Best Brand Collaborations And How They Got It Right

Collaborating with a brand can be an impactful marketing strategy, so we’ll be looking at some of the best brand collaborations and how they got it right. Even though it’s a risky and potentially costly strategy, successful brand collaborations can be powerful and lucrative for both of the brands involved.

We’ll look at what brand collaborations are, the benefits and risks of collaborations before highlighting some of the best collaborations that we handpicked for this blog.

What Are Brand Collaborations?

A brand collaboration is when two or more brands come together to create a campaign that benefits both brands equally. The collaboration can also involve the two brands creating a product, or rolling out a service together.

This allows the brands involved to maximise their exposure together rather than rolling out separate campaigns on their own. It’s also a strategic marketing tactic that allows the brands involved to benefit from each other’s brand establishment, exposure and identity.

Often brands that collaborate together aren’t direct competitors. Instead, they are brands that share the same target audiences, but might sell different products/services. The brand collaboration allows them to amplify their marketing with the power of their brands together, rather than having separate campaigns that might not have the same level of impact.

For example, you might have two brands that sell completely different products, but they both target affluent women aged between 25-35. These two brands decide to do a brand collaboration where they create a physical pop-up selling a new product produced specifically for this campaign. They encourage the women who come to the pop-up to post on their social channels, increasing brand exposure organically from their target market.

Although these two brands could have organised a new product and pop-up on their own, the impact that brand collaborations have can sometimes vastly out-perform singular campaigns.

Why Do Brands Collaborate With Other Brands?

There are many reasons why brands might enter into a collaboration with another brand, but at the core, the brands involved are looking to:

• Increase brand exposure
• Sell a product or service
• Acquire new customers

The collaboration allows them to achieve these goals that they might not have been able to achieve with a campaign on their own.

Benefits Of Brand Collaborations

The main benefit to a brand collaboration is that brands can share each other’s credibility, following and established identities. Rather than marketing to the same audiences separately, fusing their strategies together creates a highly impactful and lucrative campaign that both brands can benefit from.

If an up-and-coming brand is collaborating with a larger, well-established brand, then the up-and-coming brand can benefit from the other brand’s following, increase customer acquisition and accelerate their growth.

Brand collaborations are also becoming increasingly popular for movie marketing campaigns. With box-office takings more important than ever, marketers tap into creative strategies to interact with their audience and create a buzz around the film, months before the release date. This has created exciting opportunities for brands to collaborate with the movie to tap into this buzz themselves.

The blockbuster movie Barbie became a trailblazer for this type of marketing, with multiple brand collaborations giving businesses an international platform to sell products (usually in the Barbie pink) in collaboration with the Barbie brand. Brands saw products sell-out, engagement sky-rocket and their customer acquisitions grow through collaborating with the iconic pink brand.

Brand collaborations are also more memorable than singular brand campaigns when they’re done right. There might be a few that you can think of on your own that have stuck with you. If there is, then those brands have nailed their strategy in targeting their audiences in a more impactful way by joining forces.

Risks Of Brand Collaborations

Although brand collaborations can be highly lucrative, they don’t come without an element of risk. Firstly, there is the possibility that the campaign falls flat. Whether it’s the brands involved feeling mismatched to consumers, or the products not selling well, there are multiple elements that can lead to a brand collaboration being unsuccessful.

In 2023, Nike collaborated with luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. to create the limited edition Nike x Tiffany Co. Air Force 1. The shoe fused the iconic Nike Air Force 1 design with the equally iconic Tiffany & Co. blue with a price tag of $400.

On the surface, this brand collaboration made sense – targeting people who are into their limited edition sneakers and enjoy shopping at other high-end brands. However, the product itself didn’t resonate with consumers. Avid sneaker-collectors were underwhelmed by the design, with regular consumers feeling that it lacked any creativity, considering the high price-point. Many felt there was little difference between these shoes and the regular Air Force 1’s that cost a quarter of the price.

Although their teaser campaign created a huge buzz on social media and featured LeBron James in their core ad campaign, the brand collaboration was labelled a flop due to an underwhelming product.

With the risk of the brand collaboration being unsuccessful, there’s also a clear financial risk. Brands invest heavily in their collaborations, meaning if the campaigns fall flat, all brands involved could face significant losses in the long-term.

Aside from the actual products and financial risks, there’s also the risk of brands associating themselves closely with other brands. This can mean that if one brand sees a deterioration in their reputation, then the other brands involved in the collaboration could also see a negative impact to their reputation as well.

Regardless of the risks, there have been many successful brand collaborations. Let’s take a look at some and how they got it right.

Lego x Formula 1

In 2017, Formula 1’s new owners went on a mission to make the sport more accessible to people around the globe and shun the label of being an “exclusively elite” sport. They wanted to grow the viewership and following of the sport and the teams across all demographics.

They encouraged social media engagement for the sport, the teams and the drivers – something which had been banned by the previous sport’s CEO. In 2019, season 1 of the Netflix series Drive to Survive dropped, which saw the sport increase their fanbase by 40% and sky-rocketed the sport’s exposure in the US across both genders and various demographics.

Now, building on the monumental growth of the sport, the owners are now looking to target a new demographic for the sport – young fans.

Why This Works

Not only is Lego loved by children and teens across the world, it’s also loved by adults and parents who might even be existing Formula 1 fans. A collaboration that enticed a new audience into the sport, whilst also reinforcing brand loyalty with existing fans – a win-win!

For Lego, this was a collaboration that would boost sales and potentially acquire new customers who are Formula 1 fans, but might not have bought a Lego set before. Therefore, this has the potential to be a highly lucrative deal for the toy manufacturer.

A Life-Size Campaign Launch

The launch of this collaboration saw Lego takeover the drivers’ parade at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. Instead of having the drivers standing in the usual touring truck as it trundles around the track, Lego did something very unique.

They built life-size Formula 1 cars for each team to drive around the track for the parade. Each car used nearly 400,000 pieces of lego and took around 23,000 hours to build.

This launch saw a huge response from everyone:

• The drivers filmed themselves as they drove around the track that they later shared on their team and personal social media accounts.
• The fans at the track and on TV were enthralled by the unique driver’s parade and became a huge talking point across the social channels of the Grand Prix weekend.

This launch generated a buzz at the track and on social media, with everyone talking about the Lego race cars. A successful launch for a brand collaboration – now it was time to show fans the products.

A Product For Both F1 and Lego Fans

After the successful launch, the brand collaboration launched a Formula 1 Lego Collection including:

• Collectable race cars
• Individual race cars from each team
• The race garages and trucks
• The starting grid

Unlike the Nike x Tiffany & Co. Air Force 1’s, these products make sense for audiences of both brands. Lego can acquire new customers who are current F1 fans, whereas F1 can grow their following of young viewers who are avid Lego builders.

From the success of this collaboration, it’s highly likely that this might evolve into a long-term partnership (if it hasn’t already).

Wicked x Stanley

If we learned anything from the Barbie Movie marketing campaigns, it’s that brand collaborations are powerful and potentially highly lucrative. It makes sense for all brands involved: movie companies want to create as much buzz as possible to generate box office sales, and brands want to sell products or services.

So, when the highly anticipated theatre-adaptation of Wicked flew into cinemas in 2024, they learned from the Barbie marketing playbook and unveiled multiple brand collaborations. The collaboration spanned across the globe, creating an international buzz for the musical adaptation.

Although there were many collaborations that Wicked unveiled, the one that caught my attention was with Stanley. I could write a whole new blog post on the rise of the Stanley brand, but I think we all know at this point that Stanley is a masterclass case study in how powerful brand re-positioning can be.

Why This Works

Stanley cups have evolved from being a practical purchase, to being a status symbol amongst young people and females. To this day, US shoppers are queuing outside of Target stores to get their hands on the latest limited edition designs that are quickly becoming high-value collectables.

This also isn’t the first time that Stanley has collaborated with a movie, as they launched limited edition Barbie designs in the run-up to the film’s release, which was a huge success.

This brand collaboration works for both brands in terms of sales:

• Stanley wants to continue their growth and sales of their products.
• Wicked wants to sell as many tickets as possible, especially during the opening weekend.

Stanley can tap into Wicked’s cult following (forged over the years of the highly successful theatre show) to boost sales. Wicked can tap into Stanley’s cult following to create as much excitement as possible for the movie.

Record-Breaking Success For Both Brands

The brand collaboration saw them launch two exclusive Stanley cups at Target – one cup designed with Glinda’s buttery pink and the other with Elphaba’s iconic witchy green. The products sold-out across the US.

Wicked then had a highly successful opening weekend, breaking global box office records for musical-movie adaptations.

With the pressure on blockbuster movies to generate profits during opening weekend, the success of these brand collaborations means we can expect to see more of these for future movie marketing campaigns.

Chamberlain Coffee x Pinterest

This unique brand collaboration sees social media platform Pinterest collaborate with YouTube influencer Emma Chamberlain’s coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee. This collaboration has sparked huge attention, as it’s the first time Pinterest has partnered with another brand.

This isn’t the first time a social media platform has partnered with another brand. Meta has partnered with Rayban to create a range of glasses and sunglasses that integrate Meta’s AI so that you can speak to your glasses (yes, you read that right).

Yet, the Pinterest and Chamberlain Coffee collaboration makes more sense to me than Meta and Rayban.

Why This Works

YouTube Emma Chamberlain went from posting videos on YouTube, to being a regular attendee at the Met Gala, cementing herself in the fashion sphere. She’s grown her following to over 14 million Instagram followers and 12 million Subscribers.

Since followers have watched Emma grow from a small vlogger to a highly successful brand-founder and influencer, they see her brand as “achievable aspiration.” That’s why when Emma promotes or launches a product/brand, her followers are ready to buy whatever she’s selling.

Her coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee, that she launched in 2020 has quickly become one of the fastest growing brands in the US that was founded by a YouTuber.

For Pinterest, Emma is the ideal person to fit with their brand ethos. Pinterest is a social media platform for people seeking inspiration for fashion, homewear, recipes and beyond. It’s also known for its aesthetically pleasing and aspirational content posted by users. For Emma’s fanbase, this is a platform that they’ll be using when they’re not watching her content. They’ll be looking for content related to her, or her fashion, or how to achieve her aesthetic.

Authentic, Aesthetically Pleasing Campaign Rollout

The two brands announced the collaboration with an aesthetically pleasing shoot showcasing their exclusive collection for Chamberlain Coffee. The launch featured a fresh nautical theme (that Pinterest announced would be one of the top trends for 2025) for the shoot and the products, including a Sea Salt Toffee Coffee Blend and matching accessories.

The rollout didn’t stop there, as Pinterest created a moodboard with behind the scenes content and how they brought the photoshoot to life. Also, they explained how Emma used Pinterest to curate a moodboard for inspiration for the shoot and the collaboration.

This gives consumers a peek behind the curtain into how the collaboration came to life and that anyone can use Pinterest to bring their own creative ideas to life. Like Emma’s personal brand, they keep it aspirational, yet achievable.

Best Brand Collaborations And How They Got It Right

There are many risks to collaborating with another brand. Not only do brands invest heavily in these campaigns, but there is no clear guarantee that the collaboration will be a success. As Nike and Tiffany & Co. experienced, the collaboration can look aligned, but the product might not resonate with target consumers.

However, when brand collaborations are done right, they can be highly lucrative and memorable for consumers. As we have seen with the success of the Lego and Formula 1 collaboration, the success could evolve into a longer-term partnership that sees new customers for Lego and new fans for Formula 1.

Brand collaborations are also becoming part of the movie marketing playbook, as both Barbie and Wicked have demonstrated with viral brand Stanley. When brand collaborations are successful, businesses can see sell-our ranges and movies can experience record-breaking opening weekends at the box office.

Aside from the products and campaign roll-out, when both brands have a shared ethos that is clear, it can make the collaboration more impactful. As Pinterest and Chamberlain Coffee are showcasing their collaboration, taking consumers behind the scenes of the full launch and showing how Emma used Pinterest to bring her ideas for the collaboration to life.

Brand collaborations are a powerful way to leverage your marketing efforts and grow your brand in new areas. If you’re curious to see how we can help with your marketing strategies, get in touch with our team today.