August 9th, 2022 | 4 min
The secret to modern-day brand development is more than just a fun social media presence, TikTok dances and #teambuildingactivities. Your brand needs to be seen as innovative, forward-thinking and collaborative.
As the phrase goes: two heads are better than one. The same goes for modern marketing. When it comes to marketing and developing your brand, collaboration is often the key to success. Not to be confused with influencer and affiliate marketing, brand collaborations are when two or more businesses join forces to meet and exceed their marketing goals with new products, promotions and campaigns.
2022 has seen more brand collaborations than ever before, and thousands of brands with a shared workspace or audience have come together in creative and innovative ways. From Adidas and Prada to Vans and International Women’s Day, consumers are beginning to expect the unexpected with the world’s biggest brands.
But why the sudden explosion in these trendy collabs? And why do brands do it? Let’s find out how you can utilise collaborations to skyrocket your online marketing and brand development.
Benefits of Brand Collaborations in Online Marketing
It goes without saying that collaborations expose your business to a larger audience. Two audiences, as long as they are engaging, are better than one. But it’s not just the benefit of additional exposure that a collab offers your brand. One of the important and often misconceived benefits of collaborating is the reduced marketing costs. According to recent Collabosaurus reports, a brand collaboration is up to 25x less expensive than digital advertising.
Still not convinced? Here are some more benefits that you should know about:
Raise Awareness and Promote a Cause
The online consumer marketplace is more crowded than ever before and cross collaborations create an opportunity for brands to raise awareness and generate buzz. One of the most famous charitable cross collaborations to come out of 2022 has been with WWF and Whiskas. Their goal? To work together to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022. How are they doing it? By helping to fund the daily work needed to protect tigers by restoring habitats and combating threats such as poaching. How successful has it been? Well, in March alone over 4000 people attended an anti-poaching celebration in 1 day.
Of course, as is the way with marketing, many of these campaigns still contained a sales message and held a commercial purpose, but it does not mean that their goals and objectives were unjust. Whether it’s two well-known brands such as LEGO and IKEA, or it is a big brand working with a local good cause, collaboration is one of the best ways to get noticed and raise awareness.
Get Noticed
By the nature of two brands coming together, there is an opportunity for a business to potentially double its audience size and even reach highly-targeted potential customers.
No matter your sector, the online marketplace is huge. So huge that, even if you have a remarkable message for the world to hear, it is unlikely that the world will hear it. The power of collaborations allows for you to be noticed by new faces with new interests and new buying habits. Growing your network through brand collaborations is a sure-fire way to propel your brand development and get – which is the only way that businesses can develop further in today’s saturated digital market.
Redefine Your Image
To be successful in modern eCommerce, a brand needs to offer great products and have a great image. A defined brand personality builds brand recognition and brand recognition defines your image. If you feel like your business could use a bit of TLC then a collab could do just that.
A great example of a redefined image is Heinz after their Cath Kidson collab. After next to no branding changes for 100 years, Heinz realised that they were close to becoming obsolete. So, by collaborating with a fun fashion brand that is also linked with home comforts and family, the two combined their powerful authority and gave their image and fresh new buzz.

Collaboration Tips to Boost Brand Development
- Find a non-competitive brand partner – Finding the right brand partner is a delicate balance between having a similar ethos but not a similar customer base. Collaborations work best when your partner is not a direct partner but whose audience could also benefit from your services.
- Know your goals – Before you partner with anyone, a defined list of goals and KPIs is essential. What is it that you are looking to achieve with this partnership and is it going to make a return on investment? Consider your marketing objectives and then consider how your marketing objectives would impact a collaborative strategy.
- Understand Your Value – Just because you are reaching out for a collaboration, it does not mean that you don’t offer the skillset that they require. Leverage what you are good at and make it an asset that cannot be overlooked.
To direct your online marketing efforts and maximise the return of brand collaboration, talk with a brand growth agency today. Agencies, such as Brave, have a wealth of experience in building structured marketing strategies and creative campaigns. To take your digital marketing efforts to the next level, work with a brand growth agency like Brave today.