3X BRANDS TAKING CELEBRITY PARTNERSHIPS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Celebrity brand partnerships have been a cornerstone of marketing for decades, leveraging star power to build trust and drive sales. Today, they’re evolving beyond traditional endorsements, with celebrities taking on more integrated roles. Successful celebrity partnerships are no longer just "face of” the brand. They become "voice of," "designer of," and "hype man of" — and can touch a brand on many levels. 

In-tune celebrity partnerships expand the brand’s cultural circle, allowing them to speak to new audiences in interesting ways. Through careful partner curation, a brand can set itself up as an arbiter of taste, generating buzz in and out of category. 

Here are three brands that have successfully pushed forward in culture through celebrity partnership: 

HEINZ AND MUSTARD ARE A MATCH MADE IN SAUCE HEAVEN

Heinz recently announced their new partnership with Mustard. The Grammy-winning producer, not the sauce. Sometimes, brand partnerships make perfect sense, and this one has us wondering why it’s taken so long to come to fruition. Mustard, whose real name is Dijon (seriously), has been named Heinz’s Chief Mustard Officer. His first undertaking in his new role was the launch of a bedazzled, limited-edition bottle, filled with his own sauce blend. 

Celebrities taking on newsworthy roles as “officers” within a brand is a relatively new, highly PR-able partnership model. One that can easily come across as gimmicky. To avoid this, it’s important that the role is backed up with legitimate brand involvement. Heinz has authenticated Mustard’s role by loading his job spec up — requiring him to remix exclusive recipes, host events, and generally grant Heinz access to the music industry and its community.

MOET & CHANDON TEAM UP WITH PHARRELL

Moët & Chandon have joined forces with king of pop-culture, Pharrell, to unveil a new limited-edition collection centred around the universal celebration of birthdays — an occasion that extends beyond just a seasonal moment. 

Delving into Moët & Chandon’s archives, Pharrell uncovered the historic 1889 bottle, originally adorned with a bow around the neck. Putting a contemporary spin on this iconic detail, he reimagined it as a modern, detachable brooch-like bow. 

The collection features bottles in Midnight Blue, Gold, Deep Red, and White, each signed with Pharrell’s signature in pearled dots and sealed with a monogram. As with many limited-edition releases, the collection is tiered - from a standard bottling to the ultra-exclusive €30,000 Jewel Masterpiece Jeroboam, encrusted with 7,310 hand-placed pearled beads. To really ramp up the hype and justify the price tag around this elite tier edition, only 30 were produced.

Further celebrating the launch, a dedicated pop-up was also hosted in Harrods, adding to the buzz surrounding the collaboration. 

NIKE SALES ROCKET AFTER COLLABORATION ANNOUNCEMENT

Disrupting traditional collaboration models, Nike has tapped Kim Kardashian and her indomitable shapewear brand SKIMS, to create a new-to-world sub-brand; NikeSKIMS.

By aligning with SKIMS, one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer brands, Nike can not only access, but deep dive into the brands army of devoted fans. A very smart way for Nike to strengthen its appeal to women. 

Though Nike is the bigger brand, it’s been wavering under a few months of dropping revenue, whilst SKIMS has been domineering pop-culture and rocketing in valuation. (A cool growth of $2.4 billion in 4 years.) 

Utilising Kardashian’s massive social media following, the NikeSKIMS brand was teased on social media with a discreet dual logo image. And serious cultural clout ensued. Nike's share price rose by 6.2% following the announcement. In a single day, $6.7 billion was added to the brand's market value — indicating significant market excitement. 

A masterclass in brand awareness and hype-building, the partnership has been crafted to feel like a cultural moment rather than just a product launch, leveraging Kim’s star power and Nike’s access to top athletes. 

Words by Ella Palmer, Culture.

SEEN is our monthly-ish newsletter about brands, trends and creativity. Subscribe by getting in touch here: hello@lovecreative.com.