Tell Me Who Your Partners Are...

A familiar adage states, "tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are."

People infer much about us - about our beliefs and values - by observing those with whom we associate ourselves. That's because we, as human beings, tend to be drawn to others of similar character to ourselves. And we also tend to adopt some of the characteristics of those with whom we spend the most time.

Likewise, we make inferences about an organization based on its "friends" (aka partners), just as we make inferences about an individual based on his or her friends. When Company A partners with Company B - whether as a supplier, distributor, vendor, sponsor, or other ally - we assume that Company A also supports the purpose, actions, and reputation of Company B.

Thus, just as our parents warned us to choose our friends carefully, organizations need to choose their partners carefully.

Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. makes a big deal of its corporate partners, listing them all on its website and featuring them prominently at each of its twelve indoor waterpark resort hotels. (A recent article from MediaPost's Marketing Daily describes the face time that these partners receive at each Great Wolf Lodge.)

According to its website, Great Wolf Resorts aims to "capture the atmosphere of the Northwoods" in an indoor, "weatherproof, year-round destination" where "families [can] re-connect." Each Lodge is designed to recreate - indoors - the fun of the outdoors, and the company is committed to environmental stewardship; each location is Green Seal Certified (Silver), and its Project Green Wolf works to reduce the company's carbon "pawprint" and to educate young guests in green practices.

So, if an organization's partners shape consumers' perceptions of the organization's values, what kinds of partners might make sense for a company like Great Wolf, whose brand celebrates nature, families, and outdoor fun?

• Vendors of outdoor equipment - camping gear, bikes, personal watercraft, fishing gear, and other equipment for wilderness fun would align well with Great Wolf's outdoorsy theme


• Vendors of recycled products - t-shirts made from recycled plastic, tote bags made from recycled fabric, paper made from recycled elephant poo...the possibilities are nearly endless for gear that reflects environmental responsibility (although I would draw the line at recycled food)


• Vendors of healthy snacks - natural and organic foods, trail mixes, fresh fruits and raw veggies, dried fruits, nuts - all of these and other healthy snacks complement the active lifestyles of outdoor-lovers

Some of Great Wolf's current partners mesh well with the values exhibited by the company. Others seem to be partners of convenience or opportunity - fine partners, no doubt, but with little obvious connection to the outdoorsy, active, environmentally-friendly atmosphere of Great Wolf.

If your organization is serious about presenting a unified set of values and personality to your customers, consider how your partners do (or do not) reflect those values. Choose partners whose brands harmonize well with your mission.

Tell me who your partners are, and I'll tell you who you are.

The Odd Couple: a magazine and a fuel company

Little League Baseball has an official sports drink. The Super Bowl has an official beer. NASCAR has an official everything - tires, batteries, insurance, soft drinks, shaving products, heartburn remedies, and 45 other "official [items] of".

And now, a magazine (actually, three of them) have an official fuel. That's right, three magazines have an official fuel. Why? Well, when your magazines make their money by talking about motor vehicles, they use a lot of fuel. The magazines (all owned by Hachette Filipacchi) are Road & Track, Car and Driver, and Cycle World. The official fuel provider is Shell.

Having an official fuel will come in handy for these mags - and not only because of the advertising dollars. All three buff books involved in the partnership conduct road tests of cars, trucks, and/or motorcycles. The magazines have frequently used Shell gasoline and Pennzoil and Quaker State motor oils (also owned by Shell) in these road tests; now all parties can extend and leverage this relationship.

According to an article in MediaPost's Marketing Daily, Shell gets extensive benefits for the price of its sponsorship: its logo with an "official fuel of" tag on the mastheads of the three magazines, as well as on data panels for all road test articles; co-branded ads in the three magazines' print, online, and radio broadcast versions; and access to Hachette's market research data, provided by survey management firm Vista Studies.

Road & Track, Car and Driver, and Cycle World all benefit from Shell's sponsorship funding, naturally. In addition, they are able to guarantee that all of their road tests use Shell nitrogen-enriched gasoline, specifically.

The co-branded ads featured in the magazines are rather droll, too. Each features a Shell engineer smiling wryly as the camera catches him hiding his Road & Track magazine (or Car and Driver, or Cycle World, depending) in an open Petroleum Engineering textbook.

All this to say that strategic business partnerships have room for innovation. Perhaps your company can find an official snack food. Or official office supplier. Or official airline. Or official hotel chain. Or official search engine. Or official deodorant. Or official social networking platform. The opportunities are, apparently, endless.