Odd Couples: Why Brands Partner Up for Joint Marketing Campaigns

Season Two of "Wednesday" dropped on Netflix, which means…a themed meal at Wendy’s. Of course it does. Enter the limited-time “Meal of Misfortune,” a “Raven’s Blood” Frosty, and mystery sauces with names like “Grave Mistake,” all wrapped in Addams-core packaging. It’s campy, it’s timely, and it’s a textbook joint campaign: a fast-food giant hitching itself to a pop-culture moment to get fans in the door.

Joint ad campaigns can look odd but under the hood they’re efficiency plays. The right pairing buys reach (new eyeballs), relevance (better fit for a moment), and remarkability (talk value) faster than going solo. Most successful pairings fall into three buckets: complement, contrast, or catalyst.

What Are Joint Ad Campaigns?

Any time two (or more) brands coordinate creative, media, or product to show up together—co-branded products, content tie-ins, limited drops, experiential stunts—that’s a joint campaign. The goal isn’t mystery; it’s math. In a splintered media world, pairing multiplies attention more efficiently than paying for it. Think of it as renting each other’s distribution—and each other’s cultural heat—for a moment.

Complement: Same Vibe, Bigger Pie

Some pairings feel less like a stunt and more like common sense. When two brands share a use case, a daily ritual, or a customer mindset, teaming up doesn’t stretch the imagination, it shortens the path to purchase. These are the collabs that reduce friction, deepen habit, and make both products a little more indispensable.

Spotify × Starbucks (2015): Starbucks gave 150,000 U.S. baristas Spotify Premium and let staff (and customers) influence in-store playlists. Spotify earned distribution in 7,000 stores and tied into Starbucks Rewards. Coffee culture met music discovery, and both brands deepened daily habits.

LEGO × IKEA BYGGLEK (2020): Storage you can build on—literally. A tidy, family-life-friendly mashup that turned cleanup into play and put both brands in the same shopping cart across North America.

Guitar Hero × KFC (2008): Collector cups with in-game cheat codes and a sweepstakes for the “Ultimate Gameroom.” Fast food + gaming is a well-traveled corridor, and this one rewarded both in-store visits and play time.

The Takeaway

Each of these examples includes two companies that aren't exactly in the same industry but have found sections of their target audiences that overlap. Finding a common target audience with another brand and working with them, rather than competing with them, reduces friction. If your products share a use case (coffee + music, toys + storage), the collaboration is mutually beneficial.

Contrast: Strange Bedfellows

Then there are the pairings that make you pause, grin, and immediately text a friend. Contrast collabs trade on surprise: categories that don’t belong together on paper but light up the group chat in practice. The bet is simple—novelty creates talk value—and the scoreboard is sellouts, screenshots, and a brief but glorious spike in cultural attention.

Crocs × KFC (2020): Fried-chicken clogs (with drumstick-scented charms!) sold out in under 30 minutes. Ridiculous? Yes. Shareable? Also yes. The oddity was the strategy, and sellout speed is the scoreboard.

Supreme × Oreo (2020): $3 red Double Stuf packs with the Supreme box logo crashed into hype culture, sold out in seconds, and hit eye-watering resale prices on eBay. Snack aisle meets streetwear drop mechanics—pure PR nitro.

The Takeaway

Creating a partnership with another brand that, at least on paper, makes no sense, manufactures remarkability. If you don’t share a category or audience, lean into the novelty. This is a higher strategy than a partnership that's a natural fit. It can feel like you're just going for shock value, and audiences have a certain amount of fatigue for that type of marketing. But when done correctly, with a truly unique collab, there's the potential to instantly insert yourself into the cultural zeitgeist.

Partnerships of Opportunity

Sometimes joint marketing isn't necessarily about collaboration but is about seizing an opportunity. Take Burger King and McDonald's, for example. You would consider these two to be clear and obvious competitors, but even they can put their differences aside when the opportunity for joint marketing arises. McDonald's held a promotion where on a specific day, they donated to their in-house charity for every order. Wanting to show support (and also drum up some business of their own) Burger King held a promotion encouraging people to go to McDonald's on that day. They offered a free burger to anyone who showed up with a McDonald's receipt.

The Takeaway

Not even your number one competitor is off limits when it comes to joint marketing. In order to have a successful joint campaign, it helps to be opportunistic and open to working with companies you wouldn't normally think to.

Are They Successful? Follow the Signals.

Hard revenue is rarely disclosed, but sellouts, waitlists, loyalty engagement, and press/social velocity are reliable leading indicators:

Sellouts: Crocs × KFC gone in under 30 minutes; Supreme × Oreo sold out in seconds and fetched four- and five-figure bids early on.
Distribution & Habit: Spotify × Starbucks integrated music into 7,000 stores and the Starbucks app—behavior change at scale.
CulturalLift: Timed tie-ins like Wendy’s × Wednesday and Progressive × Superman ride press waves and fan momentum right when search and social interest spike.

Want help pressure-testing a pairing? Is there a brand you feel like yours could be besties with? At least for a specific product or idea? Get in touch with us, and our geniuses can discuss the details.