Co-Branded Partnership Facilitation, Activation Presents New Revenue Opportunity

Co-Branded Partnership Facilitation, Activation Presents New Revenue Opportunity

Consumer-facing brands have long partnered with sports properties to achieve their marketing and business-related objectives. It has been far less common for them to align with one another to accomplish those same outcomes.

However, progressive marketers are increasingly uniting on co-branded campaigns to increase awareness of their respective companies and drive incremental revenue. They are finding that these types of collaborations cut through the advertising clutter (think: the average American is exposed to 4,000-10,000 ads/day), while oftentimes be able to address multiple customer needs through a single offering.

Amazon and GrubHub have been formally aligned since 2022. But few consumers knew about the partnership –or its benefits (GH delivery is free for Prime members)– until the two companies released a co-branded spot earlier this year.

Adweek reported that GrubHub data shows Prime members now aware of the partnership hold the brand in higher regard, have more trust in it, and maintain a stronger connection to it.

Prime and GrubHub maintain obvious synergies both being in the delivery space. However, companies with seemingly disparate products and customer bases are collaborating too–and these unconventional alliances are generating substantial sales volume and outsized attention. 

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A collaboration between Heinz and designer Anya Hindmarch created millions of dollars in incremental revenue, and Chipotle’s tie-ups with Wonderskin and e.l.f. Cosmetics spawned billions of social media impressions and valuable earned media coverage.

The majority of consumers say they like these kinds of brand collaborations (or at least the ones polled in a recent Visual Objects survey do). 

“When two brands work together to create something unique –especially around a passion point like a sports team or music artist– those fans feel seen and appreciated,” Brendan Moynihan (EVP consulting and sponsorship, SPORTFIVE) said. 

So, expect them to see more of them. Sports industry executives would be wise to take note of the trend and begin to formulate strategies for how they can go about capitalizing on it. 

Teams, leagues, and rights holders are well positioned to help brands identify collaboration opportunities. They work closely with dozens of their own corporate partners (some of whom it likely makes sense to pair up), and partnership professionals within these organizations will speak to countless more in pursuit of their sales goals. 

Sports properties are also sitting on a trove of first party fan data and third-party insights, which can be used to identify where synergies amongst brands lie (think: demographic, psychographic, and behavioral information, engagement and transactional data).

Access to data/insights and/or the potential for partner facilitation may become increasingly important reasons for a brand to align (or expand on its partnership) with a sports or media entity. But teams, leagues, and rights holders should be able to directly monetize this growing marketing trend too.

They can sell the execution strategy, and activation channels, needed to make these traditional and non-traditional brand collaborations a success. Remember, sports rights owners and holders have access to inventory across broadcast and streaming, digital and social media, live events (think: player/coach appearances, product/service launches, or industry conferences), signage in venues, and hospitality. 

“Activation is more than just a novelty item or product,” Moynihan said. “It can be a powerful way to connect with consumers because it resonates with who they are as an individual and drives loyalty and avidity when done correctly."

Sports properties also know which channels and messaging work best. That is because they leverage solutions, like StellarAlgo (a fan engagement platform that integrates and organizes multiple data sources and enables point and click activation), to track how various fan segments behave on each.

“Winning brand partnerships come from helping brands understand exactly what each fan looks like and [about] their fan journey in real-time,” Vince Ircandia (CEO, StellarAlgo) said. “With that deep understanding and our personalized fan outreach capabilities, brands can strike up new relationships with passionate fans that deliver real value in corporate partnerships.”

FanCompass is another turnkey digital activation and promotion platform, powered by insights generated from solutions like StellarAlgo and its own first party data, that rights owners use to create customized campaigns (think: quizzes, contests, or polling). 

While other brands have access to these same solutions for their own partnership initiatives, they often do not fully examine more holistic fan datasets tied to other companies and are not interacting with them on a daily basis. As a result, they do not have the data points or relationships needed to efficiently find collaboration partners that will resonate with their consumers.

And that’s where teams, leagues, and media companies can step right in and help—and create a lucrative new revenue stream for themselves in the process.

Each brand that signs up for strategic advisory and/or partner activation is likely to represent a mid-six or seven-figure opportunity (on top of any partnership assets the organization can sell).

The 4th annual ESPN Edge Innovation Conference is set for November 14 and will be hosted by Tony Reali, ESPN’s Host of Around the Horn. 

Highlighting the work coming out of the ESPN Edge Innovation Center and ESPN at large, our event brings together accomplished leaders across sports, technology, and business for impactful conversations focused on strategic ways to champion innovation and push the boundaries of sports storytelling with cutting-edge technology.

Tune in virtually November 14 from 4:00-6:30pm EST at espnedge.com/conference and engage with us on social using #ESPNEDGE