EP 15 | How to Land Big Brand Partnerships: Disney & Coca-Cola Strategy with Bridget

How do you move from "Invisible" to "In-Demand"? In this episode of Think Brand Talk Brand, Bridget Murphy (Founder of Envision Promotions) shares her insider secrets from her time at Disney and Coca-Cola.

We explore why Positioning is the prerequisite for high-impact partnerships and how emerging brands can attract industry leaders by nailing their "Identity" first.

What You'll Learn :

• What is the "Identity Crisis" in branding? Bridget explains how a lack of brand substance prevents startups from scaling with big partners.
• How do you attract big brand partnerships? Learn the "matchmaking" signals that brands like Nickelodeon look for in partners.
• Why is positioning your "Competitive Edge"? A breakdown of how to move from a commodity to a strategic collaborator.

Resources Mentioned:

• Bridget Murphy: Today's guest is Bridget Murphy, a seasoned partnership strategist and founder of Envision Promotions. With a career that began at large entertainment brands including Disney, Bridget now leads an agency that acts as a strategic matchmaker for brands—from emerging startups to industry leaders like Coca-Cola and Nickelodeon.At her core, Bridget believes that partnerships are where sales and marketing converge—driving relationships, creating collaborative experiences, and shaping what's next. She's here to talk about how strategic partnerships can unlock new levels of growth, impact, and buzz.www.envisionp.com

Resources Mentioned:

Free Workshop on 2 /18 : https://www.thinkbrandforward.com/so/4cPnAV-kt?languageTag=en

Shivani's 6-Week Container - Apply here: www.thinkbrandforward.com

Free Differentiator kit : https://bit.ly/49WWpf8

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Could a comparator steal your homepage headline and still make sense? If yes, you need a better differentiation. I'm including a free tool in my show notes which has my SOU formula to justify your premium pricing instantly. Head the show notes and grab it now. In my six-week container, we build the substance. But today's guest is here to show us what happens when that substance beats the world's biggest stages. Bridget Murphy, founder of NVIDIA Promotions, spent her early career at Disney and now acts as a strategic matchmaker for icons like Coca-Cola and Niclaudion. She believes partnerships are where marketing meets momentum. Today we are talking about how to build a brand that big players actually want to say yes to. Bridget, welcome to the show. All right. We have Bridget Murphy here. I was just telling Bridget how serendipitous this is for me to talk to her today, bring her genius to the audience who's tuning in today. The reason I'm saying that is because very recently I follow this amazing woman called Jacqueline Johnson, and she is a VC, she's an investor, she's also has a community of women who are all, you know, aligned with the mission of empowering women. She recently spoke about a partnership. She spoke about a brand which I love and I use, which is a beauty brand. And she was talking about how the part they've been just, I think Laureal has kind of collaborated with them, invested in them. Now the partnership is kind of coming up front. And I'm I was so mesmerized with the way it's shaping out. And Bridget comes in, and now we're talking about strategic partnerships today. So Bridget, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm very excited to be speaking with you. Oh, likewise, likewise. So, Bridget, honestly, the place I want to start with is we just spoke about it, the noise, right? Like there is so much noise. It's literally like an assault to our brains when we are bombarded with ads, content, everyone telling us what to do. So in this entire noise, I think that from my experience, if we still want to operate in this ecosystem of noise, one of the best and most strategic ways to do it is partnerships. Individually, we can be great, but together we build something even more beautiful. So give us some insight on the strategic partnerships you've done recently or in the past, which you think have blossomed and helped both ends so beautifully that they wouldn't be able to do that individually on their own.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

We have done strategic partnerships for over 20 years, and we work with everyone with huge brands like Coca-Cola and Disney to a lot of smaller emerging brands. And in the last handful of years, we've actually started taking on some non-for-profit organizations to see if our philosophy and our process helps them grow as well. And the short answer is yes. The long answer is it always comes down to an alignment and values between the organizations, even if they're huge organizations. The values have to align and the target demographic needs to line up. Those are the first two things we base any strategic partner on in terms of whether or not the success is going to start from the scratch. Both brands or all the partners need to be in alignment and be excited about the relationship.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

So your example was perfect. The one about, I don't know who the brand was, the L'Oreal partner and the non-for-profit, those are becoming so much more important because the consumer is interested in what the brand's values are. And the one way to separate yourself from the noise, like you said, and get into that ecosystem where the consumer believes in the product is through partnerships like those. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Shout out to Live Tinted and Deepika, which got the partnership from D'Oreal. If anyone listening in hasn't heard about Live Tinted, go and check it out. Coming back to strategic partnerships, there's one thing I truly believe when you want to attract a strategic partnership, there has to be a positioning that you have created for yourself. A strategic partnership comes into your orbit when you've started digging deep into your own identity. There's a lot of identity work that you've done. Because what is positioning if not identity? Because you're kind of creating that mental space in your audience of who you are. Why that sticks with someone is because their identity is so clear, it's so well defined. And I always feel that a lot of times the noise is coming because we are not really looking at our identity, our brand identity, our personal brand identity, and we're only focused on features and the so-called differentiation. If you differentiate yourself completely, you are you are the go-to brand. All those are important. But I also feel that your identity work for your positioning is key when you're attracting the right customer, the right partners, the right suppliers. It's the whole ecosystem, the whole supply chain that needs to work for the brand. I want your insight on if for people who don't have that identity defined, the identity is weak at this point of time, can they really build a strategic partnership with that?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

And if not, how can they do it? What is the four step? That's a big question. If you ask we dip our toes into brand because we have to align the brands for a strategic partnership, but we don't create that brand, we're not working with them in that initial brand identity. We're further down the pipeline, correct? Like I agree that the brand really needs to know who they are, like in their marrow. But oftentimes we are approached when it's around a new product launch or a themed event where they're trying to move the needle from their target demographic slightly higher or slightly lower. And then we become a strategic partner where we help them find brands that almost use the brand leverage as a credibility source. We're building trust with that particular brand based on the partnership. When it comes to brand identity, they have to have a solid brand identity to go into a partnership because they have to tell the partner what their goals are, what they stand for. And the partnership itself, it could be something more fluid. Does that make sense? No, it does. It'd be helpful to give you examples. I'm wondering if examples would be more beneficial. Sure, go ahead if you feel like.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

But what I really like what you said is because for a partnership to work, obviously there's going to be the big fish and the small fish coming together. The big fish is already well defined. It's the reason the partnership is attractive with the small fish because it has a defined audience, it has a defined target market. They've already are where the smaller brand wants to get. So that's why the identity work, which as I correctly said, comes much before the collaboration, is the starting point for a smaller brand who wants that strategic partnership, who doesn't want to collaborate with Coca-Cola or Disney and reach masses by having that kind of partnership. So I really, really like what you just said that identity work has to be defined before you even use this lever of strategic partnerships, because that really is your next level of scaling, the next level of profitability that you're looking at, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yes, and no. I think when it comes to some emerging brands, we're finding that the emerging brands actually steering the ship. And here's why the big boys like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Disney of the World. Well, Disney is such a great brand. I mean, who does it better? They know they have such a huge footprint. It's a very different thing. And as a matter of fact, we do work with Disney on occasion, but they're not very generous in terms of a partnership because they don't have to be, right? So often we are approached by an emerging brand, even though it's something that most people would recognize, you wouldn't think of them as the lead. But they want to partner with other emerging brands and leverage one big brand so that they can gain access to those consumers in a very meaningful way. It's telling a more cohesive story because all of the brands are participating and you're invited into this ecosystem. It's almost like you're inviting your friends to come play in the sandbox with all these other cool people that are playing in the sandbox, right? Yeah. And that's one of the best ways that we secure partners. It's an emerging brand. Like we're doing one right now with Radio Flyer. Radio Flyer is a, I mean, they've been around forever. It's a, it's the red wagon that everybody knows. Now they sell wagons that are more stroller-like. They have they're they're winning their first shelf space in national retail in a different space in the store. So we're collecting all of these other brands in the store to really blow up that engagement to start getting the consumer to thinking about Radio Flyer at a different time in their life rather than waiting until their kids are older, thinking about it when their kids are younger. So those brand partnerships for some of those bigger companies can be very powerful and strategic. It's also leveraging that trust around the brand. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I love what you said because trust as the foundation of storytelling is what I think is the next big thing to blow up. And I am such a huge proponent of storytelling framework to be used by smaller brands to talk about who they are. But unfortunately, a lot of storytelling has been recently, I'm seeing, is is so diluted and kind of misguided at this point of time because somehow storytelling has become so literal. That's not exactly what storytelling framework is. For example, Steve Jobs made Lisa, which came much before Apple, and Lisa failed spectacularly. There was some huge nine-page ad about all the technical specs that were there and all of that. And it failed spectacularly. He went to Pixar after that. He understood what storytelling means. He comes back, he builds Apple and he builds Think Different. None of the ads have anything technical about it. They have like these people who change the narrative through the years. You have Gandhi who kind of changed the course of what you think about violence and non-violence. All of that. Where does that fit into a technical product? It doesn't. But understand what storytelling means. It means making your audience the hero. You're talking about people who want to align with the idea of thinking different. That you know we are different. We want to align with that idea. So this is what storytelling does so beautifully is you take away the focus of, hey, I sell this, buy me, to why me, right? That why becomes so much more clearer, purer. And without story, a small brand has no way to survive. You cannot survive in today's noisy market with just having a product or a service that honestly nothing is no any more innovative in the truest sense of things, right? Like we are all enhancing what already exists. Let our listeners know from your point of view, as somebody who does strategic partnerships, how do you look at storytelling when you are pitching a brand, a smaller brand to a bigger brand? How do you go about that process?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Well, that's a great question. And I think storytelling is super important because it's what powers the message in order to attract the right partner. So when we approach a partner or we have a client and they are hiring us for a particular event, or like I said before, a product launch, the story is all around why is this different? Why is this better? What problem does this solve? Once we can sort of back into why it's better, why, you know, what problem does it solve, then it helps us sort of elaborate on that story so that we can attract the right partners who are also trying to solve a problem or tell a story along the same lines. One of our partners is Veggie Chip, CPG brand called Good Health. I love them. One of my favorite things about working with cool clients is those who are generous and they can share their ideas and they're excited about their brand. And this brand's one of them. And the whole theme is around the fact that they've switched to use avocado oil. They're trying to make things that without using ingredients on their packages that they don't need. And so Better For You is a theme around that. And we've started attracting really cool partners that are better for you. It's such a strong message to moms. If you're in the grocery store, why not try a better for you product? The interesting thing about this brand is they've been around forever and they have 32 SKUs sold in most national retail. This is a huge brand, right? What makes them different? By partnering them with companies, we have big brands like Little Tyques, who most moms know it's a toy brand. And again, back Radio Flyers also participating in it. We have large legacy brands. We also have some merging brands that are better for you. So that whole cohesiveness and inviting you into the brand ecosystem through those powerful messages and that story about come play with us in the sandbox with all these other cool kids works on programs like that. I totally agree. I think storytelling is key, a key component in putting any kind of strategic partnership together. 100% hard agree.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And love hearing all the beautiful brands you're talking about. I'm sure a lot of audiences will relate because they aren't using these brands. This is not some, you know, Tarian brand that they haven't heard of. These are really everyday brands, CBG brands that people are buying off the shelf.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

And that's really cool, to be honest. It's fun. It's really fun. But storytelling and brand. But again, if you go back to it, it's that trust. Every single one of the brands speaking to the same target demographic. It's that mom that's looking for something a little bit better for her kids. And also making it so it's not harder on her or harder on the parent. Because they have so much to do in the day, right? And it's also that message where there's trust. So Radio Flyer and Little Tikes have been around for almost a hundred years, I believe. And some of the brands that are joining are up-and-coming brands, like one's Jovial Foods, and their brand that is they're all gluten-free. The majority of their line is gluten-free. So it's solving a problem, but it's also making life a little bit easier on the parent at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Oh, yes. As a parent, I want to simplify my life in every sphere. Yes. Along with work and you know, all the other things that you want to do for yourself, like the self-scare. I've hardly had time for that. But if I can save that much time of reading the labels to just trusting a brand, like just imagine how beautifully, how beautifully that integrates with my life. And that's what this is about, right? That's what partnerships are about. It's about how well two brands can come and integrate into a consumer's life and make it better for them. If I was an emerging brand and I have now some momentum with my product, at what stage is it the right time for me to look for collaborations? Where should I peg myself as a brand and think that I'm ready for collaboration? And what has your feel been on that? I don't think it's ever too soon.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Regardless of the stage that you're in, if there's a brand that feels like something that you're aligned with in terms of your brand messaging, your identity, your core values, reach out to them. Most small brands have more power than they realize. Either they have high engagement on their social, they have a pretty large database or an emerging database that's really clean. Some of the older brands, they have all the consumers, but their databases aren't clean and they're not as communicative because the brand's been around forever. Larger brands already own a lot of the retail footprint. When you're doing something super collaborative, if you can give that big brand an opportunity to participate in a retail space that's not somewhere they'd traditionally be seen, those collaborations are hugely impactful on both sides. They're much more cost effective than the licensing, licensing partnership. I think collaborations is one of the most powerful tools that you can have in your toolbox. You can start with small, you could do a collaborative email, you could do a collaborative post, right? And see what kind of engagement that gets. Create some simple offer for both brands and see what kind of lift you receive. And we test brands out all of the time. It's an easy way to do a simple social cross-brand campaign to see how it leverages across there the consumers, to find out if the alignment is on target. And as we build on those successes, we can really grow those campaigns over time and do amazing collaborations. We've done things in retail shoe stores, kids' shoe stores with Tide Brand. So you get like free gift with purchases when you go in to buy your shoes, but it also solves that problem for moms that are not thinking of throwing their shoes on the washer when they're throwing in their clothes, which is strides' problem. Stridride's like the shoe's washable, throw it in the washer. It lasts that much longer. You know, those kind of collaborations grow over time. And we start really small. We started one year as just a sweepstakes where parents had the opportunity to register for sweepstakes and you get a kid time supply of shoes, which was really like two pairs of shoes for the lifetime of your child. So I think at the end of the day, it was like a thousand dollar gift card. And then Tide gave away the same thing. At the end of the day, it was a thousand dollar gift card. And the cross-collaboration was so fun. So the first year was a registration for a sweepstakes. The second year we actually had in Stripe shoe stores in every shoe store, it looked like the shoes were sitting on top of a washer. We brought in another partner for the campaign, and it looked like the washing machine sitting on the wall. It was like a sticker. And then the shoes were on top of the display, it was on top of the wash machine. And then there was the tide. So we had window clings and all these different elements. When you went to check out, you got your free tide pods. It ended up growing where there was a shared media campaign. That's the way a true partnership really grows over time.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Both partners really win. Both things are so fun, and like that's what breaks the noise, right? Like I love what you just said because this is such a cross-category collaboration because you would think shoes with I don't know, football or soccer, like you know, that's where your brain would go. But this is what true partnership is. Like, look at the problem you're solving. I am buying literally shoes every three to four months because my kid has ruined the shoe so badly. And you know, like this is amazing. I love this. And I would take us take it a bit further and ask you like a rapid fire of if I give you, for example, it's a beauty brand. What cross category can it collaborate with, which is out of the box?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Oh my gosh, there's so much you can do with beauty. For one, you can do things in all different kinds of nonprofit, right? So anything that touches a woman. So it could be one of our favorites is a company called Runa Brand. They manufacture yoga bags and handbags, and but they name their bags after sex trafficking survivors. Okay. And so we are partnering them with all different kinds of yoga mats, beauty brands, because we're elevating the beauty brand by tying and donating money back to a nonprofit that we know the beauty brands really tied to, right? All of us want to see women succeed and safe. And so there's so many cool things. And beauty, if you think about it, it crosses everyone. Anyone in that space who uses beauty, they're emotional, they're concerned about the environment, they're thinking about their kids. They have a hundred thousand things going on in their brain. So it really does cross any retail environment. It crosses CPG, anything athletic. Like there's so many fun partnerships that you can execute with beauty. I love beauty brands. I think beauty is one of the most fun, fun campaigns. Plus, beauty has a lot to offer. Sometimes there's an awful lot of real estate on their pack to do a cool call-out, some kind of UPC code or collaboration with another product that can get exposure. So you're thinking about beauty in a different way. So you're actually thinking about beauty as self-care, just like you said. There's so many fun things you can do with beauty. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

I've just finished wrap the project with a beauty owner who is from Thailand. She is, shout out with Jade if you're listening. She is already a nonprofit founder. And she's now launching the skincare because skincare obviously is a popular sector, and 50% of everything that will be sold will be like going to that nonprofit, as you said. So she herself is, you know, collaborating with her two brands because her bigger purpose in life is to give back to the children in Thailand who suffered so much because of either a typhoon or lack of resources. She wants to give back. That's such a big message. I agree with what you're saying that this way, beauty just isn't service level. It goes beyond. Because I think a lot of women, if you're not a model or into the camera facing job, for us, beauty is something which is really a self care moment for me, right? I don't have to put on makeup every day, but. But when I do, it's really like making my heart happy in that moment. So if I can do even more good with that product by giving back, that's such a big go. I love what you said about beauty. Anyone listening in any other sector, think about it this way. This is how you think about brand collaborations and partnerships, which are cool, fun, new. You want to break the noise, not just by everyday going into the void and shouting that you're amazing. Maybe you are, but without having the right collaborations, you aren't tapping into the markets that are probably already ready for you and waiting for you. So before we wrap this up, if a founder is listening to this, what is one plug-and-play method for them that they could start with today if they want to attract the partnerships? What is that one step today they can take away from you to go in that direction?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I think it's so much easier than people think. One of the first things we do is once we really immerse ourselves in the brand is create a target list of partners that are wish lists, right? Who's the most aspirational brand and why? What about them? Figure out what about them makes them why you'd want to partner with them. And then you end up coming up with a list of partners that fits in that ecosystem, that fits in that same target, that same world, and just reach out. Reach out and say, this is who we are and this is what we stand for, and this is what we would like to do. And it could be something very simple. But more importantly, when you reach out, tell them what you can offer. It could be gift with purchases, it could be a 20% off if both they purchase both. It could be you follow both and you get registered for some kind of really cool thing. It doesn't have to be salesy at all. We think of executions for brand partnerships very much like an influencer, but you're leveraging the brand. The brand is the trusted recommendation. If you can find who really resonates with the marrow of your being, you're gonna find a great partnership.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

On that inspiring, amazing nugget that it was shared, I want to wrap this episode. And I'm so grateful for your time, your genius, your amazing inputs. Thank you so much for being here today. It was a blast. Thanks for having me.