Brand collaborations could be used more to encourage consumers to try new brands as well as helping retailers maximise the potential that meal and snack time opportunities present.
Bread brand Kingsmill and cheese brand Cathedral City have recently announced a new collaboration, which will include in-store cross merchandising tools to help independent retailers maximise basket spend opportunities and drive lunchtime purchasing. This will include POS material for both bread and chiller sections.
Usually you see brand collaborations intended to help consumers who need inspiration to 'make' products work together, for example, we have seen this with bagels and cream cheese. In this case, though, bread and cheese buyers may not require inspiration but in crowded categories up against other branded and own label products, a collaboration with another well known product can help push these two brands to the fore.
Brand collaborations are nothing new and, as a result, consumers are increasingly receptive to a collaborative approach. Take the fashion industry as a case in point where collaborations have been the norm for some time with, for example, Versace creating a range specifically for retailer H&M.
Although collaborations can be successful, the challenge of asking separate companies to collaborate on messaging and communications could be one reason why they don’t occur as much as they might. However, giving the collaboration the best chance of success remains important and we advocate combined online qualitative and quantitative research to facilitate client-consumer interaction to gain insights on how to maximise the positives of both client brands. But the link does not necessarily need to be formal.
We have seen how certain products, for example prawns and smoked salmon, sometimes don’t do as well as they might because consumers struggle to find occasions to serve them and perhaps only know one or two recipes for using them. In these situations retailers and brands can collaborate effectively to provide 'inspiration' and prompt purchase. Frequency of purchase can be supported in other ways through in-store signage, perhaps showing an occasion or a delicious meal involving the products, recipe cards and placing other category products, perhaps sauces, alongside so that an easy meal is signalled.
If the nature of the collaboration is not as obvious as bread and cheese, brands will want to consider some element of research before committing completely. Many will consider using focus groups which, for many years, has enabled them to access sources of potentially rich qualitative data about their brand and their products. They remain a staple for marketers to determine what a group of customers may feel about an existing or potential product or service, enabling them to secure insights in an informal and flexible way.
Though just because they remain a staple, doesn’t mean they cannot be improved or that developments to the focus group concept can’t be made to deliver higher quality insights. Work that we have undertaken has shown how turning classic focus group research into an “experiential event” can create a more engaging experience for both brand and consumer, yielding significantly enhanced results as a consequence.
We advocate research, which brings brands and consumers together in a way which facilitates co-creation. The brand team can explain their ideas and listen more effectively working with consumers, without the barrier of the mirror; just as consumers respect the work and try harder to develop ideas. The key is the direct interaction between client teams and consumers – great for client teams because they get to ask questions immediately, observe people up close and personal and also answer questions to move the process along; great for consumers because they feel valued and included and their curiosity about who is behind their favourite products is satisfied.
When we conducted our first “experiential” sessions, our original hypothesis - that the experience of being brought to the heart of a business enhances consumer engagement and produces a better level of insight than would otherwise be obtained from more classic research techniques - was proven. And now we do it all the time and find quite clearly that respondents 'respond' to a heightened level of experience.
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