What makes co-branding successful?

Co-branding . . . when a product carries two (or more) brands. 

One of the classic co-branding categories is the credit card. For years, companies like MasterCard and Visa have offered co-branding opportunities. Virgin Group co-brands credit cards with MasterCard, for instance. American Express co-brands a credit card with British Airways, as another example. Individual banks that issue cards are also co-branding, as Barclaycard has done with its Uber Visa card (combining 3 brands in all).

Co-branding is most successful when both brands are well known, reputable and able to appeal to each other's customer base. The communication styles and marketing content of the brands involved must be compatible, as well. The synergy from combining brands will be strongest under these conditions.

Google has used co-branding to name its Android operating systems more than once. Last year, it co-branded with the famous biscuit brand Oreo to name the Android Oreo OS. In 2013, it co-branded with the popular chocolate bar KitKat for an Android OS name that also appeared on the candy bar wrappers. The co-branding worked because the combined names were quirky and attention-getting.

This post updates material on co-branding in Chapter 6 of my Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, 4e.

The trend toward multibranding

The company formerly known as Kraft (now Mondelez) is aggressively pursuing multibranding among its billion-dollar brands, such as by creating a chocolate bar combining its Oreo brand and its Cadbury brand. A Mondelez marketing director states: "Combining these two extremely popular brands to create Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo seemed like a natural fit and offers an exciting opportunity for retailers to help boost sales and capitalise on the phenomenal reputation of each brand individually."

Multibranding is also common among brands that aren't owned by the same parent company. For instance, Hindustan Lever is working with Future Group to create a cobranded line of baked goods for certain Big Bazaar stores in Mumbai.

This multibranding trend helps the brand owners build on image, recognition and loyalty to launch new products in the increasingly crowded marketplace. The brands may also combine financial and marketing resources to develop and launch new products, adding to their potential strengths. Finally, multibranding can help a new product attract the attention and support of retailers or other channel members, giving it a boost during introduction and beyond.