The Toxic Partnership Strategy: Cross-Border Collaboration May Hurt Brand Image
Partnership is common, and indeed, brands will be much more popular under the influence because it can be very efficient in driving brand awareness and products promoting. However, today I would like to stay on the other side of the coin, talking about the fact that the partnership can be toxic as well.
In class, we only discussed the mutual Interests(Win-Win Area of co-operation) brought by the partnership of two brands from four different aspects. Based on this win-win mindset, many brands have started to explore the value of the partnership and practiced in the real campaign many times, which also have been discussed by students in the class, where many successful and inspiring cases have been shown. But at the bottom of the glacier, there are plenty of failure cases as well. Therefore, I would like to summarize the problems that brands need to avoid and think farther ahead in the process of partnership wrapped through these failures, in order to achieve a more stable and promising win-win situation.
Successful partnership promotes a win-win situation, while failed partnership may lead to a lose-lose situation for both of the brands. The most typical example of failure case is the partnership between HEYTEA(喜茶) and Durex. In order to signal the start of whole partnership activity, HEYTEA and Durex interacted with each other on the Weibo, with the text “The first sip is the most precious” and a poster with the caption “Not a single drop is allowed to be left tonight”.
The text is so evocative that this kind of “teasing” behavior has extremely triggered audiences' discomfort. Some netizens said it was disgusting to associate food with sexual topics. They made complain that recently they would not drink HEYTEA for a time. Then, the following day, HEYTEA officially posted the apologize, at the same time, Durex changed the poster slogan on the Weibo. Actually, it’s not the only case the HEYTEA failed the partnership, as HEYTEA is so obsessed with partnership(more than 70 times over 4 years) that audience nearly feel numb towards to this type of marketing strategy.
According to cases that address the potential risk of partnership, I conclude three notices when partnership is greatly needed for the brand which is urge to spread popularity and promote tales.
1.Digging the brand identity to find common characteristics and fulfill shared needs. Generally speaking, two brands that can lead to the successful partnership must have the same or similar product/traits. Then a strategy can be precisely developed according to these common characteristics. In another situation, partnership also can be constructed through the related activity to create a new concept or a new commonsense in the consumers' minds, such as the partnership between POP Mart and HOLILAND (好利来). Roughly speaking, there is no manifest connection between the two product types. However, the blind box version of cake created created a new key point. The blind box concept was introduced to the field of eating, bringing the surprise and pleasure of gambling to the consumers.
2.Make sense of all the activities. especially the time order and theme consistency. Planning a partnership not only needs to consider with whom to collaborate, but also followed by thinking about the theme development, product management, and, most importantly, activity design. Currently, the partnership is usually conducted both online and offline, and involve multiple activities, such as H5 games(online), Pop-up stores(offline). The sense of coherence throughout the beginning and end of the partnership events greatly attract the audience, which allows the audience to browse the whole campaign as if watching a film. It actually deepen the impression of the product and address the long-tail effect.
3.Focus on the culture and landscape of different target groups. Different geographic locations often have different cultural characteristics, which shape the different preferences, sensitivities and social issues. some may regard this type of marketing language as a joke, some may regard it as offensive. Therefore, this requires a more micro-insight into the target group. Taking the shortcuts is not a bad thing, but it can also trigger a sense of antagonistic feeling. The partnership between HEYTEA and Durex is a good example.
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ReplyDeleteThis essay presents a well-rounded view of brand partnerships, highlighting both the potential benefits and the risks when collaborations go wrong. The example of HEYTEA and Durex effectively illustrates how misaligned messaging can backfire, damaging brand reputation and alienating customers. The three recommendations—aligning brand identity, ensuring coherence in partnership activities, and considering cultural sensitivities—are practical and insightful. Partnerships, while powerful, require strategic alignment and thoughtful execution to avoid backlash. By focusing on shared values and audience expectations, brands can foster collaborations that truly resonate and enhance their image without risking negative perceptions.
ReplyDeleteCo-branding has become very common in marketing and there are many successful examples. This essay focuses on failed brand co-branding and mentions some questions. As mentioned, co-branding is a means to attract consumers.But the targeted audience of the two brands must be carefully considered. Consumers of HEYTEA felt offended by Durex's advertisement, which not only fails to achieve the marketing goal, but also harms the original customers. In addition, the quality of co-brand is the key to a positive cycle of cooperation. Co-branding is not a one-time event. Innovative co-branding strategies should ensure the high quality and uniqueness of the products to improve consumer satisfaction and further increase word-of-mouth. HEYTEA's co-branded products have frequently been on Weibo's top trending for quality control issues. Interviewees also mentioned that “HEYTEA is not as good as it used to be”. If brand don't control the quality of products during the co-branding process, they will slowly lose consumers. Brand co-branding strategies should focus on increasing awareness, stimulating interest, guiding searches, promoting action, and ensuring consumer satisfaction to achieve more comprehensive and effective marketing goals.
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