As audiences engage with their interests and passions more consistently than ever before, Chief Strategy Officer at Luscid, Damien Gillman, emphasises the importance of partnership marketing in helping brands become an organic part of their customers’ daily routine.
At Luscid, we have recently been enjoying our new office space in London, which for myself means a new routine of train and tube rides from my home in Surrey into Victoria.
Personally – the commute gives me some much-needed downtime between my role as Chief Strategy Officer during the day, and parent to 2 energetic boys at home. Whether I spend an hour streaming my favourite new sci-fi drama, catching up on the trials of Charlton Athletic, or getting my fix of 90s indie music; it’s the time of day I consume my own personal interests and passions.
And it would seem I’m not alone.
Taking one look along the train carriage on Monday evening, all my fellow commuters were fully engaged in their phones, laptops or tablets. We now have a wealth of content on tap to feed our interests and passions. Whatever grabs your attention – it is there when you need it.
For brands looking to reach their target consumers, the attention economy we find ourselves in represents a challenge in delivering traditional advertising.
Instead of trying to navigate around this challenge and take their attention away, brands have the ideal opportunity to become part of the conversation, via a targeted partnership marketing strategy that integrates them directly into the passions of their target customer.
An Integrated Partnership Marketing Strategy
Let’s place ourselves into the position of a Red Bull Racing F1 fan – recently enjoying the last few races of a record-breaking season. In terms of content consumption, race highlights and additional footage will be enjoyed well after the Grand Prix has concluded. But for a sponsor like Oracle, building a successful partnership activation framework should go beyond this. Tailored content that leverages both the brand story and the fan passion for the sport ensures the value goes far beyond the awareness-driving assets on the car. Whether it be the team drivers engaging in a RC car race on Youtube, or a Tech Focus hosted by CNBC – there are plentiful opportunities to build a partnership activation framework that goes well beyond the race weekend. Notwithstanding potential activation at the event itself.
When a CTO is extending his or her enjoyment of a Grand Prix into the working week – Oracle are present at every stage of this extended story.
Further examples of partnership marketing that follows the consumers journey across multiple touchpoints can be found beyond sport.
Coca Cola have created the Coke Studio online presence to extend the fan relationship with their favourite artists beyond listening on Spotify or radio. A fan of Sam Smith or Imagine Dragons could listen to their favourite album on the way into work, and then view an exclusive intimate live performance courtesy of their favourite soft drink on the way home.
These are just two examples of brands organically becoming part of their customers’ passions. The partner equity provided by a sports team or music artist ensures that they become a natural part of the day-to-day content routine of their customer, rather than trying to force their way in via traditional paid means.
Targeted Partnership Marketing
The secret to a successful partnership marketing campaign will be rooted in understanding the best passion points to drive the desired marketing impact for your brand. Whilst the sponsorship and partnerships industry has not always been on the front foot when it comes to objective and accountable strategic planning, Luscid’s technology is set to swiftly change this narrative for the better.
In a world where we all have our unique blend of passions available on tap, this truly is the Era of Partnership Marketing.
