I love the Gruen Transfer (but can anyone explain why they, and others such as Hollowmen, have a subscription on iTune but no episodes - or at best only one episode?)
A few months ago they were dissecting the blend of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” music video and its cross promotion with the Maybeleine brand. A (very) quick Google search brought up nothing, and my memory is a little faded but, they were discussing how the singer and Maybeleine had joined forces to help promote each other.
Rihanna did a re-make of her music video clip to be an ad for Maybeleine and Maybeleine offered Rihanna CDs through their retail counters.
Essentially, they are blending their marketing mixes (4Ps) to undertake co-operative “Promotion” as well as increasing their “Places” from where customers can access their offerings.
While I agree that the match between Rihanna and Maybeleine is an excellent one (because there would be demographics of their target markets that are the same or similar) the discussion reminded me of another cross promotion I had seen recently.
On my way home, I had to swing past a local supermarket to pick up some cake mixture (I lost a bet in the office and the loser had to bake a cake for everyone … but that’s a story for another day and I lost the bet … I’d much prefer to share a story where I won a bet:).
While waiting in line at the checkout, there was a promotional basket full of Continental instant pasta meals. What caught my eye was the little sticker that carried the Video Ezy logo. It said “Free Video Hire” (when you buy the packet of pasta).
It immediately struck me as a very strange relationship. In fact, I think it is a down right terrible match. Pasta and Videos? Come on! So I thought to myself “righto hot shot, if you were coming up with the ideas at Continental, what would you dream up?”.
Pasta and wine (maybe not a whole free bottle but maybe a good discount?). At least with the bottleshop next to the exit I might be inclined to take advantage of that offer as I leave. And because the bottleshop is owned by the supermarket then they are more likely to promote the pasta in prominent spots!
Happy that I had fixed Continental’s woes, and with the 30 seconds I had left in the queue, I thought I had better not leave Video Ezy high and dry so I thought of a good product match for free videos. Pretty simple really … Popcorn!
As I got called to the register I wondered whether I shouldn’t call my wife, cancel the burritos and tell her I was coming home with some pasta, a bottle of red, a movie and some popcorn!
The question for you is - what complimentary products or brands could your company work with? A little co-operation could open up scales of economy and help you utilise distribution channels that previously been hard to obtain.
What other matches for products can you think of for products that compliment each other? Funny ones welcome - beer and panadol?
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