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For luxury brands like Gucci, collaborations with Adidas and outdoor brand The North Face has enabled the fashion house to introduce itself to people outside its existing audience, says Lees. Raymond Reynolds, the Greggs business development director, said that customers had “continually asked” for Greggs branded clothing. “Fans can quite literally show their love for Greggs on their sleeves,” he said. Critically, both Greggs and Primark know what they are not: aspirational or high fashion. This self-awareness is essential to ensuring that anything they launch, outside of business-as-usual products, remains authentic and keeps the public ’in on the joke’. Streetwear lines from unexpected brands work best when they poke fun at a fashion industry, which can often take itself too seriously. While in the fashion industry brands have been grabbing attention through collaborations for years, recent times have seen some more unexpected tie-ups.

A seemingly unlikely collaboration, but one that made perfect sense to the city's Greggs fans who excitedly bought up the entire range within hours of it going on sale in Newcastle on Saturday, February 19. This use of underlying message creates a connection much stronger than advertising, with consumers (literally) able to wear your brand with pride. Which is why this will work so well for Greggs and Primark. Two iconic British brands that are the epitome of the high-street, with a shared grab-and-go culture, the collection works to subtly reinforce a brand message for both and win the hearts and minds of consumers in a new and exciting way. The starting point for Primark in approaching its collaboration with Greggs was also creating joy among its consumers. Last month, Ben & Jerry’s and chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely announced they were entering into “a chocolate love-a-fair” and had “fallen bar over spoons for each other”. The collaboration spans two limited-edition bars and ice-cream tubs.Greggs and Primark will open a pop-up boutique in Soho between 17 and 18 February to “offer eager fashionistas the chance to get their hands on some of the new collection before the rest of the nation”, with two pieces available for free to those who manage to secure a slot when bookings open on 10 February. But it turned out to be a stroke of marketing genius that got people talking and paved the way for Greggs to announce its clothing range with high street giant Primark.

The 130-seater Greggs x Primark cafe will unsurprisingly sell sausage rolls and bakes, and offer the “ultimate Greggs experience” which includes donut theming. Taking such an approach also enables both brands to capitalize on the ‘hype’ of being limited and to benefit from the halo effect of exclusivity previously reserved for achingly cool brands like Supreme. You can’t buy these collections in the traditional sense, but you can ‘cop’ them through fervent dedication to the brand. This subtle dig at the growing ‘uncoolness’ of millennial hype culture – scorned by Gen Z, who prefer unfiltered to curated feeds – is also cognizant of the fact the hierarchy of what’s in and what’s not is shifting.But despite the frivolity at its core, there is function to these tie-ups too – and therefore significant brand value in pursuing them, so long as you bear the following in mind: Leave ‘serious’ at the door Gucci launched a first iteration of its collaboration with The North Face in January 2021, before releasing the second in January 2022. The Adidas x Gucci collection landed in June 2022. While these collaborations may seem like a short-term execution the long-term brand-building is really important for a brand like Gucci,” Lees adds, pointing to data from Kantar’s 2022 BrandZ report which shows Gucci’s brand value grew 12% year-on-year. While this trend is only in its infancy in the UK, collaborations between FMCG, F&B or CPG brands and the world of fashion have become almost de rigueur over the pond. From Panera’s ‘soup’ swimsuits and SunnyD’s bold bobble hats, to the release of Oscar Mayer’s revamped ‘Hotdogger’ uniforms to the public [which BrandOpus worked on], the ‘merchi-fication’ of brands is one of the more humorous marketing trends to evolve in the last few years.

We were challenged by our chief executive Paul Marchant to find exciting and new ways to delight our customers in every store every day,” says Lapwood. The sell out success of the KFC x Hype and Greggs x Primark collaborations shows brands do not necessarily have to be from the same world to partner successfully. However, Lees advises brands should think about the “synergies” between themselves and prospective partners. Primark’s social media account also mysteriously displayed a Greggs receipt alongside a quizzical emoji. Another brand using a collaboration to reach new audiences is KFC. The fast-food chain partnered with youth-focused fashion-brand Hype on a capsule of apparel and accessories. For KFC, the collaboration was aimed at tapping into a younger demographic and creating a range people could wear at festivals.

Choosing a partner wisely

It might seem counter-intuitive for brands to partner up to stand out, but distinctive collaborations can generate buzz for those involved. Recent examples include Primark launching an apparel range with bakery chain Greggs and sportswear brand Adidas collaborating with fashion brand Gucci. The hype was to create impact for the launch of a planned fashion line on 19 February, coinciding with London Fashion Week. A shared sense of humour has been vital for the collaboration. Greggs “doesn’t take [itself] too seriously”, says Lapwood, who explains a shared sense of fun means the collaboration “just makes sense”.

Lees advises that before brands embark on partnerships, they must look at their existing and target customers to understand their habits and which other brands “are in their ecosystem”. Generating conversation and being a brand that plays a role in culture are the central aims of this partnership for KFC, says Public Relations Manager at the business Georgia Wilkins. We said, if we wanted to do a partnership then we wanted to throw out the fashion rulebook, we wanted to partner with a brand that would create a lot of conversations, but where people just wouldn’t see it coming,” says Primark’s head of innovation and future trends, Jermaine Lapwood. The clothing line developed between the two brands will include 11 pieces sold across sixty stores. Greggs business development director, Raymond Reynolds explained that customers had “continually asked” for Greggs branded clothing. He highlights that now: “Fans can quite literally show their love for Greggs on their sleeves.”Whether its a great musical collaboration or a tasty wine pairing; two great things coming together can sometimes result in magic. However, for Ben & Jerry’s the object of the partnership is not driving sales or buzz, but impact. The partnership focuses on the cocoa supply chain and sees the ice cream brand join Tony’s Chocolonely’s mission to make chocolate 100% slave free.