Insights From a Winning Collaboration

Julie Knap; Ellie Su; and Schuyler Winter , 04.24.24

04.24.24 Julie Knap; Ellie Su; and Schuyler Winter

In the modern marketing world, synergistic co-marketing partnerships can act as a powerhouse to amplify brand visibility and foster a deeper bond with the target demographics.

Take our partnership with Square Enix for the launch of the much-anticipated video game, "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth." This collaboration became a crucible for the development and testing of several strategies. Over a year into the making, our alliance underscored four essential learnings for prosperous collaborations:

  1. Strategic Alignment: Knowing your partner's goals, constraints, and sentiments like they are your own is imperative. This allows for the win-win to be revealed, and from here the partnership can grow creatively and ambitiously.

  2. Time is your greatest resource: You will never regret starting earlier than you planned. More time gives a partnership new opportunities to flourish. Less time will curtail the dreams and imagination of the collaboration, and sometimes prevent it from occurring all together.

  3. The Power of Relationships: At their core, partnerships are about people. Colleagues, agency partners, brand representatives, and clients are giving their time and resources to create something together. That's a big deal and relationships with the people involved should be cherished and nurtured. This not only makes for a more enjoyable and successful partnership but yields benefits for future endeavors.

  4. Creative Authenticity: A partnership needs a reason for being. For brands entering the gaming space, there is no greater positioning than to align with a beloved IP and be a part of that moment when the game launches, or a new expansion of content is released. Identify the creative spark that connects your brand, your goals, and your product to this moment and you will entrench yourselves in the heart of the fans.

In essence, our journey with Square Enix highlighted that strong strategic alignment, wisely used time, robust relationships, and a pinch of creative authenticity could orchestrate a triumphant co-marketing partnership. At Allied, we embrace these principles to craft collaborations that stand apart and leave a lasting brand imprint. Want to learn more about our approach? Get in touch.

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