It feels like every cultural moment now comes with a checkout button. In the wake of the movie, limited-edition sneakers, capsule fashion collections, themed Airbnbs, beauty products and branded cocktail menus to match have popped up. We no longer just read stories, we buy them.
Collaboration has become one of the loudest tools in modern marketing. But as their numbers increase, it behooves us to ask a more realistic question: Are they building brands, or just making noise?
Suzanne Powers, co-founder of strategy consulting firm All& and agency partner at Tracksuit, explains: “When two brands come together, and we look at brands as loosely everything from the company that makes the product to the human brand like the creator, you think, ‘I’m not sure these two brands can come together?’ But when it works, the impact on both parties is exponential.”
barbie blueprint
Take the Barbie phenomenon of 2023, for example. The film didn’t just dominate at the box office. It dominates shelves, wardrobes and social media. From Barbiecore fashion to beauty collaborations and travel experiences, it serves as a masterclass in cultural saturation.
It worked. Scale is part of the spectacle. The business ecosystem expanded the film’s profile and helped it become a global event.
Now contrast that with Margot Robbie’s latest project, Wuthering Heights. A gothic literary classic about obsession, tragedy, and restraint doesn’t scream “commercial opportunity.” But here we are now. Fashionable combination. Brand experience. Scented candles are designed to evoke memories of the wilderness.
Barbie – splitov27 – stock.adobe.com
Even stories rooted in austerity are drawn into the collaborative economy.
Some of these partnerships are smart. For example, an Aspinal leather piece from London scored a high 86 on Tracksuit’s Collaboration Index – a tool that measures which collaborations truly add to the story and which are just borrowed from the hype – successfully reflecting themes of class, ambition and desire. Likewise, the high-end gourmet offerings reflect the Linton family’s lavish spending. In these cases, cooperation serves as a signal. They shape meaning. They expand the world of the story.
But that’s the tension. Most collaborations are not designed to last. They are designed to create a moment. Moments matter. They cause a stir. They drive conversations. They give brands cultural relevance in real time. Consumers might actually enjoy them while they’re live.
But they also move quickly.
The risk is not necessarily consumer fatigue. This is chaos. Brands may begin to mistake short-term spikes for long-term brand building.
Strategic Partnerships and Marketing Theater
A simple test helps distinguish the two.
If this partnership never happened, would your brand be significantly weaker in five years?
As with most collaborations, the honest answer is no. This doesn’t mean they are meaningless. This just makes them tactical.
Strategic partnerships are created to do some structural things. They unlock new audiences. They strengthened their positioning. They drive innovation. Over time, they compound.
Marketing theater, by contrast, is built for the now. It’s optimized for headlines, social engagement, and attention bursts. It can be effective. But by itself it rarely changes a brand’s long-term trajectory.
At Tracksuit, we’ve always believed that continued growth in awareness, consideration, and preference comes from clarity and consistency over time. Collaboration can amplify this strategy. They rarely replace it.
Resonance out of range
Another shift is also taking place.
Brands that win at collaboration don’t try to work with everyone. They are not pursuing scale for the sake of scale. The partnerships they choose are inevitable, not opportunistic.
In our research with Bimma Williams, one theme emerged clearly: the most effective collaborations deepen connections with small, passionate communities. They prioritize resonance over impact.
Because real influence isn’t about being everywhere, it’s about being in the right place with purpose.
Collaboration has not lost its power. But its power is often exaggerated.
When every cultural moment becomes a business opportunity, collaboration ceases to be unique. It becomes the default value. And defaults rarely build long-term brand equity.
The brands that win aren’t the ones that collaborate with the most. They will work together with clarity, restraint, and defined roles within the larger strategy.
Sometimes, the smartest move is not to ask, “Who can we partner with?”
It asks, “Will this make our brand stronger in the long run?”
Haworth, Yorkshire. Image licensed by Alamy
