Insight into Co-branding and Influencers

What prompted you to write a commentary on co-branding, which was published in The Trademark Reporter?

It evolved from my own experiences in the fashion industry and seeing the evolution of how we were growing a young brand in a traditional fashion space but also using influencers to get brand exposure. That was my first introduction to what influencers are doing, and raises questions such as: What are the benefits? What is the return on my investment?

The use of influencers exploded before questions such as these had really been addressed, and we are now seeing some lessons emerge. For example, while micro-influencers have a smaller audience, there are really solid conversion rates; people actually buy products because they believe in the authenticity of the influencer.

One thing I looked at was who are the bigger influencers, and how are they growing their own brand? At the same time, traditional co-branding has really changed. For example, Apple co-branded with Hermès, and luxury brands co-branded with retailers. People were looking for ways to bring their brands to a new audience to get excitement about their brand.

The context is that today’s consumers aren’t as brand loyal, so you need to find ways to generate that loyalty. It’s a challenge for a fashion brand to last beyond 10 years now, and influencers can help with that. I think there’s going to be a lot more of it.