The Partnership Manifesto:

We believe in the power of marketing partnerships.

We believe that brands and organisations who build powerful alliances and partnerships create a ‘collaborative advantage’ – obtaining a sharp competitive edge that is difficult, expensive – if not impossible for competitors to replicate.

We believe that marketing innovation is not built with more isolation and introspection. Rather – it is powered by better connections and smarter relationships: with suppliers, with customers, with distributors, with the community – and even with traditional competitors.

We believe that fresh discussions with relevant and carefully nurtured third parties provides an environment for encouraging new thinking and smarter processes. Fresh conversations are more valuable, more fun and more challenging and create better ideas. And the best way to achieve this is through a systematic programme of partnership development.

We believe that marketing partnerships can encompass a whole range of valuable initiatives; new channels, customers and revenues, better products and more cost-effective supplies, research and promotions.

We believe that marketing partnerships and alliances are easier to lose than to build and so great collaborations need to be developed and nurtured by relationship specialists and sponsored by senior management.

We believe that building valuable marketing partnerships requires balancing marketing art and marketing science. Relationship managers need to understand the art,style and ‘fit’ of people, brand and organisation. Equally as important, relationship managers need to control the science; the planning, mechanics, measures and processes to continually drive the partnership momentum.

In an era of ever more valuable, sophisticated and dynamic connections between brands, technologies, people and markets we believe the time for a renaissance in marketing partnerships has come.

To learn more about planning, pioneering and sharpening your Marketing Partnerships – visit Benchstone.co.uk or contact Andrew Armour.