The Power of Brand Partnerships

In today’s world, time is precious. It seems like most everything we do is fast-paced and scheduled, and the time we get to spend outdoors chasing our passions grows shorter and shorter. For outdoor enthusiasts, time spent in the field or on the water is priceless — and when they do get outside, they want to use products from the brands that share their core values.

Understanding what drives a consumer’s passion and brand preference is critical — and partnering with other brands that your loyal customers use can be very powerful. When complementary brands come together and provide experiences or co-branded products, consumer confidence and brand loyalty go through the roof! The consumer experience can be life-changing and a win-win for everyone.

One example that comes to mind is the brand partnership between Hell’s Bay Boatworks, Hook+Gaff Watch Company, Fish Hippie, Guy Harvey Outpost and Williams Knife Company. These leading brands came together for the “Tarpon in Tampa” sweepstakes and provided an experience of a lifetime.

One lucky winner was randomly selected to win products from all the brands, along with a chance to fish with Capt. C.A. Richardson, one of their top-level brand ambassadors. 

This multi-brand campaign was developed and executed by the team here at TBA Outdoors, with the following key elements driving its success:

  • “Tarpon in Tampa” micro-website – lead generation
    • A mirco-website was developed as a landing page for capturing emails and complete information on giveaway. 
    • http://tarponintampa.com/

  • Email marketing campaign
    • Multiple emails were sent to each partner’s current email database to  maximize exposure for this promotion and each brand.
  • Social media strategy
    • Leveraged each participating brand’s social media audience to gain a larger reach and reinforced authenticity.
  • Paid media strategy
    • Targeted paid social media lead ads and boosted post were used to increase awareness .
  • Experiential marketing event
    • The randomly chosen winner experienced a day of fishing using the participating brands’ products.
  • Content development 
    • Video and photography was used to showcase the authentic and emotional experience.

The combination of all these marketing strategies resulted in a very successful campaign for all the brands involved. Among the marketing gains achieved:

  • Increased brand exposure for all partners
  • Authentic co-branded messaging
  • High-quality and authentic content
  • Over 378,000 impressions across all brand channels
  • Over 289,000 engagements on social media
  • Over 16,000 leads generated

Providing the passionate outdoor consumer with authentic products, experiences and brand messaging is imperative in today’s crowded and well-educated market. Brands that focus on this straightforward — but at times challenging — task will have loyal customers for life.