The year 2015 saw the growth of Indian startups and investors pouring money into them. The year also saw a new form of marketing and branding activity by the startups as they joined hands to offer innovative offerings to customers.
The new model, termed as co-operative marketing by experts, and common among startups, brings two or more companies together for a short term for branding. This model is expected to pick up steam during this year.
Some of the examples for such initiatives are partnership between cab aggregator Ola and mobile manufacturer OnePlus, Uber partnering with London Dairy to offer ice cream, Uber partnering Airtel, Paytm offering Uber free rides and food coupons, Ola and Myntra partnership, among others.
According to Harish Bijoor, an independent brand consultant, the strategy adopted by these young companies is a new way to acquire customers for each of them. In this model, each player can leverage the reach of its partner, its customer base and brand to create awareness among customers.
“It can typically be called as ‘co-opetition’ model, where there is no direct competition with one another. Both the partners can use cooperative format of marketing,” said Mr Bijoor.
Most of the companies that try this format are primarily e-commerce companies or app-based service providers. This gives them an opportunity to measure the effectiveness of the campaign using technology and new users it adds through the platform.
The companies also share cost of marketing in the new model, which makes small companies exploit this opportunity with less spending.
Many companies also feel using digital platform for communication creates an interactive marketing experience for customers.
“Unlike, traditional way of one-way communication, we are trying a digital means and innovative partnerships. This makes campaigns more effective and interactive,” says Sudarshan Gangrade, VP Marketing, Ola, who has partnered with mobile phone company OnePlus.
Under the partnership in India, Ola customers were given an opportunity to buy the latest smartphone OnePlus X, on-demand, through the Ola app.
In the Ola-OnePlus partnership around 22,000 people who were first time on Ola interacted with Oneplus brand and around 1,000 phones were sold.
“We continue to deliver unique experiences to delight our consumers. People come to us for transport service, but we want them to come back to us for other services also,” said Mr Gangrade.
