⚭ These Unexpected Brand Marriages Delivered 200%+ ROI

3 Brand Pairings That Drove Massive Growth

April 08, 2025

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Welcome back to another edition of Bootstrapped Growth. 👋

Today, we go beyond simple co-marketing. Let’s uncover examples of cross-promotion partnerships that allow brands to reach new audiences for all partners.

Table of Contents

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🚀 3 Best Partnership Success Stories

1) Duolingo and Carnival Cruise Line

Duolingo and Carnival Cruise Line announced a 5 year language cruise as an April Fool Joke. The landing page continues the joke of a 5 year language cruise. Consistent copy, imagery, FAQs, and video is on-brand for both businesses. They cleverly offer a free one month trial of Super Duolingo and a discount on cruises when you attempt to book online.

Takeaway ➡️ Generate buzz by creating cross-platform content that incorporates creative twists on topical events (e.g. April Fools Day). Offer something of value to users rather than just cross-selling.

2) Nespresso and Oatly

Nespresso has partnered with oat milk producer Oatly on a limited-edition coffee capsule made for oat drink lovers’. They held joint events with complimentary sampling events.

This collaboration cleverly allows Nespresso to evolve to changing consumer preferences for alternatives to cow’s milk. Oatly benefits hugely from Nespressos’ global distribution and branding.

Takeaway ➡️ Look for complementary products. Enhance natural pairings by considering how products are used in real life and how a partnership can enhance the customer experience.

3) GoPro and Red Bull

An ‘OG’ of parnerships: GoPro and Red Bull are long-time collaborators on extreme sports events and content creation. A highlight is when Felix Baumgartner jumped from the stratosphere, filmed with GoPro cameras in 2012.

They even formed a global partnership in 2016 where Red Bull gained equity in GoPro. GoPro became Red Bull’s exclusive provider of imaging technology for events. This natural alignment in branding is because both companies share perceptions of ‘high energy’.

Takeaway ➡️ Align with brands that share core values to create authentic collaborations.

⭐️  How To Make Partnerships Work

Steps to Create a Successful Cross-Promotion Strategy

Step 1: Define Your Goals. This can include increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or even as simple as bolstering an email subscriber list.

Step 2: Identify Potential Partners. Consider businesses that share similar target audiences but aren't direct competitors and have complementary products/services.

Step 3: Develop and plan your campaign. Collaborate with a partner on specific cross-promotion tactics, campaign timelines, division of responsibilities and how results are to be measured.

Step 4: Evaluate and Iterate. After the campaign, analyze the results with your partner. Discuss what worked well and what could be improved for future collaborations.

🛠 Useful Resources

Try Vyper to create viral giveaways and contests, which can be great for cross-promotional campaigns.

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