Mashing Up Brands, Potato Style

Right now I am sitting in a quaint little coffee shop overlooking the infamous London skyline, delighted by the smell of freshly roasted coffee and the buzz of conversations in the air. As I sit nibbling on biscuits and listening to the sultry sounds of Miles Davis, I realize it’s the perfect place to fuel my passion for both food and brands.

Over the past five years living in London, I’ve enjoyed food at some of the strangest and most wonderful places. From the latest food trends at market stalls, to fun and faddy pop-ups, to Michelin star restaurants, I love introducing my taste buds to exciting new flavors I never knew existed.

Stop, Collaborate and Listen (and Share)
It was only this past week, after reading one of my favorite top chef’s secret recipes, I realized the potential of collaboration. The ingredients for making the perfect mash, is “50% potato, 50% butter”—and the majority of mash doesn’t taste this good because people don’t have the guts to go 50/50 on this killer combination! I was shocked (mainly because I had probably been eating my weight in butter over the past few months) but also at the power of a 50/50 collaboration.

Mashed Potatoes and Brands
I don’t need to spend long discussing the success of brand collaborations, especially considering the roaring successes of high fashion and street brands like Versace & H+M or Stella McCartney & Gap. This type of collaboration model involves each brand sharing the fame and profit 50/50, and doesn’t necessarily create an internal innovation culture among brands within the same portfolio.

What I find most interesting is when we begin to look at companies that are collaborating with brands under the same parent company. Take Mondelez for example—after acquiring Cadbury in 2009 they’ve experienced a number of great innovations and created successful new products by leveraging their extensive brand portfolio. I can imagine that pulling off this type of collaboration in CPG is a no-brainer, especially when all the brands share the same reason to believe and, in this case, they are all delicious.

Another type of internal collaboration we’re beginning to see is the sharing of a brand’s technology or patented material with other brands within the company portfolio. For instance, Adidas owns the Rockport brand, and in 2010 Rockport released a line of shoes enhanced by adiPRENE (an Adidas patented material/technology). It makes sense because adiPRENE is perfect for people who want to experience sneaker-like comfort in their dress shoes. This type of collaboration is a real win-win for consumers and the brand collaborators.

Large corporations constantly pour money into creating new technologies and materials for their individual brands, but why not use the insights to fuel and further build brands internally? Or, like these examples, share insights with like-minded companies and brands to create an experience for people. This not only saves environmental and fiscal resources, but also creates a platform for innovation—fueling both the company and its customers. It makes me wonder how many other brands could leverage by sharing, collaborating and mashing-up their traditions and processes to learn, share, give, and create—together.

The list of brilliant brand collaborations goes on, so let’s carry this discussion further. Share the spirit of Heston Blumenthal and share your recipes and secrets. A bit of curiosity and a collaborative mindset can provide insight that fuels each stage of a business—so lets learn from brand collaborations. Have you read an article about an amazingly successful brand collaboration, or perhaps heard about the chance of a collaboration of two brilliant brands?

I will leave you with one question: could this lead to companies like Lamb Weston buying brands like Kerrygold Butter? #theperfectmash