Co-Branding Meets Location Intelligence

June 16, 2021

If you are a fan of mall food like Auntie Anne’s, then you’ve likely missed your pretzel fix over the coronavirus lockdowns when malls were closed and airports were empty. A lot of snack brands that are primarily located in kiosks around malls and airports have been significantly impacted due to mall closures and the increase in online shopping. 

For brands like Auntie Anne’s, where their offering is very niche and limited, a great alternative to taking the risk of opening their own brick-and-mortar drive through location, is opening a co-branded location with a partner. Auntie Anne’s did just that. In May 2021, they opened a drive through location with their sister company, Jamba Juice. 

Businesses can use real-world data like location intelligence to determine who they should co-brand with and select the best location for their new store.

Co-Branding Meets Location Intelligence

Who Should You Co-Brand With?

Unlike Auntie Anne’s and Jamba Juice, it’s very possible that your company does not have a sister company to co-brand with. In this case, it’s crucial to truly understand your customer base in order to make the best possible decision. Conducting market research can help you solve this puzzle, but we’re not talking about lengthy surveys. We’re talking about using location intelligence. With location intelligence, you determine what your customers are interested in and their brand affinities. 

For example, let’s say that you operate a popular mall ice cream chain. You know that you need to innovate beyond the mall’s revolving doors in order to survive in this post-COVID world, but finding the right company to co-brand with is proving difficult. By using real-world consumer data, you are able to determine that your customers often visit a local coffee chain near the mall, and that many of your customers are coffee shop lovers based on a consumer persona analysis. Taking these customer insights into consideration, you are able to forge a co-branding deal with a popular coffee chain.

Pick the Best Location

A big part of ensuring that you are making the right choice in co-branding with a particular chain or brand is making sure the new store is in a favorable location. If they aren’t, then you might find that your sales numbers haven’t improved as much as you had hoped they would. Location intelligence can help you determine if the foot traffic numbers of a potential co-brand are not only enough, but quality personas for you. 

Going back to the previous example, along with coffee shop lovers, your second most important consumer persona are parents who are interested in family-friendly activities and kid’s retail stores. Using your location intelligence data solution, you are able to determine the right location for the new co-branded store. A huge part of this was being able to enrich the data from both your brand and the coffee brand in order to determine the best location. Based on customer personas, your co-branded store can be put in the ideal location that is visited the most along the customer journey.

Don’t Co-Brand Without Data

Co-branding can be a big decision for brands that are still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it could be the best decision, too. With location intelligence, the choice becomes easy. Understand your new market, and make the most lucrative data driven decisions. We can help you get there! Contact us to speak with a location intelligence expert today.

Scroll to Top