Co-what?
I guess we all measure the importance of partnerships in the creation and development of a company, no matter its sector of activity. One way of doing so is called “co-branding”. You must be wondering what this little thing is, you will get the concept very soon! This win-win strategy is very easy to understand: it consists of a partnership between two brands, resulting in the creation of a unique product, gathering characteristics of each brand.
Co-branding, what’s the point?For sure, in most cases, companies have a strong interest in opting for co-branding, it can lead to many advantages. Let’s see that! First, co-branding leads to a communication cost decrease as each brand can benefit from the other brand’s image, reputation and customers. Also, it allows to reposition the product in the consumer’s mind, as a new and innovative product is being launched. Plus, through co-branding, a brand can widen its product’s range, by creating multiple variations of a basic product. We will focus on the perfect example of the traditional Milka chocolate bar’s extended range later in this article. Finally, co-branding appears as a relevant way to create unique and unexpected products, that will leave a mark in people’s mind by surprising them. By doing so, a brand can easily increase the product’s price, as the consumer perceives it as a trendy, exclusive and special article.
I would like to develop this point a bit and give you some examples of co-branding products that created a buzz. The French brand Maison du Chocolat (« House of Chocolate » for non-French speakers) did a partnership with Petrossian, a delicatessen specialized in caviar and fish smoked products. You don’t instantly see the link between those two universes, right? Actually, you are not the only ones! After some researches, we discovered this co-branding strategy resulted in boxes of chocolate with vodka or caviar. The aim of this partnership was to invite people to dare to have new tasting experiences. Chocolate, caviar or vodka can be appreciated and savored by connoisseurs. Even if the flavor combination is quite unusual, it actually worked very well as Maison du Chocolat and Petrossian are both luxury brands, selling high quality products, having a similar philosophy about quality and selectiveness. Each brand could benefit from the international scope of the other. So, would you dare to test those unique combination flavors?
Another surprising example is the partnership made between Danone and the French movie Brice de Nice 3. Danone made the most of the release of this movie, to promote its brand of creamy desert, Danette. Games, customization of Danette pots and a dedicated website added a playful aspect to this original co-branding strategy.
Milka, a real co-branding success storyMilka is definitely one of the best examples to illustrate a successful and smart co-branding strategy. Let’s start with a quick presentation! It is the first brand of chocolate bars in Europe. In France, Milka’s notoriety rate reaches 99% and Milka products are found in more than a home over three. One of Milka’s strength results in its transversality. It means: - Milka’s product diversity is high: chocolate bars, stuffed chocolate bars, chocolate for festive occasions, candies, cookies - the brand has several targets: kids, adolescents, young adults, families - the consumption modes differ from a product to another: beverage, coffee capsule, spread and even ice-cream - the consumers’ consumption moments are multiple: snacking, breakfast, night time chocolate pleasure, desert, party - the places of distribution are numerous: coffee, hotel, restaurant, gas station, vending machine
Some of Milka’s products’ variations
Basically, Milka’s products offer a very high level of consumption possibilities and the main aim of the brand is to be able to accompany the customer all along its day, in different consumption circumstances.
Now that you are more familiar with Milka, let’s have a look at its co-branding strategies and their results. The brand adopted two types of co-branding: - internal co-branding - external co-branding
Before each new co-branding, Milka’s team really focuses on being sure to know the target and their expectations. Bruno Luisetti insists on the fact that a new product launch is never the result of a purely marketing strategy.
Internal co-brandingWhat makes Milka’s co-brandings specific is that almost all those actions are made with brands of the group Mondelez, to which belongs Milka. Why are they doing so? Well, it is a safer way to work as it reduces the potential conflicts about the vision, creation and logistics of the new product with another brand or group. Internal co-branding is less risky and allows to maximize the brand’s profits by selling a single product as if they were actually two. Also, current customers can easily rely on the quality of the new product as they are already familiar with the brand’s articles. The packaging remains very similar, the communication and recipe of the product do not change a lot, which inspires the trust of the current consumer.
Here are some key dates: 2008: launch of the Daim Milka chocolate bar, which will be the beginning of co-branding in Milka’s strategy
2011: launch of Milka Daim Snax. It allows the brand to enter a new market, crispy balls, and to get new consumers as the range is widen
2011: launch of Milka Oreo, a very successful internal co-branding. Six months after the launch of this product, it is already in the top 10 of the best launches of chocolate bars over the past 3 years!
External co-brandingTo get new customers, reposition its brand in people’s mind and offer new types of products, Milka also did some co-branding actions with brands not belonging to Mondelez group. Here are some examples:
2007: launch of Maxiccino Milka, after a partnership with Maxwell House, a coffee brand. It resulted in the only cappuccino made with Milka chocolate slivers.
2009: partnership with Tassimo, to create a hot chocolate. Over the 23 Tassimo beverages that exist, Milka is the 5th!
2012: Milka joined the ice cream industry, by creating a product with the group R, the 3rd seller of ice creams in Europe
It makes no doubt that Milka has a very strong co-branding strategy and vision of what are their customers’ expectations. And you, what is your Milka’s favorite product?