23. Co-branding

Co-branding is generally defined as collaboration between two or more partner brands involving a temporal and purposeful, often long-term, agreement between the partners. In essence, the idea is to transfer the meanings associated with one brand to another and bring the partner goods together within the frame of the collaboration (McCracken, 1986), thereby generating positive consumer evaluations (Besharat & Langan 2014). In the literature, the term has been assigned various interchangeable labels: brand bundling, composite brand extensions, co-marketing alliance, multibranding, joint branding, and brand alliances. The extent of the collaboration varies from vertical (i.e., ingredient branding) to horizontal forms (i.e., cooperative branding and complementary branding). Co-branding can reduce the cost of new market entry and create a competitive advantage by enabling brands to augment their brand associations and awareness (e.g., Besharat & Langan, 2014).