I noticed this relationship between Disney and American Tourister on luggage at a retail store. The designation for American Tourister as the official luggage of Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland intrigued me because of the strategic thinking questions the relationship immediately suggested.
You don't typically use luggage while you are at a Disney park unless you are staying on property. There isn’t necessarily a major signage opportunity associated with it. And luggage isn’t particularly integral to the experiences people most associate with Disney.
This sponsorship, from the outside looking in, seems driven by someone (or multiple someones) identifying a loose connection between two well-known brands. They then created from thin air a non-physical asset one brand could sell to the other brand.
This particular official sponsor designation got me thinking of a multiple ways a brand that isn't vertically integrated (i.e., owning assets that come before and after it in a process) can vertically integrate "virtually" and generate revenue through sponsorships and partnerships.
10 Questions to Identify New Partners and Sponsors
Thinking about typical connections one associates with Disney, here are strategic thinking questions you can use to explore comparable possibilities for your brand.
- What do users do before they experience our brand?
- What do users need to know before they interact with our brand, and how do they learn it?
- What products or services do users buy or secure before they approach our brand?
- What products or services do users bring with them as they approach our brand?
- What other brands help make a user's interaction with our brand more successful, productive, beneficial, or pleasant?
- What other products or services do users use when interacting with our brand, even if there are no current direct connections?
- What do users do after they experience our brand?
- How or where will users apply the benefits of the experience with our brand afterward?
- What products or services do users use after they experience our brand?
- What products or services will help sustain the experience users have with our brand even after it's "officially" ended?
If you have an attractive brand and are looking to grow revenues through new relationships, these strategic questions form the basis for a healthy strategic thinking exercise to generate new partner or sponsorship possibilities. – Mike Brown
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