I love brand collaborations! Two of my favorite brands, Monos and LEGO, have each individually launched campaigns that have resonated with and impressed me. Through the collaborations highlighted below, both Monos and LEGO were highly successful in reaching new audiences and buoyed by their collaborators’ strong reputations. These associations translated into increased positive brand perception for both and strong ROMI/revenue growth.
Before examining some of their successful collaborations, both Monos and LEGO independently carry high positive brand perception and high brand value.
Monos is a DTC (direct to consumer) luggage brand who differentiates itself from its competitors by providing premium and environmentally sustainable luggage with a minimalist aesthetic. Because they are exclusively sold online their brand elements are contemporary and eye catching (“Instagram worthy”).
Monos’ marketing messages are built upon their unique value propositions (UVPs) of:
– Producing high-quality luggage using premium materials and providing customers with lifetime warranties
– Ensuring ethical practices & sustainability, going so far as to obtain Climate Neutral Certification
– Creating timeless & minimalist designed-focused pieces, avoiding fads and trends
– Remaining highly selective in choosing their brand & retail partnerships, keeping themselves at an exclusive & premium level
Founded in 1932, this globally beloved company manufactures LEGO-branded interlocking plastic building bricks. They also own 10 LEGOLAND-branded amusement parks worldwide, and operate standalone retail stores in addition to having their products carried in major retail chains. More recently in the brand’s evolution, they have expanded into the areas of electronic games and a popular LEGO movie franchise.
Even with the amount of growth and expansion the brand has gone through, the basic LEGO brick remains unchanged, sticking with its recognizable and enduring design. It’s marketing strategies follow suit by highlighting their company’s core values, mission, vision, and culture by staying aligned to what’s kept LEGO popular and successful for nearly 100 years:
- Empowering learning, creativity, play and fun through imaginative & captivating storytelling
- Appealing to multigenerational audiences, engaging children through to adults
- Staying relevant in popular culture through its strategic brand collaborations
- Keeping its brand focused on the success of its core values, but not afraid to change with the times
- Creating fan loyalty through strong community engagement with its passionate generations of LEGO lovers
Now that we’ve established ways in which both Monos and LEGOs consistently keep their strong brand perception and value, I’d like to share some collaborations I feel they’ve done extremely well.
Monos x Magnolia Bakery Luxury Luggage Collection
This fanciful Monos x Magnolia Bakery collaboration was beautifully tailored to strengthen Monos’ brand perception and extend audience reach by joining together its minimalist brand elements and premium aesthetic image with the nostalgia and charm that makes Magnolia Bakery so popular. Through this limited-edition luggage collection the collaboration appealed to lifestyle enthusiasts by incorporating Magnolia’s sophisticated yet playful colors with Monos’ ability to infuse that personality into its timeless designs without losing any of its elevated, luxury appeal.
Benefits of this collaboration to Monos:
By creating a brand association with Magnolia Bakery, Monos garnered strong interest through exposure to Magnolia’s devoted fan base, expanding its reach beyond travel gear into the lucrative lifestyle and fashion spaces. Additionally, this partnership reinforced Monos’ exclusivity factor since the collection’s release was limited-edition. This created urgency and desirability, driving enhancement of its premium brand positioning and sales.
Monos + Drunk Elephant – Trunk 4.0
The Monos + Drunk Elephant skincare collaboration enhanced Monos’ brand perception through its alignment with Drunk Elephant’s reputation for innovation, product quality, and “clean beauty” (avoiding certain potentially irritating ingredients) all housed in beautifully designed and recognizable product packing.
Their co-branded product titled “Trunk 4.0,” involved Monos creating custom carry-on suitcases which Drunk Elephant filled with ten full-sized versions of their most popular skincare products. This 2-in-1 product offering was seen as both unique and appealing to travel lovers and skincare devotees alike. Benefits of this collaboration to Monos:
This brand association generated strong social media buzz, drawing substantial interest, excitement, and demand among consumers. By collaborating with Drunk Elephant, Monos reached new audiences in skincare, health & beauty, leading to strong sales and the continued collaboration, now at “Trunk 8.0”.
Benefits of this collaboration to Monos:
This brand association generated strong social media buzz, drawing substantial interest, excitement, and demand among consumers. By collaborating with Drunk Elephant, Monos reached new audiences in skincare, health & beauty, leading to strong sales and the continued collaboration, now at “Trunk 8.0”.
The LEGO x Formula 1 collaboration is set to go on sale before the first Formula 1 race of 2025 on March 14th. By combining LEGO’s beloved brand with Formula 1’s passionate, engaged, and growing audiences, this powerhouse of brand associations elicits positive emotions that resonate across both brands in creativity, pop culture relevance, education, and community.
Benefits of this collaboration to LEGO:
Aside from the obvious benefit of larger profits, there are a number of UVPs that LEGO can now associate with itself through this partnership, including:
- With F1 seen as a pioneer in technological, automotive, engineering, and mechanical innovations, this collaboration with LEGO provides it with closer relations to cutting edge tech advancements.
- Formula 1 has implemented sustainability goals to cut carbon emissions by a minimum of 50% versus 2018 and go Net Zero Carbon by 2030. This aligns well with LEGO’s own sustainability goals of reducing carbon emissions 37% by 2032 and Net Zero emissions by 2050 showing a joint commitment to green innovation.
- LEGO is now partnered with one of the hottest pop culture brands in the world providing it with exposure to new demographic audiences of racing enthusiasts, including multigenerational and female fans. Through this collaboration, LEGO seeks to generate a substantial increase in sales and fan loyalty, similar to what Formula 1 has achieved with its own passionate followers.
Conclusion:
The success of the collaborations between Monos x Magnolia Bakery, Monos + Drunk Elephant, and LEGO x Formula 1 provide excellent real-world examples of how strategic brand associations enhance a brand’s already strong brand image & perception.
In the case of Monos, they successfully expanded their reach to new audiences (beyond travelers) through their collaborations with two beloved and popular lifestyle brands. By generating a sense of nostalgia and playfulness in their luggage collection with Magnolia Bakery and by gaining entry into the world of skincare, health & beauty through its Drunk Elephant “Trunk 4.0” collaboration, Monos found suitable partner brands that allowed it to introduce itself to new audiences while maintaining its premium brand identity and sharing its sustainability-focused ideals with likeminded brands.
With LEGO, its strong enduring popularity has led to a fantastic partnership with one of the most significant brands in today’s culture, Formula 1. The collaboration of these iconic brands demonstrates that when partnerships align in their core values, it sets them both up for long-term revenue success and long-lived customer loyalty.
Bonus:
For a bit of fun, I thought I’d share a few (real!) odd brand collaborations that left me scratching my head. While these products did not appeal to me, they did find their audiences to varying degrees of marketing ROI success. Here are a few co-branded strange bedfellows. ENJOY!
Martha Stewart x Liquid Death Dismembered Moments Candle
Barefoot + OREO THINS
which features a website with suggestions for Barefoot wines and OREO cookie flavor pairings
