Photos by Mae Mu and Kristine Wook on Unsplash
September 2, 2024
Why Are So Many Limited-Edition Food Brand Collaborations Arriving?
Coca-Cola and OREO became the latest iconic food and beverage brands to collaborate on two new, limited-edition food and beverage products inspired by each other.
The new items, which will be available for a limited time starting on Sept. 9, include:
- OREO Coca-Cola Sandwich Cookie: An OREO cookie featuring one classic chocolate side with Coca-Cola syrup and popping candies and one red-colored Golden OREO side with an embossed Coca-Cola logo, all stuffed with a smooth, white-colored cream studded with red edible glitter.
- Coca-Cola OREO Zero Sugar: A fusion of Coca-Cola taste with flavor hints inspired by OREO cookies.
A frozen variation of Coca-Cola OREO Zero Sugar will also be available at participating McDonald’s and 7-Eleven locations in select markets. A merchandise tie-in featuring apparel, socks, a tote bag, a cosmetics bag, drinkware, and notebooks will also debut at Forever 21.
“OREO has emerged as one of the world’s most beloved Gen Z brands by continually pushing the boundaries of flavor innovation that affirm its credentials as the world’s favorite cookie,” said Oana Vlad, global VP OF brand strategy at The Coca‑Cola Co., in a statement.
The collaboration takes a page from the “drop culture” trend pioneered in the streetwear and sneaker category in the U.S. by Supreme and Nike. Hyped on social media, the limited-edition apparel and footwear releases often sell out immediately. The collaborations increasingly involved luxury houses and rappers, and in recent years, they have extended to entertainment properties such as classic movies as well as food and other CPG brands. Crocs has collaborated in recent years on footwear collections with Taco Bell, Hidden Valley Ranch, Pringles, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, and Peeps.
The potential for collaborations between food brands first became evident when Kraft partnered with Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen in 2021 to produce an ice cream version of its signature Macaroni & Cheese. The ice cream found its way to Walmart shelves the following year. Since then, many limited-edition food and beverage collaborations have arrived.
As noted by Food & Wine, past OREO collaborations have included OREO Cookie Papa Bites at Papa Johns, Auntie Anne’s OREO-Topped Nuggets, Sour Patch Kids OREOs, and Ritz Cracker OREOs. Coca-Cola has partnered with fashion brands such as High Snobiety, Kith, and Puma.
“Brand collaborations are growing in popularity because they’re a royalty-free way for brands to reach new but relevant audiences,” Claudine Harris, CEO of brand matchmaking company Miai, recently told Food Institute.
Odder pairings often go viral on social media to both garner attention and help the limited-edition ranges quickly sell out.
Social media has “shifted the power dynamic between brands and consumers” to inspire collaborations, Jenna Drenten, a marketing professor at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, recently told BBC. She explained, “Consumers have a lot more opportunity to engage and interact with brands to tell them what they want — to have conversations.”
She also believes the wide range of unique collaborations across products reflects an “attention deficit” in today’s digital consumer culture. Drenten said, “Consumers get very bored with the existing offerings on the market. Having unexpected, unconventional collaborations between brands is a way to revitalize the brand quickly, without a lot of effort on the brand side.”
Some recent food collaborations gaining media coverage include:
- Hidden Valley Ranch so far this year has collaborated with Cheez-It on a salad dressing and crackers, as well as with Burt’s Bees on a lip balm.
- To mark National Ice Cream Day, Ore-Ida this past July partnered with GoodPop on a Fudge n’ Vanilla French Fry Pop that wraps a vanilla oatmilk frozen base in a chocolate fudge shell rolled in crispy potato bits.
- McCormick & Co.’s French’s Mustard last year partnered to develop a mustard-flavored Skittles range to celebrate National Mustard Day.
- Kraft Dinner (KD) partnered with KFC to bring KD KFC Original Recipe Flavor Mac & Cheese to grocers in Canada this summer, while a KD Mac & Cheese Chicken Sandwich and the KFC x KD Mac & Cheese Snacker Wrap have arrived at KFC restaurants across the country.
Discussion Questions
What’s driving the surge in limited-edition collaborations in the food and beverage space?
What benefits do you see for the brands involved?
Do you see any downsides or risks in such collaborations?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Frank Margolis
Executive Director, Growth Marketing & Business Development, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Patricia Vekich Waldron
Contributing Editor, RetailWire; Founder and CEO, Vision First
Brian Cluster
Insights Consultant
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Two of the big issues with branded CPG at the moment are volume pressures as consumers cut back or trade down and increasing competition for visibility with the consumer. Collaborations are a way of cutting through both problems. Limited time collaborations create urgency, and they temporarily drive sales. They can also create some excitement around an otherwise staid brand. The issue, of course, is that collaborations do not solve deeper-seated underlying issues. They also lose impact of there are too many of them.
Food is one of the few industries where people still want other people’s opinions on what to try and buy, with unique combinations and secret menu items eliciting (temporary) excitement. As Neil mentioned, this is a short-term fix that doesn’t address the long-term issues of the industry – but at least it creates a bit of excitement in the near-term.
It is becoming more popular for brands to work together because it lets them reach out to new and relevant audiences in a royalty-free manner
By collaborating, brands can leverage each other’s strengths and customer bases, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
These partnerships are amplified by social media platforms, which allow brands to share collaborative content with a wider audience. Brands can create buzz around joint ventures by targeting posts and sharing campaigns. Digital synergy increases visibility and influence for both brands. Marketing costs are shared, brand exposure is increased, and engagement rates are higher. Growth and innovation are also enhanced.
However, there are potential risks to consider in brand collaborations. Misalignment in brand values or messaging can lead to confusion or alienation of customers. Additionally, if one brand faces a public relations crisis, it could negatively impact the reputation of the partnering brand. Db
The trend will continue as strong source of improved revenue for the foreseeable future. It is driven the fact that consumers are not as loyal to Brands as they were a decade ago. CPG firms will continue to try and take advantage of partnerships with hot brands, trends and events to gain market share; it will add a temporary boost in addition to winning a few new customers loyalty which is a fickle thing in this market.
Today’s Poll was a curiosity: a probervial ‘no brainer’ question given a twist by the insertion of a single word: in this case the duh! question – will this trend continue? – spoilt by healthy…how do those of us who feel the trend will certainly continue, but feel it is anything but healthy, answer?
But why do we feel it’s unhealthy? Because it’s feel so much like formulaic excess: hope 2+2 =5 with little evidence of understanding why you have 2’s, rather than 1’s , in the first place.
I get the benefit enticing consumers with the novelty combo of well-known brands. The combos are not that appealing to me.
Why are so many limited-edition food brand collaborations happening? Because they are fun and consumers are bored.
Customers are still hungover after the extensive period of inflation that they had to endure. Many have traded down to private brand items in the past two years. One tactic to bring them back to national brands would be to have these unusual collabs such as Oreos X coke zero and KFC X Kraft Mac and Cheese. This collabs seem to be geared toward the short-term excitement and immediate sales spike. The risk of this approach would be to tarnish the brand’s reputation with a foul tasting collab that may turn customers off.
It would be interesting to see if not only brands would find some unusual tastes but strive to elevate the experience of the everyday. For example, it would be interesting to see how a high-end maple syrup brand could collaborate with a cookie or other item to make an indulgence taste better with higher quality ingredient partners. Currently, Peets partnered with See’s chocolate to make a more premium chocolate coffee bean. Doing these types of collabs may generate less sales in the short term but may have less risk of impacting the brands with a flavor that does not sit well with your loyal customers.
The uptick in brand collaborations is meant to reverse consumer fatigue regarding big brand arrogance. With little effort, big brands can launch an limited-time ‘exclusive’, charge a premium for it and enjoy the tailwinds of an advertising bounce. With little downside, it’s appealing to marketing execs hungry to make a splash.
These collaborations garner some excitement in a very noisy food market. They generate lots of social media attention as consumers post their reactions to these new flavors, especially for fans of the products involved. These concepts touch on the trend to “hack” and personalize products.
I believe these collaborations are largely motivated by the power and reach of social media – TikTok and Instagram in particular.
Creative, limited-edition brand tie-ups are perfect for these platforms – driving visibility across potentially millions of views – likely with many younger consumers who aren’t currently customers of or even familiar with the brands – in turn creating the lift in sales.
These limited edition collabs can revive flagging interest in “same ole’, same ole’” CPG products, particularly snack foods. Consumer intrigue is real, barriers to trial are nominal, and the first-to-try bragging rights are widely sought after. In this case, great melding of flavors and audiences.
In otherwise slow-growth and predictable categories, these limited-edition food collaborations infuse newness and a sense of excitement. Food brands’ underlying motivation is seeking ways to remain relevant and top of mind with consumers. These limited-edition collaborations fueled by influencers and social media provide an attractive option with low execution risk. Barring brand value mismatches, these limited product offerings will contribute to sales and brand relevance.
I suspect that we’ll see more of these collaborations in the future if both brands are willing and the shoppers respond favorably. That would be a win-win-win.
Thanks John. Why aren’t any of the healthier brands collaborating? Wouldn’t that be an opportunity too or are the flavors not extreme enough?
Anytime a brand does something out of the ordinary, it’s an opportunity for increased awareness and visibility. Limited edition “creations” give marketers something to market, promote, and talk about. Collaborations between different brands provide increase visibility – two brands are better than one. This can also lead to a spike in sales. While temporary, if the collaboration or limited edition works well, it can become a seasonal or special event offering.
Piggy backing on another brands success to promote your own brand can invigorate and energize a line of CPG products. These partnerships are also an opportunity to introduce a sense of nostalgia, as consumers with a fondness for childhood memories and tastes want to see how accurate and on point the flavors are.
Not all of the flavor combinations are going to be a success. But it gives CPG brand managers a chance to see if they can trial and grow their customer base, while also giving a boost in marketing and social media. It creates conversation. Even if its only short lived, these opportunities are often a win-win.
The American model has largely been about scale and over abundance. The European model has been about scarcity (think Aston Martin, Ferrari, Gucci, Fendi). And now American brands are playing with the scarcity model – done best by all these Jordan 1 brand shoe drops. But who said this couldn’t work for food. Houstons (the Hillstone restaurant) seasonally offers key lime pie. So annoying. But it creates a feverish need to consume it as much as you can until it’s gone. American businesses are finally realizing brand affinity can be created and sustained through the idea of limited editions.