Learn why Wendy's and Nando's value co-branding
Gone are the days when businesses have suppliers who simply deliver products to the store and take the money out, and current business trends dictate a co-branding with partners in the industry.
This, according to marketing manager Scott Philipson, who disclosed during a recent interview his firm, Pacific Retail Management, has a number of supply partners who work closely with them to ensure that their franchisees and subsequently customers are receiving the best possible product at the best possible price while ensuring the success of both businesses.
“We look at aiding our suppliers with co-branding opportunities through our stores, products, promotions and more which enables them to better promote their products while allowing us to show our customers that we are associated with well known and respected brands,” Philipson explains.
“Suppliers need to support the brand,” says Trios Wraps’ Sam Elia, who stressed the importance of working with suppliers so they can pass it on through to the franchisors to give back to the consumers on the front counter.
“If partners share consistent values and co-branding reinforces a unique message, then it makes sense,” states Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill owner Clovis Young when asked on his ideas toward co-branding.
“For example, we have a relationship with Brown Forman, the distributors of Herradura tequilas. Being the number one selling brand of tequila in Mexico has a certain amount of cache -- and it reinforces the notion that we're bringing our customers a truly authentic Mexican experience. We recently executed our largest promotion to date to celebrate the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo and did a co-branded promotion offering $5 margaritas all month. Uptake was really strong so we'll look at doing more of these in the future,” Young says.
Eagle Boys Pizza’ group marketing manager Christine Hooper admits co-branding is certainly on their radar now and currently has a number of high profile brand partnerships under investigation.
Nando’s disclosed it is absolutely moving towards co-branding with the company’s partners in the industry as this works best when each partner is truly involved and doing what they are best at, far beyond just placing the logo onto an initiative for brand association.
“For our most recent campaign, we joined forces with The Sphere Agency, MTV, Nova and renowned artist Dennis Dowlut to create a campaign which celebrated the world coming together in South Africa, our country of origin, and to raise awareness and much needed funds for Nando’s global charity, United Against Malaria," shares Kim Russell, Chief Marketing Office of Nando's.
Andrew Dyduk, Schnitz franchise and marketing manager, says they have definitely seen a move towards ‘co-branding’ their offerings with their partners in the industry.
“With our Richmond store, Coca Cola approached us and let us put our Schnitz logo on the fridge together with their ‘swish’ device. In our Hawthorn store, Schweppes wanted to incorporate Schhh…nitz for our fridge slogan. Schnitz, like many growing franchises, is seeing the possibilities of leveraging our suppliers marketing to help us increase sales,” Dyduk says.
“The increasingly cluttered retail food environment means any opportunities which provide a competitive edge need to be seriously considered,” comments Wendy’s general manager for marketing Todd Duthie.
He said Wendy’s had a number of discussions with several of its partners and is excited about the opportunities co-branding offers to them and their customers.
“At Wendy’s we’re always looking for ways to provide our franchisees with compelling reasons for customers to visit their stores and we’re always looking for ways to ensure customers keep coming back –co-branded products can be an effective way to achieve this,” says Duthie.
