The sign read "We proudly brew Starbucks Coffee." Suddenly, the thought of eating in a cafeteria seemed a bit more, shall I say... palatable. I wasn't even planning on drinking coffee (it was too late in the afternoon for me), but seeing that sign was comforting.
As the owner of this cafeteria knows, linking your brand to another product, service, place or even person can be an excellent way to reinforce or augment your brand attributes.
We are living in a world where everyone, and every company, is becoming more specialized. Avoiding becoming a commodity requires that you be differentiated from your competitors. Differentiation means being known for something, not a hundred things.
Creating brand alliances enables you to continue to benefit from the one thing you do best while also benefiting from the one thing your affiliate does best.
When you have built a brand that excels at what your customers want and have surrounded yourself with other strong brands, you maximize the brand experience while remaining true to your unique promise of value.
Some companies and organizations are excellent at building these valuable connections. This is not co-branding—sharing a product or service with two brand names. It is connecting your brand to another brand to bolster your differentiation, expand your brand attributes or increase your visibility. This advances your brand building and nurturing activities.
Bolster your brand
When your brand is highly differentiated from your peers' or competitors', it is important to fortify that differentiation through all of your brand affiliations. Some companies are exceptional at creating these kinds of reinforcing connections with similar brands.
Hotels seem to be the best at it. Perhaps it's because they have so many opportunities for brand partnerships.
W Hotels, for example, has chosen to join with Aveda, a personal-product company with a modern, clean and natural brand consistent with the design and brand promise of W.
Ritz Carlton is also excellent at making the right connections. The hotel chain promotes the "Key to Luxury" package, which gets you the use of a new Mercedes during your stay. Ritz Carlton had lots of options for luxury automobile brands.
But it chose Mercedes, which underlines its brand attribute of classic luxury. If the new Bulgari design hotels were to launch a similar program, they would probably choose a more modern brand of car, like Lexus, to back up the brand. But the Ritz also missed an opportunity. It chose to make its own line of toiletries rather than connect with a brand that could strengthen its brand position. Ritz Carlton is not known as a luxury toiletries company; it is a luxury hotel that provides the finest service and finest amenities. Hermes bath products in every room would be an excellent way to reinforce the Ritz attributes of luxury and exclusivity.
Sofitel, the luxury hotel brand of the French Accor company, has chosen Roget and Galet bath products. These soaps, gels and shampoos are quintessentially French. That's a key differentiator for the Sofitel brand—setting it apart from other upscale hotels.
