The purpose of this study has been to examine how collaborations between clothing companies and fashion designers can influence their brands. Our ambition has been to describe this phenomenon by describing how collaborations can affect and influence the clothing companies’ brand identity, image and positioning. Furthermore, we want to describe how these collaborations have changed the fashion industry and what the future holds for it. We find this topic relevant since collaborations are becoming an advantage for companies in a competitive industry that is constantly in change. We have used a qualitative approach for this study, in which we have conducted seven interviews with different respondents who are related to the fashion industry or with knowledge of brand management. We choose this qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding for our studied topic. In the final chapter we present our conclusions of this study.

A strong brand is important for all companies; however, it is imperative for the success of a luxury fashion house as the image is one of its core assets. As strategic alliances are increasing in popularity the effect they have on how customers look at the partner brands is both interesting for the general person, but also – and more importantly – vital knowledge for companies pondering such a strategic move. The major focus of this study is to answer the question of how luxury designers’ collaborations with high street retailer Hennes & Mauritz affect how consumers perceive the luxury designer brand’s image.Theories on both brand extensions and co-branding have been compared to both qualitative and quantitative research conducted for the purpose of this investigation. This comparison has been made by using a model depicting the relationships between the collaborating brands. Through both acquiring a broad scope using the survey and deeper thoughts through focus group interviews the authors were able to gain a more holistic view of how people regard the luxury designer brands. The factors mainly investigated were those of change in awareness and change in purchase behaviour or intention, as they would be indicative of how people felt toward the luxury designer brands.The result of the investigation showed that the general perception of the luxury designer brands after the collaborations was positive with consumers in all segments. The collaboration did not cause a significant backlash on the regular luxury consumers, as the majority of this consumer segment also stated that they were not bothered by the collaborations.The collaborations could be seen as successful for the luxury designer brands as they managed to garner a lot of attention from new consumer groups, whilst at the same time managing to retain their regular customers. The reason found for not having had a negative impact on the brand was the way in which the collaborations were performed. That the brands had chosen a suitable partner where the perceived fit was great; that the associations with the collaboration and the partner brand did not infringe on the associations with the luxury designer brand; and the time frame of the collaboration, all meant that the consumers generally did not lose confidence in the luxury designer brands.

¡§Brand¡¨ is not only the most valuable asset, but also a powerful marketing tool for the enterprises. As progressing of marketing management, co-branding strategy which combines two brand partners can bring profits and sustainable competitive advantages to the corporate enterprises. Between-partner congruity (BPC) has been identified as an influential factor in the success of a co-branding strategy, and there are two mainstreams of research in co-branding strategy exist: (1) linear relationship between BPC and co-brand evaluation or (2) reverse-U curve relationship between BPC and co-brand evaluation. Based on such inconsistent findings, this study explores how hedonic shopping motivation and ad focus affect consumers¡¦ evaluation toward the co-branded product through different levels of BPC. The present study employs an experimental design to investigate the effects of BPC (high vs. moderate vs. low), ad focus(product vs. brand), and hedonic shopping motivation (high vs. low) on consumers¡¦ evaluation of co-branded product. A 3x2x2 factorial design is conducted. Six different scenarios are established through virtual co-branded cell phone advertisement. Median split is used to distinguish consumers into high and low hedonic shopping motivation. Consumers¡¦ evaluation is measured by purchase intention, attitude toward the co-branded product, and perceived quality. The results indicated that when the ad focus is product, there is a linear relationship between BPC and consumers¡¦ evaluation. However, when the ad focus is brand, the aforementioned relationship becomes weaker. The linear relationship is robust for those consumers with low hedonic shopping motivation. On the other hand, when the ad focus is brand, moderate BPC would lead to higher purchase intention and quality perception for consumers with high hedonic shopping motivation. Based on the above findings, influences of ad focus should be considered when different levels of BPC are determined. Marketers should choose the right focus for higher evaluation toward co-branded products.

Under the impact of the financial tsunami, global economy was weaken, lots of luxury brands¡¦ profits decreased, but trendy brands rise at that time. There are many kinds of trendy brands appear in Taiwan since 2008, and become famous between young people immediately. Trendy brands emphasize with uniqueness¡Bself-expression, not only become the fashion tendency, they also play an important role in teenagers¡¦ sub culture. As trendy brands get popular, some companies want to attract more young people by cooperating with trendy brands. Crossover with trendy brands is the main topic for companies. There is a lack of research about trendy or crossover so far, so this study is based on co-branding theory, analysis the change of consumers¡¦ evaluations about Positive brand emotions, negative brand emotions, involvement, and brand identity after company crossovers with different kinds of trendy brand. Then the study adds fitness between company and trendy brand and self-construal types of consumer as mediators, trying to comprehend the influence. This study finds consumers¡¦ evaluations about positive brand emotions and negative brand emotions will be better if company crossover with trendy brand founded by famous people. But consumers¡¦ evaluations about brand identity will be better if company crossover with both trendy brand founded by famous people and ordinary people. However, fitness between company and trendy brand and consumer¡¦s self-construal types don¡¦t change evaluations after crossover.

As companies exert themselves to find new ways of achieving market dominance and stronger brands, the phenomenon co-branding has become increasingly popular. By cooperation between two different firms the combined effects can result in synergies not only on the balance sheet, but even through softer values such as Brand recognition, equity and larger market share. Recently the fashion company H&M launched a collection together with the esteemed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The objective of this paper is to examine the effects the collaboration had on consumer’s attitudes towards the two brands. Did the above mentioned collaboration result in a repositioning of any of the two parties? Theories regarding branding, positioning and attitudes, as well as Joint ventures are taken into consideration while analyzing the research based on questionnaires given to a random audience. The respondents were among else asked to grade the two firms as to four different qualities, thereby placing them on perceptual maps. After that they were asked whether the collection had affected the exclusiveness of H&M and Karl Lagerfeld. A large majority answered that H&M had profited, while Lagerfeld’s exclusiveness was unaltered. Meanwhile, many first heard of Karl Lagerfeld through the H&M-collection. This paper will show how two differently positioned parties successfully can achieve synergies, but that since they enter the venture with different possibilities and motives, the synergies most probably will appear on different levels.

Olika former av allianser har numera börjat utvecklas och bli allt mer vanliga. Eftersom det kan vara svårt att höras och synas försöker företag i allt större utsträckning göra det i nya sammanhang. Den mättade marknaden driver företag till att särskilja sig, vilket ofta med enklaste medel görs med deras varumärken. Varumärken är en stor resurs som används i detta syfte, och de får en allt större attraktionskraft. Företag som är mer varumärkesinriktade har också visat sig vara mer framgångsrika. Den här undersökningen avser behandla co-branding, som uppstår när två företag med distinkta varumärken inom samma eller olika branscher väljer att samarbeta. Vi har valt att inrikta oss på olikartade företag eftersom co-branding-allianser allt oftare breddar sig till olika branscher. Dessutom känns det mer spännande att undersöka hur samverkan mellan helt olika verksamheter fungerar. Syftet är att belysa motiven bakom samarbetena, samt möjligheter och begränsningar. Undersökningen avser även att analysera effekterna som kan uppstå i dessa konstellationer. Genom sex stycken fallstudier av samarbeten mellan företag i Stockholm som ingått co-branding med kaféer, har vi försökt belysa hur de har kommit till och fungerar, samt om dessa samarbeten är co-branding överhuvudtaget. Vi har främst använt oss av intervjuer som grund för det empiriska materialet. De samarbeten som ingått i vår undersökning är Akademibokhandelns, SEBs, Planet Fitness och Konserthusets med Wayne’s Coffee, c/o Stockholms med Sosta samt 3s med Espresso House. Vi har konstaterat att starka varumärken har en stor attraktionskraft och att vissa företag skapar co-branding om de tror att deras varumärken gemensamt kommer att bidra till mer givande associationer. Undersökningen visade att en ny kontext skapades då verksamheterna startade ett samarbete, eftersom de kom från olika branscher. Vi kom också fram till att det i samtliga fall aldrig var kaféerna som tagit initiativ till co-branding. Hos dem som däremot var initiativtagare, var huvudmotiven att ge något extra till sina kunder och att utöka sin kundkrets. Motiven för kaféerna var främst att öka varumärkeskännedomen samt att finnas på bra lägen med ett stort flöde av människor. För de inblandade företagen har samarbetena lett till en del bakslag men mestadels haft positiva effekter.

This dissertation examines how the stock market reacts to announcements of introduction of co-branded new products. Despite the apparent enthusiasm of practitioners towards co-branding--the practice of using two established brand names on the same product--, there is a dearth of research on if and how co-branding can be effectively leveraged to significantly increase the value added of new products. Whether greater financial rewards accrue to the manufacturer of the co-branded product (i.e. the primary brand parent) or to the partner firm that lends its brand to the co-branded product (i.e. the secondary brand parent), and how these rewards may differ depending on the characteristics of the co-branded product itself are yet unanswered questions. Using data from the consumer packaged goods industry, I empirically examine the extent to which co-branding increases the market value of the parent firms and analyze the determinants of the magnitude of increase in market value for both firms involved in the co-branding alliance. I present empirical evidence in support of a positive stock market reaction to the introduction of co-branded new products and find that this reaction is greater, on average, than the market reaction to the introduction of single-branded new products. I also show that the consistency between the brand images of the two products, the innovativeness of the product, and the exclusivity of the co-branding relationship significantly impact the market?s reaction to the announcement of new co-branded products. Moreover, these effects manifest both in the short term (i.e., at the time of the announcement) and over a longer time window (i.e., during the year following the announcement). Furthermore, I find that not all types of co-branding partnerships are equal. Composite co-branding (where both brands bring a substantive contribution to the formulation of the new product) results in higher financial rewards to the partners compared to ingredient and endorsement partnerships. The findings provide important managerial guidelines for increasing firm value through co-branding partnerships.

The purpose with this study is to understand how the synchronizing process in the music industry works and see how it can be used as a marketing tool.  The study was done through a qualitative method with an inductive approach. As previous studies on this subject are very few, the inductive approach felt like a natural choice for us. Through interviews we got to know how the music industry sees the subject. Our result shows that the synchronization process can be done in various ways.  Synchronization can also be considered as a marketing communication tool. It also shows that a synchronization can be seen as a kind of product placement as music can be seen as a product. It can also be linked to co-branding. The importance of congruence between the brands is highlighted. If it is not congruent the synchronization can be negative for both parts. / Syfte och forskningsfrågor: Syftet med denna uppsats är att förtydliga synkroniseringsprocessen och ur ett musikbranschperspektiv se huruvida det används som en form av marknadskommunikation för en artist.   Metod: Studien genomfördes genom en kvalitativ metod med en induktiv ansats. Då tidigare forskning kring detta ämne är bristfälligt uppstod induktionen som ett tydligt val. Genom   kvalitativa intervjuer kunde vi nå en kunskap om personer i musikbranschens syn på ämnet. Alla intervjuer är semistrukturerade.   Slutsats: Genom studien har vi förtydligat synkroniseringsprocessens olika tillvägagångssätt samt se hur det synkronisering kan användas som marknadsföringsverktyg. Vår studie visar att synkronisering som fenomen uppfyller flera kriterier för att kunna betraktas som marknadsföringsverktyg. Studien visar också på samband mellan synkronisering, produktplacering och Co-branding. Resultatet visar även på vikten av kongruens mellan varumärken.

Syfte och forskningsfråga: Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom en kvalitativ studie analysera hur synkronisering kan användas som ett marknadsföringsverktyg och hur detta kan påverka artisternas och företags varumärken sett ur ett co-brandingperspektiv: Hur kan synkronisering som ett marknadsföringsverktyg påverka artistens och företagets varumärken genom co-branding? Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod med ett abduktivt angreppsätt, med både deduktiva och induktiva inslag. Den empiriska insamlingen grundas i fem stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer.  Slutsats: Utifrån vår teoretiska referensram samt den empiriska insamlingen har vi som sammanfattningsvis sett att begreppet sell-out har förlorat sin innebörd i takt med att synkroniseringen ökar och därför inte är lika skadligt för varumärken. Vi kan därför påstå att det inte längre handlar om att musiken synkroniseras utan istället om vart och hur synkroniseringen sker. Är slutproduktion av synkronisering för TV-reklam i hög kvalitet kan detta användas som ett effektivt marknadsföringsverktyg, både för artisten och företaget.  Nyckelord: Varumärke, Co-branding, Samarbeten, Synkronisering, Image, Identitet

Background: In fashion market, with the emergence of new brands and changing customer preference in style, competition is fierce nowadays. Brand is an intangible asset that fashion brands build and leverage to secure market position and customer loyalty, which leads to a competitive advantage. Among different brand building models and methods, co-branding alliance strategy is increasingly adopted between fashion brands in the past 20 years. Co-branding alliance refers to a marketing strategy that leveraging different brand names on a product or service, which suggests a strategic alliance between different brands. For fashion brands, either in fast fashion or luxury fashion, cobranding alliance with other brands is a popular trend.  Purpose: This research aims to investigate the factors that influence the perception of the Chinese millennial consumers to purchase co-branding fashion products. Method: Interpretivism philosophy and inductive approach are used in terms of methodology. Moreover, qualitative data are dominantly collected, and content analysis is conducted as analysis tool. A structured video interview is conducted through WeChat and open-end questions are asked to get empirical primary data.  Conclusion: Chinese millennial consumers prefer the co-brand between LV and Supreme, compared with H&M and Moschino. It is noticed that currently Chinese young consumers have highly preference towards collaboration which has perfect fit of two brand images and perfect connection connecting the co-branded image with consumers’ self-image.