There aren’t many things that get consumers more excited than seeing an “X” between two of their favorite brands. Marketers are learning more about their target audience, and some of the most valuable information is which other brands have their attention. Brand collaborations and cobranding are a win-win-plus, these campaigns can cost 25 times less than other forms of digital marketing.
We’ve seen a lot of collaborations in the fashion and music space, but now, the winner for best brand collaboration might be Elf and Dunkin’ Cosmetics.
It’s more than collaboration, it’s cobranding
While the Dunkin’ Elf-inspired product line might not have launched until April, the two brands have a history of trading together. In late 2021, the elf launched a TikTok reality show-style campaign, “Eyes. Lips. Famous.” The campaign featured three challenges set by influential judges with winners taking home free elf products for a year. One of those challenges happened to be a Dunkin’ themed look.
The campaign helped Elf leverage affiliate marketing tactics, provided a glimpse of potential consumer interest in a brand collaboration, and created an opportunity to collect authentic and exciting user-generated content. In total, the TikTok hashtag “#EyesLipsFamous” garnered 41.8 million views. It’s no surprise that Dunkin and Elf decided to take their brand partnership a step further with a product launch.
Winning brand collaborations start with unexpected pairings
Coffee might not seem like it has much in common with concealers, but Elf and Dunkin’ have managed to make their partnership look organic. In some ways, they’re leaning into the seemingly quirky nature of their partnership, as Dunkin’ did when they first tweeted about the partnership.
In other ways, this brand partnership makes perfect sense. On social media, Dunkin’ and Elf are working to appeal to the same audience of younger, budget-conscious consumers. By working together to create a campaign, they are able to reach a wider audience of their ideal customer profile.
We tapped into Sprout Social’s Listening tool to quantify the campaign’s impact. We looked at social media data from March 14 to April 14, 2022, to examine how the brand partnership affected social performance.
Since the launch of their brand partnership with Dunkin’ on March 30, 2022, 21% (12.9 million) of Elf’s Twitter impressions come from the keywords and hashtags, “Donut,” “Dunkin,” “#dunkindonuts” , “#elfxdunkin” and @dunkindonuts mentions. This marked a 52% increase in impressions for the elf compared to the two weeks leading up to the product’s launch. These impressions are also hitting target audiences: 80% of tweeters are between 18 and 34 years old.
Positive scarcity mindset
Everyone loves a limited edition. Elf and Dunkin’ product is super hot – and super in demand. Only allowing members of the Elf Beauty Squad loyalty program to purchase the product – and only having a limited supply – ensured that this combination product would sell. Even after the sale, it is still in demand. While the original “Classic Dunkin’ Stack Vault” sold for $75 with free shipping, it’s now listed on resale markets for $135 with $30 shipping.
Even after the sale, brand partners threw more products away with a giveaway on Instagram. Using Instagram’s Collab feature, elf co-posted the offer with Dunkin’ for maximum reach. The post gained 88,658 likes and 148,969 engagements. Between March 30, 2022 and April 14, 2022, Elf managed to accumulate over 681,000 total engagements on Instagram. The pair planned a winning social strategy of using Instagram and TikTok for engagement and Twitter for reach.
How to identify valuable brand collaborations
If you’re thinking about creating your own cobranding magic, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind.
Choose wisely
Deciding how to partner with brands can seem complicated. Try to focus on what you can have in common with potential partners. Dunkin’ and Elf had common market segments that they addressed together. Perhaps your perfect partnership revolves around the kinds of feelings your product evokes, the common interests your audience has, or the priorities of your target market. Keeping something in common will keep your brand collaboration on track later.
Try it early
Dunkin’ and Elf were able to test the acceptance of their partnership early through their TikTok campaign. Social is a great barometer of your audience’s interest in potential projects or co-branded products. Through social listening, you can understand which parts of a collaboration to lean on – and which to cut.
Get creative
A collaboration is a perfect opportunity to become a great brand. For Elf and Dunkin’, adopting the coffee chain’s iconic brand colors and baked goods and embracing the cosmetics brand’s reputation for creativity worked wonders. Identify what your audience associates with your brands and don’t be afraid to go bolder than you could in a solo campaign.
Running to Dunkin’
It’s not just America running on Dunkin’. Successful social strategy apparently does too. By leveraging their existing brands and following up, Dunkin’ and Elf multiplied their reach and efforts — while doing something cool in the process. By using social to understand, reach and influence their target market, brands created a product that crossed industry lines and kept consumers wanting more.
Social listening data can help you understand your audience and create the next cult classic. Learn more about how social data can unlock new insights into what your customers want.
