It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up multiple industries & businesses, & has shifted marketing & PR strategies across the board.
At Straight Up PR, we’ve been passionate about brand collaborations & partnering with likeminded businesses for our clients for a while now. It’s always an invaluable activity & being able to tap into new networks is a great way to expand your current audience & introduce your business to your target market in a creative, indirect way.
Currently, PR events, trade shows & in-person activity are off the cards & we’re secretly loving how it’s forcing us to get a bit more creative with how we raise awareness for our clients. Now more than ever, we’re celebrating the magic of brand partnerships & collaborations via social media & digital marketing. As a result, we’ve been brainstorming & executing new ways of doing ‘PR’.
One of our clients, Melbourne based sustainable yoga mat company, LUVe Yoga, made the brave decision tolaunch their brand in the early days of the pandemic. Working with LUVe Yoga has given us the opportunity to think differently on how we’d bring this brand to life, & we knewauthentic collaborations was going to be key.
A few examples of brand collaborations we’ve already brought to life include:
- Instagram Lives with Influencers
To communicate to certain audiences, we decided to collaborate with Sydney based Influencers who have a genuine connection to the LUVe brand that can share something relevant & interesting to their audiences, linking the LUVe brand. The first was with a LUVe In, which was a LIVE Yoga & Meditation class run by yogi, manifestation expert & podcaster, Jordanna Levin.
This live streamed class was in celebration of the full pink moon, & both Jordanna & Straight Up PR encouraged people to join the live. The other live was around Mother’s Day & was a LUVe, Tea & Me – a chat about motherhood with two mothers, Brigitte Warne (PCOS to Wellness) & Shelley McKenzie (Freedom Wellness). The two did a joint live & had an honest conversation about motherhood while sitting on their LUVe Yoga mats & sipped tea. During both lives, the ladies authentically offered a discount code for the mats for their followers.
Cross Promotional Activity & Giveaways with 28 by Sam Wood
Knowing that at home workouts are the thing at the moment, we wanted to collaborate with a brand that was helping Australians stay healthy during this period. A partnership with 28 by Sam Wood made total sense – the target audience is perfect, & both sides would benefit from working together. To drive registrations for their next program intake, Sam Wood offered new members a free LUVe Yoga mat with any program purchase. This was promoted heavily on social media as well as the 28 by Sam Wood digital channels. LUVe then added extra value to existing members by providing a discount code exclusively for them. This activity not only increased brand awareness but also drove sales & traffic to the LUVe website, & although Sam has a strong Melbourne presence, the promotion worked from a national perspective.
Competition & Giveaways
Conducting giveaways & competitions have been a really effective way to get the LUVe brand infront of their target audience. Working with likeminded brands such as Sydney Pilates studies Bodylove Pilates & Peaches Pilates as well as organic tea company, Pukka Tea, have worked really in growing awareness of the LUVe brand. It’s key to always work with brands that have the same values.
Product for Media Send Outs
We partnered with a PR agency who were looking for yoga mats for their virtual media event they were hosting for haircare brand, John Frieda. The agency purchased 30 mats, personalised them & sent them to event attendees so they could enjoy a Pilates class on the LUVe mats. This activity was a great way to get product into the hands of key Media & Influencers for them to enjoy & to keep using moving forward.
Authentic collaborations like the above have provided our client the opportunity to grow their brand, sell product & raise awareness of their business during this uncertain time. We know that brand collaborations will be part of our strategies for many campaigns to come.