Cross-Brand Collaborations with Custom Iron-On Patches: How to Co-Create and Benefit

Most people approach marketing from a competition-based point of view where all brands compete for the buyer’s attention. While this might be true to an extent, it is also possible for brands to collaborate with the same common goal of accessing the same market especially when these goals don’t clash with each other.

Creating unique custom iron-on patches together is one of the ways brands can demonstrate such cross-brand collaborations. This post explores the potential of using custom iron-on patches for cross-brand collaborations

Using Custom Iron-On Patches In Cross-Brand Collaborations.

Co-creating a custom patch might be a brand’s way of commemorating an existing partnership. However, even without a deeper partnership between both brands, two brands can simply create a custom patch as marketing merchandise to promote their respective businesses and archive cross-market reach.

Picture this scenario: You’re the owner of a children’s toy brand trying to get more visibility for your business. To achieve this goal, you decide to partner with a children’s bookstore in your location. The deal involves creating a limited edition toy series featuring notable characters from a children’s book.

Children who buy the toy get a book and vice versa and there’s a custom patch included as a bonus item for every customer that purchases this toy and book bundle. The patch has a playful design related to the theme of the book and also incorporates the brand logos of both businesses. This powerful collaboration and unique custom-patch design can help both businesses reach new customers and boost visibility.

Here’s another example: imagine a climate change NGO advocating for environmental protection and conservation. Such an organization may sponsor or organize an event in partnership with other brands.

As part of the custom merchandise or memorabilia for such events, the participating brands may create custom patches that combine logos and other design elements of the NGO with those of other brands. A partnership like this will help the partner brands demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection while the NGO will get to reach more people with its environmental protection message.

Case Study

Bathing Ape, a Japanese fashion brand partnered with Medicom Toy, a maker of rare collectible figurines. The collaboration between these two companies led to the creation of new product collections featuring the unique signatures of both companies.

One of the ways this unique signature is represented is in the custom patch on these apparels. For instance, the custom apparel collection had T-shirts with Bathing Ape’s classic patterns (a logo of an ape head transformed into a bear shape) mixed with some BE@RBRICK signature elements as a patch on the shirt.

Similarly, Bathing Ape’s popular Shark Hoodie featured a BE@RBRICK’s ear motif on its hood part. These uniquely designed apparel were made available at Bathing Ape’s authorized stores and Medicom Toy stores, allowing both brands to leverage each other’s brand reach to sell apparel. This is a good example of an instance where a collaboration between two brands led to the creation of a unique patch that combines their logos and design elements into a single patch.

Tip For Partnering With Other Brands To Co-Create Limited Edition Patches

Align Brand Values and Target Audiences

Not every brand will work as an ideal collaboration partner. For instance, it would make no sense for a vegan food brand to partner with a barbecue grill maker because both brands don’t align in their mission and values.To find a brand to collaborate with, you need to ensure that you have the same shared mission and there’s at least some overlap in your target audience. This helps to maximize the reach and appeal of your custom patch marketing campaign.

Create a Unique and Memorable Design

The custom patch should serve as a melting point for both brand’s visual identities. You should create a unique design that captures the identities of both brands, this way customers of both businesses can easily identify with the patch design. The design should also be visually appealing and simple to understand to increase its desirability.

Leverage Each Brand’s Unique Strengths

Successful collaborations are built on the strengths of each company in the partnership. For instance, while one brand might have an instantly recognizable visual identity, the other might have a strong network of loyal customers. In this case, the custom patch design should carry more elements of the brand with a stronger identity while the marketing strategy should leverage the other brand’s strong network.

Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Before embarking on a collaborative project, define the objective of this partnership deal. Custom patches can be used to achieve several goals including driving sales, promoting brand awareness, or simply creating a buzz about both businesses. Each brand should be clear on what they’re expecting from the partnership and work towards it in order to achieve desired goals.

Conclusion

Cross-brand collaborations are all the rave right now and they cut across various industries and market segments. Collaborating with another brand on a custom iron patch project can lead to the creation of cool patches that help you reach and connect with a new audience base. THE/STUDIO can help you bring your custom patch collaboration ideas to life. We’ll create designs that leverage the combined strengths of both brands to drive branding and marketing benefits for them. Call us now to learn more about our services.