The latest version of my review and teardown of 9 marketing partnership examples from big brands and startups.

1. 9 KILLER STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIP EXAMPLES
[v.8]
@DisruptiveDave
Startups and big brands doing it right
by leveraging shared audiences.
READ ON

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 Waze
comes 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

10. 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

11. Head of Growth, Audiokite Research
Dave Marcello
startupgrowthguy.com
@DisruptiveDave