🧠 An Unconventional BFCM Strategy

Hey there,

Welcome back to the 18th edition of Brandish

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand

I hope you’re having an extraordinary weekend and are ready to crush the upcoming BFCM weekend.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll talk about a BFCM strategy that we used for Coffee Over Cardio that’s not talked about a lot.

And NO, it’s not heavy discounting or bundling.

So, grab your Brez, and let's dive straight into it!

Something is coming…

Traditionally, brands have always opted for huge discounts during BFCM.

BUT…

… we decided to do something out-of-the-box for one of our brands - Coffee Over Cardio.

We launched an entirely new product line in collaboration with @postcereals making it an “exclusive BFCM” product.

Now, you might wonder:

1). Why did we do this, especially during Black Friday?

2). How would this offer be able to compete against a huge discount from a competitor?

Let me explain…

As I have always mentioned your BFCM offer should be something that’s much bigger than what you’ve offered throughout the year.

Now, this can be in the form of anything from: new product, giveaway, huge discount, etc

The reason we went ahead with a product launch was…

We wanted to stand out from the competition and give our customers something valuable - a flavor that they wanted.

The bottom line here with any BFCM offer is…

… as long as the offer you come up with has scarcity and urgency - it’s a great offer.

How to expand the audience for a product launch

Do you notice something different about this packaging??

Let me give you another 5 seconds…

5..4..3..2..1

Okay, if you haven’t noticed yet, we used another brand name “Fruity Pebbles” and “Cocoa Pebbles” on our packaging.

I am pretty sure this would bring in many childhood memories for you.

At least it does for me. I mean I lived on this stuff as a child.

But anyway, enough of me rambling about my love for Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles.

You might wonder, “How did we use their names on our packaging?”

This is something known as “licensing” - the act of borrowing a brand’s IP and aligning it with yours.

Again this is a strategy that few people talks and knows about.

Davie Fogarty - founder of the worldwide brand Oodie credits his success to various license launches they did with brands like Warner Bros, Harry Potter, etc

So, this thing works… only if done correctly.

As I have mentioned in my previous newsletters - “brand” is all about associations.

So, when you collaborate with a brand as big as the above, it establishes credibility for any new/cold audience.

You see, most of the people know the above two brands, so when they see their names on our packaging they are more likely to trust us - even though they may not be die-hard fans of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles.

But, the real magic comes from leveraging the emotional connection these brands have built with their audiences by turning them into loyal fans.

Branding is earned in drips and lost in buckets and these brands have been collecting it for SO long.

Before we move on let's define some terms.

A licensee is someone who borrows assets from an organization. So, in this case, it’s us.

A licensor is someone who lends their assets to an organization. In this case, it’s Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles.

So, when you launch a product with their names on it captures two types of audiences:

1). The initial set of customers who already love your product

2). The licensor’s fan base who will do anything for the brand

The second one will probably be a much bigger audience and in this way, you’re able to merge these two audiences.

You see the licensor’s fan base is SOOOO loyal that whenever their brand comes out with any new collaboration they will be the first ones to try it out.

This also helps with the Meta algorithm as well when you’re running paid ads.

Now, of course, I am no media-buying wiz, but from what I’ve heard from Ash , Meta can find newer pockets of audiences through this, allowing it to reach a much wider audience than usual.

Since let's face it, no one knows about your brand… but people do know about Harry Potter, Fruity Pebbles, etc.

But there’s one issue here…

If you’re a brand just starting from your mom’s basement, you won’t be able to get partners like Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc

There are two options here:

1). You build a brand to a certain scale where it becomes exciting for these huge partners 

OR

2). You collaborate with smaller licensing partners

One thing to note here though is that whichever partner you choose make sure that their audience is aligned with your product.

Otherwise - it will never turn out as successful as you want it to

Thanks for reading along

I appreciate you and look forward to seeing you again next week!

Wishing you all the best of luck for BFCM!

- Ankit Patel