As the end of January approaches, New Year’s resolutions and ambitions inevitably begin to wane. Also on the near horizon, however, is the Lunar New Year. Ringing in the year of the rabbit and a fresh opportunity to assess objectives, it’s important to keep an eye on the future and think about ways to generate growth. One way to achieve such growth is by utilizing your brand’s built-in assets to structure deals in brand partnerships.

What Are Brand Assets?

Traditional brand assets are the things that people most commonly associate with your brand or, in other words, your brand’s identifiers. These identifiers can consist of logos, specific product designs, or signature color palettes. The goal of building these assets is to have them work for you as a constant marketing campaign that builds awareness and recognition of your brand on its own. A classic example of this would be the famed golden arches of McDonald’s. Whether they appear on the horizon just off the side of the highway or above the sidewalk peeking out from an array of storefronts, the red and gold logo triggers an instant hankering for the ever-familiar fast food fare.

Brand identifiers are not the only area of brand assets, however. Organic media assets, like your brand’s social media following, physical store space, and email databases are also very important in terms of demonstrating the value of your brand. Media assets also help to provide a more concrete measurement of your brand’s reach, which can be especially helpful when it comes to bartering within a partnership deal. 

Brand Assets In The Context of Partnership Marketing

Knowing your brand’s assets inside and out can be especially helpful in working together with other brands on partnership marketing campaigns. Say for example you find that your brand’s network of physical stores are a strong marketing tool, but you’re having trouble building a following on social media platforms. Knowing this will allow you to enter into the search for partners with a goal and an ability to narrow down possible partnership matches to find exactly what you’re looking for. By targeting brands with large social media followings but no physical presence, you can offer them access to your physical stores in exchange for their help growing your social following. 

The Asset Mashup of Palace x Gucci

The recent partnership between fashion brands Gucci and Palace is a great example of brands making the most of their assets in the partnership marketing format. While both being in the fashion world, the two brands entered this partnership at very different levels within the industry. Gucci, of course, is known as being an international landmark of high fashion, but Palace, while promising, is a relatively new brand mostly known in skateboarding and streetwear. Despite this difference in status, each brand was able to utilize their assets in a way that promoted the other, which also demonstrated a kinship between them. 

The primary activation for this partnership was a capsule collection that featured a fusion of the two brands’ most recognizable iconography; a concept best exhibited by a shoulder bag featuring Gucci’s unmistakable red and green striped pattern on the strap leading down to a handbag designed to match the shape of Palace’s classic triangle logo. Of the collaboration, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele states: “This didn’t come about by chance, but rather from the will of people who shared the same things”–an important sentiment that demonstrates the level of mutual understanding necessary to building a successful partnership. 

Perhaps the most important takeaway from the partnership is the way in which assets were exchanged to make this deal beneficial for both parties. Gucci, who entered the deal as one of the most storied and recognizable high-end brands in the world, was lacking one important asset that Palace was basically built upon: access to a youthful audience. As an integral part of the streetwear/skatewear movement of the past decade, Palace has a strong hold on influence within young adult fashion markets and, simply by association, was able to provide Gucci with a certain “cool factor” that they had lacked with the younger generation. On the other hand, Gucci offers Palace a foot in the door in the high fashion world–a major advantage for a company that historically has been relegated to the infamously insular skateboarding scene.

Getting Started With A Brand Asset Evaluation

Knowing how to use your brand’s assets is crucial in getting the most out of partnerships. Regatta offers an asset evaluation as part of our partnership marketing process that will ensure that your brand makes the most of your strongest assets, inside and outside of partnerships. Contact us to find out more information on how to get started with partnership marketing.