues that affect the various elements of the door structure within the home. That door structure is normally held up by hinges which must be maintained and replaced when necessary. They are not things that are immediately obvious to the potential buyer of the home or the occupants. However if a door falls off during a viewing session, the outcome might be skewed towards the negative side no matter how well the viewing has gone.

The installation of pocket doors systems will just be the icing on the cake and could result in significant benefits for the clients and the people who are using the home. If the home owner is indicating that they love their home and intend to modernize it, the customers will also feel confident in the benefits of the purchase that they are about to make or intend to make in the future.

Dermatology Marketing

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:07:25 +0000

If there has ever been a medical specialty that is in need of competent marketing consultation, a cohesive and long-term strategy, and effective practice growing tools, it is dermatology. The fact is, dermatology marketing takes a wealth of experience to achieve proper results.

We have seen so many good dermatologists go down the same road to ruins… it is called “Playing the Commodity Game” and it is a good way to harm your business, your reputation, and your referrals.

How often do we see coupons offering a special lower price on common services, such as Botox? It seems every dermatologist and Medi-Spa is in a race to see who can lower their prices faster!

But here are some basic principals that should guide you, should you want to play this game;

* Price shoppers are not loyal. They will go to your competitor when their prices are better than yours.

* You need to give your patients and potential patients a reason to choose you, other than price. Are you the best in your area? Do you have some special training or expertise? Do you have a new piece of equipment that is the latest and greatest? Even if your competitors may have the same qualifications and services, if they are not promoting them, then the field is open for you to claim those “points of distinction.”

There are many ways to determine how best to position your practice so that patients have a clear and compelling reason to choose you. However, use caution if you use price as your main method to attract patients… it is a recipe for long-term failure.

If you would like more information on our marketing strategies and proven methods of success for dermatologists, plastic surgeons, medi-spas, or any medical and healthcare specialty, please feel free to contact us. It never costs a cent to talk to us, and the advice is priceless.

Please visit our website at: www.healthcaremarketingpartners.com

Are Public Relation Strategies Really That Effective?

admin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:24:47 +0000

Public relations is useful whether you want to reach a global audience or only a single town. It is the perfect compliment to advertising efforts with its low budget and high exposure. Here’s how public relations can help you and your business:

- Encourage your employees to give back to the community. Close down your business for one day a year and have your entire staff do a day of charity work. Headlines would read, “Local Print Shop Closes Doors to Help the Needy!” Not only would this get your publicity, but it will build trust and respect with your customers.

- Analyze your branding. Devise a strategy to freshen up your business. This could include changing your company’s name and logo, changing your product mix, or even dropping some customers and courting others. Doing so could drum up new business and keep old customers coming back.

- Make the headline enticing. Whether you are sending a pitch letter/email or writing a press release for publishing, you need to pay special attention to your headline or subject line. If you are sending an email, and the subject line does not grab the publisher’s attention – it won’t be read. If you publish a press release with a boring headline – it won’t be read. Keep it interesting and enticing so that the reader wants to learn more. One trick for attracting more attention is to use a number in the headline or email subject line such as “10 Ways to Tell if Your Husband is Cheating” or “What 73% of People Say They Will NEVER Do”.

- Investigate PR firms carefully. If you decide to enlist the assistance of a professional when changing your organization’s image, be clear on what you want from a public relations effort.

Some things a public relations firm can do for you are to get you positive exposure in the media, create and conduct special events, and help you build and maintain a solid reputation.

- Remember the Rule of 7. When following up with members of the media, the rule of thumb is to contact them a maximum of 7 times. This includes both emails and telephone calls. After 7 times do not contact them again – but make sure you’re ready just in case they get in touch with you!

- Remember the 15 second rule. In general, when you call a media outlet to pitch an idea, you have approximately 15 seconds to convince them to take your idea and run with it. If you previously sent a letter, and are calling to follow up and make sure it was received, be sure to remind the person on the other end of the phone that you already sent some information. Even if they call you, the 15 second rule applies. You want to very succinctly give the top 3 reasons that your idea is a great one.

- Send tips to newsletter publishers. A great way to get a mention in other people’s newsletters is to send them a glowing testimonial, tip or other piece of helpful information. Be sure to let them know that they are welcome to share this information with their readers. Don’t forget to include your name and website address so they can give you credit.

There are many public relations techniques that you can effectively use to get exposure for your business and products. The key is to find the best methods for you – and execute them in such a way that your business will stand out from the rest.

Digital Signage Will Increase Your Brand Awareness

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:56:57 +0000

How does a corporation increase brand awareness across several demographics while maintaining control of a strict marketing budget within an economic downturn? The emerging leader in successfully solving this riddle is Digital Signage, also known as narrowcasting.

In today’s economy, retailers are being forced to face business and marketing challenges with very little budget or optimism. One of the major issues being faced across several industries is that of brand recognition and awareness. This is especially difficult when a business owner or corporation is trying to increase brand awareness across a chain of retail outlets, all in different communities with unique habits and culture. Many smart corporations across several industries have been turning towards digital signage (narrowcasting) services as a successful and encompassing solution to the challenge of brand awareness.

Digital signage, or narrowcasting, is a superior advertising vehicle that helps attract and retain customer attention at the critical point of purchase stage within the buying cycle. But what exactly is narrowcasting?

Narrowcasting is a cost effective digital signage system that is utilized to communicate customized messages easily to specific target markets throughout a variety of locations. High end monitors are placed at specific locations, both indoors and outdoors, including retail outlets, fast food, hospitals, building common areas, and even subway or bus systems. These monitors will display customized news feeds, product information, motivational messages, or whatever is important to business and consumer at that time.

The messaging on a company’s digital signage network can be customized to suit target demographic, specific neighbourhoods, time of day, weather, or products that need to be pushed. New content can be created, or for cost, time, and brand management purposes, exiting content from television commercials or web videos can be revamped and repurposed before being utilized as part of digital signage messaging. This will help to retain the same brand image throughout the buying cycle, while at the same time catering messages to suit a unique audience.

The benefits of increasing brand recognition and retention through narrowcasting are numerous. To begin with, If a consumer is exposed to customized and consistent messaging along the entire path of the buying cycle in a messaging manner that resonates with his or her personal beliefs, attitudes, and habits, that consumer is much more likely to recall and ultimately identify with that specific brand. Once a consumer feels as though he or she has identified with a particular brand, competing on the basis of cost becomes a non-issue in the purchasing decision. A secondary benefit is that digital signage will capture and retain the attention of in store consumers, providing entertainment and distraction from long lines or monotonous shopping tasks. This lends to a pleasant customer experience, inviting a repeat experience and motivation to return. As an additional benefit, the ease and immediacy of message alterations enable retailers to give and extra push to products that are not moving off of shelves, sale items, or even to upsell items at checkout. With the right narrowcasting service provider, the benefits really can be endless.

Contact a digital signage provider today and learn how a system can be customized to suit your particular business needs and further your brand identity.

The Top 10 Reasons Your Online Marketing Fails

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:14:26 +0000

If you are in the field of online business you must have heard of online marketing. Internet marketing, online marketing, e-marketing and web marketing are just the same terms to describe the use of the internet in marketing and promoting your products, services or business. In recent years, online marketing has provided global consumers a higher distribution of information. With today’s increased competition, you must possess the skills and capabilities to attain success. Every success story entails hardships, ups and down, but it’s up to you to learn how to avoid the pitfalls with online marketing. That’s why we are going to discuss the top ten reasons online marketing fails.

Reason #1: The lack of effort and time needed to learn new information about online marketing.

To reach the success you are aspiring to obtain, you must spend adequate efforts and time learning what can lead you to it. Get as much as new online marketing information you can and take time to study them before you use of them for your company’s growth. The more knowledge and experience you can possess, the quicker you will reach your goals. Often the best online marketing techniques will come to you suddenly, but evolves out of all the information you might know. Do not let your business be deserted by others, make it stand out by utilizing new online marketing strategies. Wide varieties of new information are available throughout the web; just encode an online marketing in Google and you will find what you are looking for. Never stop craving for more and new information, techniques, or techniques about online marketing for you will never grow personally or financially if you are not learning something new.

Reason #2: Similarity with other online business websites.

To increase customer’s interest, your website must be different from other online business web pages. Visitors get easily bored if they browse and always see the same products, content, and pictures. In order for your online marketing to be successful, you should make your website distinguished from your other competitors. Always make use of unique online marketing ideas when creating your web pages, for it will matter a tremendous amount when trying to attract more potential customers.

Reason #3: Your website is confusing and inconvenient for visitors.

One of the reasons for using online marketing is to promote your products or services to your target audience on the internet. Having too many products, pictures, links, etc. in your web pages can cause confusion and a confused mind will take no action; thereby leaving you without the number of customers that you could and should attract with your online marketing efforts. Try to be simple and focus on a particular product or service with your website. Making sure your other products are in the background of the main product or service you would like to promote. A long navigation system will make people get tired of finding what they want and can cause them to prefer other convenient sites.

Reason #4: Your website is just a sales presentation.

Increasing your sales may result from online marketing, but you must not totally focus on sales alone. Online marketing will benefit you if you provide useful information about your business within your website and attract more potential and actual customers to purchase your products.or services. Most of the time sales do not arise from the first visit, so make use of your online marketing techniques such as providing free information, tips or newsletters to give visitors a reason to come back to visit your website.

Reason #5: Failure to set specific demographic targets.

With online marketing, setting a specific demographic target is very important because you will be more focused on what type of customers you want and what you must do to attract them. Failure to settle the target will increase the risk of failure when promoting your products, services or business; moreover you will not gain the full benefits of online marketing when it comes to increasing your sales and growing your business.

Reason #6: Unsecured ordering pages.

Security for any type of investment matters for almost everybody. Unsecured ordering pages will greatly cause your business to lose sales which contradicts the goals of effective online marketing. Numerous free secure ordering forms are made available on the internet, so this should never be an issue.

Reason #7: A lack of back links to your website as a useful strategy in effective online marketing.

Providing links leading back to your website from a high ranking web page will also give your site a high rank. Linking is the key to success in having your website found on the major search engines and will bring traffic to your website; therefore, increasing you number of potential and actual customers.

Reason #8: Lack of perseverance.

Most businesses fail online due to lack of persistence and giving up too soon. Online marketing will take a lot of time to fully succeed. It could even entail years to become a major player and to develop strong customer relationships, build partnerships and see financial rewards.

Reason #9: Insufficient follow-up.

Within any business following up with a prospect or customer is very important because it will provide you with more of the same types of results that your business desperately needs to grow. Online marketing often fails because many companies fall short in following up with its online visitors; thereby, stunting the growth of brand awareness.

Reason #10: No promoting your website.

Increasing the consumer awareness of your online business can leverage your success. Several online marketing elements and strategies can be used to promote your website, increase traffic and attract more customers. If you lack the funds to pay for promotions, you can use many free ways of advertising your business awareness online such as participating in forums, chats and submitting free links to search engines.

You will need all the help you can to survive in this competitive marketplace, so make use of the online resources you have to gain greater success with online marketing and learn from these failures. Prepare yourself properly and get ready to do what you must due because the success of your business online is in direct proportion to your knowledge gained from other’s mistakes.

Building Brand Awareness: 7 Ways to Educate Customers in the Classroom & Simultaneously Build Brand Awareness

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:03:56 +0000

The business world has long recognized the value of creating a recognizable and clearly defined brand. From top business executives to entrepreneurs striving everyday in their communities, and from traditional corporations to the Internet, building brand awareness is the most significant marketing practice today. I it always will be as consumers continue to seek out their favorite brands.

Your customers are navigating a bewildering range of channels and feverishly marketed products before making a purchase decision. We are so bombarded by product brands that we are barely conscious of them much of the time.

In order to compete in today’s cluttered marketing environment, businesses need access to America’s future customers. They need to start building brand awareness in the classroom before buying and brand loyalty patterns are set.

Here Are My Top 7 Ways To Educate Customers In The Classroom & Simultaneously Build Brand Awareness

1. Distribute product literature and/or give free product samples to learning institutions. Learning institutions are usually open to learn about business products that would enhance and add value to what is being taught in the classroom.

2. Establish information/demonstration booths in the classroom. The classroom information/demonstration booth will allow students to interact with your company’s product and provide ongoing information to potential customers as they develop their own buying power. Your conversion rates will be much higher due to the education that is available to the students.

3. Give free training on the use and benefits of the product. This is a perfect opportunity to give students hands on training, and teach them about your product’s value.

4. Encourage educators to include information about your product or services in a curriculum guide. This one tip has the potential to multiply your market base nation-wide.

5. Offer a contest that empowers students to buy and use your product. Sponsor a writing contest or a Future Business Leader of American competition and make one of the rewards a gift certificate. It’s a proven fact that most consumers spend more than the value of the gift card.

6. Distribute logos to learning institutions. Instructors can use logos in the classroom to help students learn about branding and how companies use this concept to communicate their identity and market their products.

7. Offer information on production of the goods and how profit is made. Students who are inclined to develop their own products or become business managers will find this of great value.

Benefits of Building Brand Awareness in the Classroom

Customers who are familiar with a certain brand are more likely to remain loyal regardless of inflation. By demonstrating your corporate social responsibility and promoting worthwhile educational programs that bring the needs of educators together with your business needs, you can easily distinguish your product from other brands.

Education marketing helps empower customers to become long-term buyers. Using products in the classroom allows potential customers to interact with (and become conditioned to) your goods and services. By educating customers in the classroom, you will increase your brand awareness, build loyalty, influence spending patterns, and engage in viral word of mouth marketing all at the same time.

Top Tips For Using Public Relations In Your Marketing Programs

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:19:35 +0000

Help your potential clients realize how you can help with great marketing; the best public relations events end up giving you a new lead. What’s public relations? A wide range of activities can be considered PR, from business marketing to personal luncheons. Outreach in magazine is the most common form of lead-generating PR. The object is to get a mention for your business, service, or staff members to appear in a publication.

Alternatively, one of your management staff can have something published which they write or have ghost written. This sort of press can have a big effect on the number and quality of leads you generate. However, although this kind of PR is cheap compared to advertisements, getting covered in magazines requires sustained effort and a time commitment, in order to nurture relationships with magazine people in your business field. An organized campaign is usually more successful than scattered attempts at getting press. The best campaigns utilize the following elements:

1) A press release

2) A press kit with bios, product photos, and reprinted content

3) Good relationship with the press

4) Features supplied by managers and other staff

5) Media coverage featuring your employees as industry experts

6) Testimonials

Complete the following actions in forming your program:

Research, compile and read the publications. What’s the audience? Think about the info that gets published – is it news? Make your contributions appropriate. Talk with the writers and go to the web site. Who’s the right person to talk to? Call the editors and ask for submission guidelines and what they like to publish. Try to find the editorial calendar and see what stories they’re running month by month. You can usually find this on the last page of the magazine or at the site. Then decide what you’ll submit, and what publication month to target your efforts toward. Don’t give up – keep at it to gain rapport with editors. It gets better with time. By becoming a source of relevant info, you may supply the publication with information which is vital to their readership, and become an important contributor. Your pitch should explain how it is relevant to the editorial calendar – offer to provide an outline upon request. It can be a good idea to use a ghost writer, as these professionals have experience working for magazines and can form the article to the format of the publication with relative ease. These deadline-driven contractors will take the initiative to get the work in on time, freeing your technical or management employees to work within their fields of expertise.

Be sure your press release provides newsworthy content. It should answer some of the following questions:

1) What’s the problem you help solve?

2) What is accomplished?

2) What’s the take-home benefit?

4) Is it a product or service?

5) How can it do this?

6) Why will the readers be interested?

7) How much does it cost?

What are the main features?

9) When’s it available?

Don’t brag about yourself or your company. Steer clear of words like “best,” “revolutionary,” and “unique.” These are overused. Editors prefer testimonials instead. Avoid language that is inaccessible to a lay person. Really, even the writers won’t have an expert understanding of your offerings. Keep it simple. Always include contact info in two places on the page, and photos if accepted by the publication. Most prefer digital images. Name these files with relevant terms that one can search on to find them. In short, do the prep work and make it easy for them to run your piece.

PR can help improve Search Engine Optimization efforts as well. For example, wire services are excellent – after sending these out, your release will be discoverable by search engines and news wires. By including links in your online release, you can raise your info in the search engine rankings. A recent survey showed that most journalists use the Internet daily. About 75% of them make searches for press release info. For a free news wire to get you started, try: http://google.com/alerts and create a free subscription.

Corporate Clothing Promotes Brand Awareness at Corporate Events

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:02:25 +0000

Everywhere you look, people are wearing corporate embroidered and printed clothing. Hotels, banks, supermarkets and fast food restaurants all use promotional clothing very successfully to promote brand awareness and to help you the customer know who is employed by their company.

Corporate clothing is also an excellent way to promote brand awareness at corporate events. The most obvious way to use promotional clothing is to have your staff wear clothing with your logo embroidered on the front. The most popular clothing available is the T-shirt and polo shirt. T-shirts are the less expensive of the two and are good for companies and organisations that have a lot of staff to clothe. Polo shorts are usually slightly more expensive but look great when worn on the stand at trade shows and conferences. In addition to these two best sellers you can go all out and purchase the whole outfit. Shoes, trousers, lanyard and caps are all available to be embroidered or printed to assist you in giving your next corporate event the look you desire.

Another way to promote brand awareness through corporate clothing is to offer T-shirts, polo shirt and caps as a giveaway. Everyone love a free shirt or cap. When they go home and wear the shirt or cap embroidered with your logo they are essentially offering you free advertising space.

All good promotional gift suppliers should be able to supply you with information about the clothing they supply. Do not be afraid to ask for samples as it is often nice to compare the quality of different products. If you tell your business gift supplier what your budget is, they should be able to suggest the clothing that best meets your requirements.

Personalized Corporate Gifts – Create Your Personalized Corporate Branding

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:16:54 +0000

In the world today, competition in the corporate world is getting stiffer day after day. Building brand awareness for companies in their respective markets, be it online or offline, has become so important that companies are spending tons of money on branding campaigns.

Using personalized corporate gifts to build brand is one of the oldest and most direct way that most companies are adopting. With the right gifts, you are on the right track to forge more loyalties from your consumers and build better brand connection with them.

Usually when it comes to end of the year, it is the hottest period for corporate gifts businesses. But for companies who are intending to use corporate gifts to build their corporate brandings, they will need to select the gift carefully, according to the position, industries, interests, and hobbies of the recipients.

Corporate gifts can also be used to show deep appreciation to your employees, by giving away the gift when there is any marriage, birth of new baby or promotion. This will encourage loyalty and strengthen team bonding and ties.

Putting company logo on gifts is a great way of advertising, but is should be appropriate for gifts which will be used daily such as drinking mugs or pens. If you are intending to give a personalized gift, do not include your logo on it. By putting your logo on inappropriate gifts can backfire and be extremely damaging to your corporate branding.

Some of the examples of appropriate gifts are alarm clocks, hampers, card holders, desk accessories, and tickets for show and travels.

One very important thing to bear in mind when you are intending to use corporate gifts to establish branding for your company is that quality is very important. Do not give something which has inferior quality although it may cost you less money. By giving away quality gifts to your consumers or employees, you will be able to establish a good impression of your company in their minds.

When it comes to using corporate gifts for branding, a lot of companies tend to over-order. Therefore, it will be wise of you to plan out a good estimated numbers of gifts and budget before you start to order them.

Internet corporate gifts suppliers offer better pricing for corporate gifts when compared to physical suppliers. These online suppliers are able to offer a better pricing as they have lesser overheads to cover as most of them operate directly through their websites only. This will enable them to pass on their savings to you.

Personalized corporate gifts are great to show your sincere thoughts to your recipients, and by giving away quality gifts, you will definitely create a good lasting impression of your brand in your recipient minds.

Co-branding, a 1+1>2 formula

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:31:50 +0000

Adidas + Yohji Yamamoto, Intel Inside + Compaq Personal Computer, D&G + Motorola, British Airways and Citibank, Adidas + McCartney, Mercedes and Swatch, Bacardi and Coca Cola, Danone and Quick, GOME and Motorola, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and American Express…these are only few among the most famous examples of co-branding we have seen emerging in the latest years.

Is co-branding a new phenomenon? Not really. There are classic examples of this sort of branding strategy adopted by detergents and white goods brand as well as by oil brands and car manufacturers starting in the early nineteen sixties.

Until the eighties, however, since the value of a company had just been measured on the bases of its revenues and tangible assets, not many companies had really paid attention to any sort of branding strategy, not to mention co-branding strategy. It is only in the last thirty years that companies have understood that the real value of a business resides in the minds of its consumers: in the brand.

But how can co-branding enhance this value? Why do brands invest in interlocking their identities to create co-branded products?

Co-branding, as it has been defined by Tom Blackett and Bob Boad in their book (Co-Branding: the Science of Alliance, St Martin’s Press, 1999) is:

“…used to encompass a wide range of marketing activities involving the use of two (and sometimes more) brands. Thus co-branding could be considered to include sponsorships, where Marlboro lends its name to Ferrari or accountants Ernst and Young support the Monet exhibition.”

The ultimate objective of any co-branded strategy would be to combine the strengths of involved parties to increase respective brands value.

In order to be successful, the co-branding effort needs to be directed to:

1. Increase brands distinctiveness by capitalizing on the values embedded in the cooperating brands.

Product and services life cycle shorten by the day, and distinctive products and services features and innovations are easily copied among brands in the same industry. This is a reality of today’s business that co-branded products can withstand to. By merging values and identities of brands originally engaged in different industries, co-branded products and services can gain consumer choices, loyalty and ultimately make the brand unique and distinctive.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Loyalty programs co-branding, where the involved parties share the cost of customer loyalty programs or other CRM marketing programs to deliver extra benefits and eventually strengthen the relationship among consumers and the two brands

British Airways and Citibank, for instance, co-branded a credit card allowing the owner to automatically become a member of the British Airways Executive Club.

Trade marketing co-branding, where the involved parties cooperate in designing co-branded products made specifically for a certain distributor or facility. Danone provides a good example in this sense as it has produced a special yogurt for Quick, the European fast food chain.

By increasing their distinctiveness, involved brands get to occupy a unique place in consumers minds and eventually gain customer loyalty by providing them with merged benefits.

2. Deliver consumers greater value by creating highly relevant products or services:

Due to the increasing amount of choices available and in order to cut through all other offerings brands have to custom design added value products and services to meet variable individual needs.

As brands research and uncover these specific customers’ needs, they also find that a single brand may not be able to meet the demands of such profoundly segmented market.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Usage extension co-branding. Bacardi and Coca Cola, for instance have co-branded Bacardi Mixers range to demonstrate and spur other ways to consume the two brands.

Multiple sponsors co-branding, where more than two companies unify their effort to form a strategic alliance and create a specific co-branded technologically enhanced product.

Market niche co-branding.

Take for instance the cooperation between Adidas and Stella McCartney. This brought about a women-oriented, stylish and casual sport design collection: Adidas by Stella McCartney. This co-branded line manages to satisfy the demand of female buyers looking for sportswear that blends functionality and style while being able to deliver “products that both perform and look great”1

Moreover, having a high end designer create a sport range for women translated into practical benefits for both the collaborating parties: new consumers, willing to pay a premium to get the “special” sportswear, and buzz advertising around a range of products that was, back in 2004, the first ever sportswear collection signed by a high-end designer.

Look also at Smart car: a joint creation of Mercedes and Swatch designed especially for young consumers of big metropolis. In this case signatures of cooperating brands do not even appear on the car but in fact this is the result of each company’s specific expertise.

3. Increase the esteem consumers have toward participating brands

As consumers became ever more environmental and social aware it becomes essential for brands to create new touch points and build images consistent to the brand promise in consumer’s mind while aligning participating brand values.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Image reinforcement co-branding. A very good example to explain this form of co-branding can be seen in companies getting involved with NGOs to direct a percentage of their revenue toward a worthy cause. P&G and the National Association for Blinds, Starbucks and the African Wildlife foundation are just a few examples of companies cooperating with charities and fundraising organizations to align their brand values in consumers mind.

Co-branded in the luxury industry, Motorola mobile phone designed by D&G merges the image of the Italian luxurious brand with the high quality technological brand promise of the American mobile phone manufacturer.

Complementary brands co-branding, refers to brands in the same or complementary industries that cooperate to strengthen respective brand images in consumers’ mind. Credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard are a perfect example of complementary alliances as they merge the customer service skills of payment services franchisers with the image of reliability of banks.

Danone and Motta, both in the food industry, co-branded a yogurt ice-cream called Yolka that successfully satisfied the desires of healthy conscious gourmand and avoided direct competition to their respective brand portfolio.

Global co-branding, consisting mainly in alliances among MNCs and local players. Typically, the local player will provide an already established distribution network and local brand image while the MNC will bring technical know-how and international brand attachment.

For example, in 2004 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and American Express Co. co-branded a credit card issued by the bank and bearing the American Express logo designed to sustain the nation’s effort to build a national credit-card system.

4. Increase the knowledge consumers have toward cooperating brands through the merger of each other’s strength in the respective domains.

In this category Labbrand includes:

Ingredient co-branding,whose appellation refers to the fact that a material,adding value ingredient is created by the cooperation of the two involved brands. This greatly increases the ultimate products value for consumers, and consequently the brand value in consumers’ minds.

Intel and Compaq Personal Computer, for instance, represent a perfect example of synergy in this sense as the value created in their cooperation is great and without it the ultimate value of the product will be tremendously diminished. .

Coopetition, as this has been defined by Brandenburger and Nalebuff in their homonym book (1996, Co-Opetition : A Revolution Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation), which dictates that in order to dominate the market companies may need to cooperate with and compete against the same company.

Examples in coopetion are found in the co-branded city cars Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107, and Citroen C1 by Peugeot and Citroen launched in direct competition to the Ford Ka, the Volkswagen Lupo and the Mercedes/Swatch Smart

The direction co-branding takes should not be considered unambiguous but rather as a comprehensive value creation process that might combine one or all of the four co-brand equity enhancement process aforementioned.

Very often the value pursued by each party may be different from one other, and the benefits that are likely to be achieved by the parties are usually in more than one field.

Adidas and the Japanese designer brand Yamamoto, for instance, have successfully created Adidas Y3 by matching very different goals. In this cooperation Adidas benefits in brand image from the “coolness” of Yamamoto and steps into the style arena while Yamamoto benefits from the size and network of Adidas to increase brand awareness.

That being said, crossover branding cannot represent an easy made strategy for every brand. Such kind of cooperation needs careful coordination among the parties involved and attentive care in realization. In fact over 90% of co-branding ventures fail.

Co-branding must, indeed, create equal value for both cooperating brands. No cooperation based on an unequal relationship has proved to be successful.

Moreover, no co-branding strategy can be feasible if the brands involved do not share core values and brand belief with each other.

Interlocking two brands identities can indeed be tricky as you need to look at your brand message and make sure that its perception will not be diluted in consumers’ minds.

Otherwise, the brands original consumer can be lost and disputes may arise between the partners.

Co-branding needs careful coordination, attentive communication among parties and detailed performing analysis. This complicates day to day operations and can cause one or both brands to under perform and fail to meet each others standards.

Respective brand goals and objectives being brought to the cooperation should clearly coincide with each others ultimate partnership strategies.

With the increased sophistication of today’s consumers it becomes vital for brands to understand their audiences’ needs and desires as consumers decide, in fact, the life or death of a brand. Consumers in the 21st century have become increasingly aware of the quality of the products and services they seek and now search for added value in these items.

Crossover branding, if rightly conceived and managed, can provide an attractive 1+1>2 formulas which creates added value for both participating brands and consumers.

1.Bill Sweeney, Project Leader and Head of Apparel at Adidas Sport Performance Division.