January marks the start of a new year full of potential, fresh inspiration, and innovative brand collaborations. For 2024, we’re launching a new “Brand Collaborations Making Waves” blog series spotlighting notable partnerships across industries each month and significant breakups when partners decide to part ways. Follow along as we explore the unfolding world of partnership marketing in 2024. From entertainment to apparel, these are the collaborations that we spotted in January, making waves through creative products, experiences, and marketing. We’ll also look at one power duo deciding to part ways after decades together.
Williams Sonoma x Bridgerton
In anticipation of the upcoming Netflix drama’s third season, “Bridgerton” partnered with the home brand William Sonoma to release a “Bridgerton”-inspired high tea collection. The collection includes an eight-day countdown calendar that ties into each episode, a luxury-style picnic basket, a guide to entertaining, and high tea party materials. The collaboration between the period luxury of “Bridgerton” and William Sonoma’s classic home offerings resonated strongly. For Netflix, the collection keeps “Bridgerton” top of mind for existing viewers as season three is not set to be released until May 2024 and provides a revenue stream around the co-branding products that enable unique fan experiences through at-home viewing parties.
For William Sonoma, the collaboration captures traffic and sales from “Bridgerton” viewership, which is seventy-six percent female and one-third Hispanic or African-American, according to Yahoo Finance. The collaboration launched on December 15th, just in time for holiday shopping. The themed gifts likely drew additional customers into William Sonoma stores and continued to 2024, when we saw them in-store.
Cotopaxi x Sundance Film Festival
This year, outdoor apparel company Cotopaxi joined the Sundance Film Festival as the Official Sustaining Sponsor and Official Outerwear Jacket. Coming on board after Sundance’s split from its decade-long partnership with Canada Goose, Cotopaxi was a natural fit to provide the local guide perspective to attendees. Mary Sadeghy, Director of Partnerships at the Sundance Institute, shared the alignment of this partnership, “In addition to sharing our home state of Utah, Cotopaxi shares our passion for storytelling and seeking new voices and fresh perspectives that promote meaningful discussion.”
Cotopaxi leveraged its apparel in this sponsorship to create the Official Filmmaker’s Jacket and a limited-edition fanny pack showcased in the festival’s merch store. The brand also activated “Cotopaxi Basecamp,” a dedicated space that offered photo opportunities with the mascot, chocolate samples, commemorative jackets, and Sundance stickers and pins. Additionally, Cotopaxi created a ‘How to Sundance’ social media campaign with ticket giveaways and content encouraging thrifting attire for attending virtually or in-person. Cotopaxi’s activation provided an engaging experience celebrating another standout Sundance year.
Tiger Woods x Nike
As we highlight the best brand collaborations of the month, we also cover significant partnership breakups. The first one for 2024 is the end of Tiger Woods and Nike’s 27-year relationship, announced by both parties on social media.
Woods posted on his X account, “Over 27 years ago, I was fortunate to start a partnership with one of the most iconic brands in the world.” Nike bid Woods farewell on Instagram: “Tiger, you challenged your competition, stereotypes, conventions, the old school way of thinking. You challenged the entire institution of golf. You challenged us. And most of all, yourself. And for that challenge we’re grateful.”
This relationship became so intertwined that Tiger Woods was Nike, and Nike was Tiger Woods in the eyes of fans. According to the Associated Press, the two first joined forces in 1996 when a 20-year-old Woods signed a 5-year, $40 million deal, that grew into one of the most renowned brand and athlete endorsements in history. Woods made Nike significant in the golf world. This decades-long partnership spawned iconic ads, the TW brand, Nike’s Tiger Woods Conference Center, and those championships Sunday outfits — the red shirt, black pants, and black hat with the white swoosh. As Woods said in his first Nike ad, “Hello World.” Now it’s time to say goodbye.
As we close out the first month of 2024, these partnerships exemplified memorable and meaningful co-branding done right. Of course, just as new brand collaborations form, others must come to an end. The split between Tiger Woods and Nike concluded an era, though their revolutionary relationship leaves an enduring impact. What standout collaborations did you see last month? Share in the comments below.
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