to deliver greater value to consumers and provide product differentiation, national and licensed brands are working together to produce products and packaging with a complementary message.by ted mininni, contributing editorrestless consumers are hunting more than ever for products that deliver additional value, forcing manufacturers to scramble to deliver that value to them. cobranding a strong national brand with an equally recognized licensed brand is one way to accomplish that. the goal to pump up volume and to gain a competitive edge by attracting and retaining customers in a highly charged consumer environment.as a result, there&rsquos been a rush to cobrand, with both national and licensed brands looking for opportunities to exploit. at times, it&rsquos too much of a rush. some cobrands are sensations, while others fail to hit the mark. they have to make sense to consumers and represent a real fit, or at the very least, they must have shared brand values to work. even then, they have to be packaged in a compelling manner so that consumers seeing cobranded products will understand them at a glance.successful partnerships, effective packagesif a branded product is well established and does well, cobranding it with a wellrecognized complementary brand could create a new product in the marketplace with an established pedigree. one example of resounding success is taco bell&rsquos introduction of its now famous nacho cheese doritos locos tacos, which recently surpassed 1 billion in sales. company ceo greg creed referred to the taco&rsquos release as &ldquothe biggest launch in taco bell history.&rdquo not only are the cobranded products complementary, but they also represent two wellknown brands that are equally strong in consumer recognition. one could argue that if taco bell had launched its own nacho cheese taco shell, it would not have had the same power of cobranding it has had with lay&rsquos topselling nacho cheese doritos.when consumers purchase this product, the packaging&mdashwhich looks like a snacksized bag of nacho cheese doritos&mdashreinforces the entire concept beautifully. no need to even mention taco bell on this packaging, or add the logo. the emergent, overstuffed taco in the packaging is a visual that has always been associated with the brand.cobranding &ldquofor a limited time&rdquo can create massive consumer demand, even frenzy. few limitedtime brands are subject to as much anticipation as girlscout cookies, which sell out quickly. when nestlé worked out a deal in 2012 with the girl scouts to cobrand its most popular cookie flavors with nestlé crunch chocolate bars, the company felt that it could have a hit on its hands. and what made more sense than offering the cobranded candy bars as limitededition items consumer frenzy ensued, and the candy bars became so hard to find that for the 2013 launch, a may article in usa today urged consumers to go to the nestlé crunch facebook page to preorderthe packaging perfectly cobrands nestlé with the girl scouts. the wellknown nestlé crunch brand identity shares equal billing with the girl scouts&rsquo logo and the brand&rsquos signature green color. a cutaway on each bar shows the luscious cookie flavor inside. to reinforce the nature of the offerings, artwork depicting each cookie on a yellow background states, &ldquolimited edition cookie flavors.&rdquo nothing else is needed.another example of cobranding is to create unique luxury items for affluent consumers. fashion maven kimora lee simmons created a line of exclusive, whimsical jewelry in partnership with sanrio&rsquos global phenom, hello kitty, beginning in 2008. many affluent women around the world have such affection for this brand, as well as the designer&rsquos aplomb for making unique fashion statements, they&rsquove snapped up watches, bracelets, pendants, and earrings fashioned from18k gold and studded with diamonds. the success of this venture is due to the merged star power of both brands.packaging for the line is surprisingly simple&mdashthe perfect counterbalance for the overthetop diamondstudded jewelry inside. stark blackandwhite packaging tells the story at a glance hello kitty&rsquos sweet face is presented with the two brand names beneath her image, &ldquokimora lee simmons for hello kitty.&rdquo perfect. the only color is hello kitty&rsquos red bow and yellow nose&mdashperfect punctuation on purposely downplayed packaging. inside, a plain oxbloodred package without any brand communication contains the actual jewelry. simple, clean, perfect.elevating a commoditythe proliferation of toosimilar consumer products dilutes brands, especially with a sluggish economy. lowerpriced privatelabel brands continue to take a bite out of national brands. smart cobranding can elevate a commodity to another level, creating incentive for consumers to shell out more due to higher perceived value. johnson & johnson upped the ante with bandaid when it cobranded with the muppets with a notsotypical consumer product offering.thanks to a special app, kids scanning the bandage with any mobile device get a delightful surprise see pwgo.to1384. through augmented reality ar technology, muppet kermit, for example, bursts out of the bandage to sing his famous &ldquorainbow connection&rdquo to make any child forget about the pain and nastiness of the moment. this is a brilliant way to leverage both brands and to seal the emotional connection they have with children. favorite characters are one thing, but bringing them to life thanks to ar is brilliant.moms can&rsquot miss the colorful bandaid muppets packaging. the large bandaid brand identity sits on top of the package, with the character underneath. a much smaller muppets brand identity rests on the bottom right of the character. at the bottom of the package, the johnson & johnson brand mark appears with simple brand communication about the product. all the muppetsbased character bandage packages feature ar capabilities once the special app is downloaded to any mobile device. simple, clear, easy.popculture hits and missesdisneylicensed characters, including princess and cars, deliver value on an ongoing basis, as delighted children want to wear sneakers or apparel featuring their favorite properties. they love characterbranded bedding, toys, and accessories. do moms think it worth more money to purchase disneylicensed products the answer is a resounding &ldquoyes,&rdquo as disney&rsquos powerful properties continue to make it the number onelicensed brand on the planet. on the other hand, kroger&rsquos cobranding of ubiquitous fruits and vegetables for children with disney fell flat. mickey mouse and the incredibles couldn&rsquot save this deal. while the kroger brand is strong, moms could not correlate how disney characters added more value to produce to justify a higher price.this example is proof that brand alignment, fit, and perceived value must all be given careful consideration. to corroborate this, think of wildly successful cobrands. michael jordan and nike have successfully collaborated since 1984. more recent consumer products of note include procter & gamble&rsquos febreze cobranded with its own tide and downy brands as well as bissell. rovio&rsquos popcult phenomenon, angry birds, in a brilliant move, developed a winning game app in conjunction with perhaps the greatest pop culture brand of all time, star wars. cake boss, buddy valastro, licensed his famous name and recipes to dawn foods to make his delightful confections available to supermarkets and wholesale clubs. smart.caveatsit makes no difference how strong the appeal of a cobranded product is it can fail. consumer expectation is so heightened when cobranded products are launched featuring two strong brands that if the experience falls short in any way, it can torpedo expected sales and even do damage to both brands. when considering a cobranded product, ask yourself the following questions&bull is it a good marriage many cobranded consumer products never take off because they mystify consumers they simply don&rsquot make sense. even if they aren&rsquot a direct fit, there ought to be aligned brand values. coach leathers in lexus luxury cars is a great example of this.&bull does the cobranding add value even powerful brands can&rsquot make magic if the consumer can&rsquot justify the additional spend for the cobranded products. kroger&rsquos disney characterbranded produce is a perfect example.&bull too much of a good thing some of the most dominant brands have lost their cachet and their loyal customer base due to overexposure. fashion houses dior and gucci can attest to that. overlicensing the most powerful brands can lead to serious brand dilution, which should be avoided.&bull is the packaging hastily designed many consumer products, including those that are cobranded, fail to meet sales expectations and even die on the shelf due to ineffectively designed packaging. the investment in licensing is significant however, the same cannot always be said of the product packaging. but in order to leverage both brands as they deserve and maximize their full potential, it&rsquos truly necessary. remember, strong cobrands cannot expect consumers, confronted with scores of choices at retail, to immediately home in on and identify a great new offering without the support of strong packaging.to cobrand or not to cobrandthere are, indeed, many considerations here. if well conceived and properly executed, cobranding can have a huge upside potential for both brands. volume and competitive edge is one thing, but the opportunity to create greater brand equity carries even more impetus at a time when so many brands are losing their luster.ted mininni is president of design force, inc. www.designforceinc.com. he can be reached at 8568102277. 
