9 KILLER STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP EXAMPLES

[v.8]

@DisruptiveDave

Startups and big brands doing it right by leveraging shared audiences.

READ ON

WHAT: The payment company announced a new integration into eleven ecommerce apps, allowing its users to pay for goods and services from their Venmo accounts inside these merchant apps.

WHY: It’s the natural progression of any payments service (Paypal, Apple Pay, even Square) and, quite frankly, 100% necessary to survive. The move increases Venmo’s usefulness and expands its abilities to create revenue.

WHO WINS: Venmo is popular amongst the millenial set and is often used for splitting group bills. However, it is free in the US if you link it to a bank account. This new API allows Venmo to take transaction fees, making money from ecomm merchants instead of users.

WATCH FOR: Will bill-splitting ever go mainstream? It’s a common problem and Venmo expects that feature to come in handy when buying things like tickets for a group.

Venmo & Multiple Apps

source: http://tcrn.ch/2cb1jsE

WHAT: The bank worked with the non-profit educational org to create a learning center for its customers with a slew of goal-based personal finance content.

WHY: Khan Academy gets itself in front of a pretty large audience that may not know it even exists (not a household name by any stretch) and BofA reaps the benefits of content marketing without the headaches of development.

WHO WINS: Bank of America – really good content is tough to create, design, organize, and market, particularly when it’s educational.

WATCH FOR: I like non-product-integration partnerships because they open the door to possibilities with low barriers to entry. This is where content deals shine. It’s a good place to start, especially for more early stage companies.

Bank of America & Khan Academy

source: http://bit.ly/2bZvjZy

WHAT: Giant 3D printer company establishes a nondescript partnership with giant 3D software company. Product and marketing, most likely. That’s all we know.

WHY: Autodesk took part in Formlabs’ recent $35mm Series B round, and the two announced a collaborative partnership. Hardware + software – it’s almost a no-brainer.

WHO WON: Let’s call it a tie, since we don’t know the fruits this relationship will bear just yet. Given how challenging the hardware industry has been as of late, props to Formlabs for sticking with what it does best while bringing in friends from the outside to expands its capabilities otherwise.

WATCH FOR: Whoever puts a 3D printer into every home –the way inkjets are now – is going to be in an enviable position.

Formlabs & Autodesk

source: http://bit.ly/2cg69n2

WHAT: The social music app powered voting for MTV’s “Song of Summer” category at this year’s Video Music Awards through user generated content. When “musers” shot a video using a nominee’s song, it counted as a vote.

WHY: One hundred and twenty million people use Musical.ly, the hottest app out there right now, and most of them are young kids who live for music entertainment. MTV gets some legitimacy and Musical.ly increases its exposure to a targeted audience.

WHO WINS: I’d have to say MTV has the edge here, as the brand is nothing more than an afterthought for the younger generations. I doubt this moves the needle long term, but the VMAs are MTV’s one chance to shine, so it only needs a short term burst of eyeballs.

WATCH FOR: The entire media world is mixing into itself in interesting ways. Apps advertising on traditional TV, sports events streamed on Twitter. Hell, Snapchat even has a magazine! Silos be gone, audience + content > a singular platform.

MTV & Musical.ly

source: http://bit.ly/2bWkapi

WHAT: The video app, made popular with image slide shows set to music, is now using the music recognition app’s technology to bolster its user video creation process.

WHY: Flipagram has 200 million users and is probably looking to increase user engagement by making it even easier to add music to videos on the app. SoundHound offers Shazam-like features and this partnership will allow Flipagram users smoother access to finding and utilizing songs.

WHO WINS: While Flipagram gets to borrow valuable technology to increase its usage stats, SoundHound is the lesser known entity and should benefit greatly from the association.

WATCH FOR: We now live in a world where technology advancements move fast, making it more efficient (read: cheaper) to partner up with someone who does one thing really well than to build it yourself (unless you’re Facebook, but then again…Instagram).

Flipagram & SoundHound

source: http://bit.ly/2ckzXzh

WHAT: Centennial – a suburb of Denver – is partnering with Lyft to offer free rides to and from the local light-rail train station.

WHY: The “last mile” problem for city transportation teams is a serious one – how do you get more people to ride public transit when they can’t easily get to the station? Lyft helps solve that with an established app and system.

WHO WINS: I’ll give this one to Centennial, since the rides are free. That’s a great proposition for local residents, and apparently the cost of paying Lyft for those rides is less than the “dial-a-ride” service the town previously utilized.

WATCH FOR: Innovative tech positively impacting citizens is what we’ve all been waiting for. Local life for the elderly and lower income residents just got better and Lyft gets a nice case study to use when chasing those sweet government contracts elsewhere.

Lyft & City Transit

source: http://bit.ly/2bWqEVj

WHAT: The wireless speaker system now integrates with both Spotify and Amazon’s voice-controlled Alexa.

WHY: What’s a speaker without music? By embedding itself into the Spotify app, Sonos becomes a natural “can’t have one without the other” product for streamers. The Alexa partnership is most interesting in that it aligns Sonos with an up-and-coming technology that isn’t widely adopted yet.

WHO WINS: This is one of those “eh, why not” kind of deals. I suppose Spotify eeks out a win here, as great speakers naturally make music more enjoyable.

WATCH FOR: The need to have APIs and flexible product integration methods is so damn crucial today. Most people don’t have an Alexa, and the Sonos coupling is a bit bulky right now, but the willingness to experiment and be first to market could be a major competitive edge.

Sonos & Spotify / Amazon

source: http://bit.ly/2c13cbr

WHAT: The popular driving directions app launched a partner program to share information and technology with local event organizers. Waze gets advanced info about road closures and event owners get access to a new communication and marketing channel.

WHY: Waze instantly becomes more useful with an inside track on local information (which is what sets it apart from other GPS apps). Events improve the transportation experience for guests, which is usually a problem area.

WHO WINS: It’s certainly nice for these events, but Wazecomes out on top with the secret knowledge aspect of this deal.

WATCH FOR: Another tech-meets-old-school example! More of this, please.

Waze & Local Events

source: http://bit.ly/2cm8dgC

WHAT: Adding a special twist to Nike’s running events in London, the music streaming app grouped participants by their tempo and created custom playlists for them.

WHY: This isn’t the first time these two have paired up in one of these decks. Running and music are natural bedmates, and bringing Spotify’s movement-based song technology into the fold added a unique element to Nike’s races.

WHO WINS: It’s hard to think of Nike “needing” anything from another brand, so I must say Spotify wins with not just simple exposure, but contextually relevant experiential marketing.

WATCH FOR: What will the difference maker be in the music streaming wars? Will features like movement sensing really matter in the long run (pun!)?

Nike & Spotify

source: http://bit.ly/2bR7UYy

Head of Growth, Audiokite Research

Dave Marcello

startupgrowthguy.com

@DisruptiveDave