Center of the Universe, YO!

Less is more.

What is a good co-branding partnership… what is the difference? Recently my colleague Ben worked on a project where he identified the different levels of co-branding and pointed out a good partnership. The document turned out be thirty something pages BUT for the sake of this blog entry I will explain it in two paragraphs.

There are four levels of co-branding, I am going to focus on the top level (the other levels I’ll focus on another day) which is Complementary Competence. Complementary competence is when each co-branding collaborator (i.e., the brands) commits skills and resources to create greater value than could be achieved individually, think 1+1=3.

Now, obviously by the image below you know what I think is a good co-branding partnership. Nike and Apple came together to create the Nike+iPod Sport kit. This partnership created something new, 1 + 1 = 3. The core competencies of both are utilized to raise value perceptions for each brand. The result of this… I’ll leave that for you to decide, I’m just a brand knave.

“Live fast - - High speed Shopping diesel.com” So the agency that did these ads is Marcel Paris, I don’t know how I feel about the ads. I am really on the fence here, I think some are funny but don’t know if collectively they make sense. Is this suppose to be edgy? Does it deliver on the brand’s promise? Hmm I gotta think about this one a bit more.

Can’t seem to stick to your new year’s resolution? Why not sign a personal contract? Stickk.com says it promotes healthier and happier living by helping people achieve their personal goals through the signing of Commitment Contracts. How it works is you place a financial wager on yourself. If you accomplish your goal (which you won’t), you get your money back (cool). If you don’t, your money goes to charity or to someone you’ve designated in advance. Sounds like a research paper to me (Zzzzzz), no disrepect to my own research department I think they’re fabulous!!!!!

Zena Holloway is the UKs leading professional underwater photographer. Working in the sea from a young age with photography and film Zena is completely self-taught (amazing). She has taken underwater photography to entirely new depths.

As I am out and about town I hear a lot of people confusing the meaning of branded entertainment and product integration. I am going to easily break it down and give you an example.

Product integration is taking an established property (i.e., tv show, movie, etc) and inserting the brand on the set or in the story line. Think GM and the Transformers movie.

Branded entertainment pushes it a bit further, this is when an advertiser (brand) and a media company (network, studio, production company, etc.) form a partnership to co-produce content. Think BMW films, watch this clip it’s my favorite from this series.