When Brands Team Up: Cross-Promotion Ads That Really Work

Why cross-promotion is having a moment

Marketing teams are under pressure: higher acquisition costs, stricter privacy rules, and audiences that are frankly tired of being followed around the internet. Cross-promotion is the quiet workaround. Instead of renting attention from an ad network, you borrow trust from another brand your audience already likes.

You see it everywhere if you start paying attention: co-branded emails, QR codes on packaging, in-app banners for partner offers, even short video ads where two logos share the final frame. The best campaigns feel like a natural extension of what the customer is already doing.

So let’s walk through how brands are actually pulling this off.

How coffee, music, and rideshares turned “waiting time” into ad space

Take the Starbucks–Spotify partnership. On paper it sounds almost too neat: people sit in a café, they listen to music, they scroll their phones. In practice, Starbucks used physical locations as media inventory.

In-store signage and table tents promoted Spotify playlists “powered by Starbucks.” The app experience mirrored this: Spotify featured Starbucks-curated lists, and Starbucks’ loyalty program nudged users toward Spotify Premium trials.

What made this cross-promotion campaign work was not just the brand fit, but the context:

• The offer showed up while customers were already listening to music in-store.
• The creative leaned into discovery: “Want the playlist from your store?” instead of a generic “Try Spotify.”
• Starbucks baristas didn’t need to explain anything; QR codes and short URLs did the heavy lifting.

A similar logic showed up in Uber’s work with Spotify. Riders could connect their Spotify account and control the music during their trip. The cross-promotion was baked into the product experience:

• Uber got differentiation and stickier usage.
• Spotify got free promotion in the Uber app plus a subtle nudge to upgrade, because the feature was more appealing for Premium users.

Both cases show a pattern: the most effective cross-promotion campaigns don’t feel like ads. They feel like a product perk.

When food meets entertainment: streaming, snacks, and fast food collabs

Food and entertainment brands have been quietly cross-promoting for years. Think about the last time you saw a streaming platform code on a pizza box.

One widely discussed play: a major pizza chain partnering with a streaming service around a new show launch. Customers who ordered a qualifying combo meal got a limited-time streaming code printed on the receipt or delivered via email. The ads ran across TV, social, and the streaming platform’s own interface.

What actually drove results here?

• Timing around a big release. The campaign launched right before a heavily promoted season premiere. The streaming platform was already everywhere; the pizza chain simply rode the wave.
• Clear value exchange. From the customer’s point of view, it was simple: “Order what you already order, get free episodes.” No hoops, no surveys.
• Shared audience mindset. Both brands target people settling in for a night at home. It’s Friday, you’re hungry, and you’re scrolling for something to watch. The cross-promo fits the moment.

A similar dynamic played out when a global fast-food chain partnered with a blockbuster movie franchise. Kids’ meals included toys and codes for exclusive digital content; the movie trailers featured the meal in short tags at the end.

Was it subtle? Not at all. But it worked because the campaign aligned incentives:

• The movie studio wanted awareness and repeat viewings.
• The restaurant wanted more family visits and higher check sizes.
• Parents wanted their kids entertained for, let’s be honest, at least 20 quiet minutes.

The cross-promotion was everywhere – tray liners, packaging, app push notifications, even cinema lobby displays. It wasn’t elegant, but it was very hard to miss.

The quiet powerhouse: DTC brands sharing packaging and post-purchase space

Not every cross-promotion campaign involves billion-dollar logos. Some of the smartest examples come from direct-to-consumer brands that quietly piggyback on each other’s shipments.

Imagine this: you order skincare from a mid-size DTC brand. When the box arrives, there’s a small, well-designed card inside offering you 20% off a premium tea subscription. On the back, there’s a QR code and a short story about “evening rituals” – mask on, tea brewed, phone on airplane mode.

The skincare brand gets:

• A partner who helps cover packaging and fulfillment costs.
• A nicer unboxing experience without extra creative overhead.

The tea brand gets:

• Access to a highly targeted audience: people who spend on self-care.
• A physical touchpoint that sits in the customer’s home for days.

This kind of co-insert campaign often scales quietly. Brands test it with a few thousand orders, watch redemption rates, then expand to the full customer base if the numbers look good.

You see similar tactics with:

• Co-branded email flows. A fitness apparel brand featuring a nutrition app in its post-purchase emails, with a “friends of [Brand] get 30 days free” line.
• Shared landing pages. Two home decor brands creating a joint “room refresh” guide, each linking to the other’s product bundles.

The common thread: none of this feels random. The products live in the same mental category for the customer.

Case in point: how a small fitness app hit big numbers through partners

Take a hypothetical, but very realistic, case of a small fitness app we’ll call PulseFit. They didn’t have the budget to compete with the big players on paid social. So instead of trying to outbid them, they looked sideways.

PulseFit started by mapping out where their ideal users were already spending money: athleisure, protein snacks, and budget gym chains. Cold outreach to those brands would have been a long shot, so they did something smarter: they pulled data from their existing users.

In an onboarding survey, they added one simple question: “Which of these brands have you bought from in the last 3 months?” The results were clear. Three mid-market brands popped up over and over again.

From there, PulseFit pitched a series of cross-promotion tests:

• For the athleisure brand, they created a co-branded 4-week training plan PDF. Every order confirmation email included a link: “Get your free PulseFit training plan with your new gear.”
• For the snack brand, they designed a QR code printed on the inside of the box: “Scan for 30 days of workouts to match your new snacks.”
• For the gym chain, they built short, gym-branded workout collections. New gym members got an email: “Your first 30 days of workouts are on us, powered by PulseFit.”

Nothing about this was flashy. But the metrics were quietly impressive:

• Email click-throughs for the athleisure collab outperformed their own Facebook ads by a wide margin.
• The snack brand’s QR code had modest scans but very high conversion to free trials – the people who bothered to scan were seriously interested.
• The gym chain partnership gave PulseFit credibility; seeing the app endorsed by a physical location made it feel more legitimate.

And the partners? They got extra value to layer into their own marketing without building any tech themselves.

What successful cross-promotion campaigns have in common

Looking across these examples, some patterns show up again and again.

The brands share a story, not just a demographic

It’s tempting to say, “We both target millennials, let’s partner.” That’s how you end up with a random credit card offer inside a meal kit box – technically aligned on age and income, but emotionally off.

The better campaigns share a story:

• “You’re commuting; let’s make that time more enjoyable.” (Uber × Spotify)
• “You’re staying in tonight; let’s cover food and entertainment.” (Pizza × streaming)
• “You’re investing in self-care; let’s build a ritual around it.” (Skincare × tea)

When both brands can finish the same sentence about the customer’s day, the creative becomes a lot easier.

The offer is specific and time-bound

“Get a discount” is vague. “Get 30 days free when you order this week” is concrete. The campaigns that perform best usually:

• Tie the offer to a clear action (order X, sign up for Y, scan Z).
• Limit the window (“this month,” “during the season,” “for the first 10,000 users”).

That time pressure doesn’t have to be aggressive, but it should be real. Otherwise the promotion just becomes background noise.

The promotion lives where the behavior already happens

The Starbucks and Uber examples work because they show up exactly where the behavior is happening: in-store, in-app, in-transit. The DTC inserts work because they arrive with the product itself.

If you need the customer to switch channels, remember that every extra step kills a chunk of your audience. A QR code on a box is one thing. A QR code that opens a long-form landing page that asks for eight form fields? That’s a drop-off machine.

Common ways cross-promotion quietly fails

Of course, not every partnership is a win. There are some familiar failure modes.

The brands don’t actually share values

On a spreadsheet, a budget airline and a luxury luggage brand might look like a fit. In reality, the luggage buyers might resent being pushed toward an airline known for nickel-and-diming passengers. That mismatch can backfire on both brands.

When you evaluate potential partners, it’s worth looking beyond audience overlap:

• How do they handle customer service complaints publicly?
• What does their Trustpilot or BBB profile look like?
• Are they in the news for the right or wrong reasons?

A short-term spike in sign-ups is not worth long-term damage to your own reputation.

The creative feels like homework

Another common issue: the promotion requires too much effort. Long forms, confusing redemption steps, codes that don’t work, or offers that are so conditional they might as well not exist.

If a customer has to read a paragraph twice to understand what to do, you’ve probably lost them. The best campaigns can be explained in one sentence at the register or in a single line of ad copy.

Nobody agreed on what “success” means

One brand wants email sign-ups, the other wants immediate revenue. One measures success in app installs, the other in in-store foot traffic. If you don’t define the scoreboard upfront, you end up with vague “brand lift” decks that don’t help anyone.

Before launch, both sides should be clear on:

• Primary metric (e.g., new accounts, redemptions, revenue per customer).
• Timeframe (launch window vs. long-tail impact).
• Reporting cadence and who owns the data.

It sounds basic, but it’s the difference between “Let’s do this again” and “We don’t really know if that worked.”

How to design your own cross-promotion campaign

If you’re thinking, “This all sounds nice, but where do we even start?” you’re not alone. The good news: you probably already have the raw materials.

Start with your current customers. Look at:

• Post-purchase surveys: what other products or services do they mention?
• Social media: which brands do they tag alongside yours?
• Support tickets: what are they trying to do with your product that you don’t currently offer?

From there, sketch a few partnership themes. For example:

• A productivity app might partner with a coffee brand and a note-taking tool around a “deep work” campaign.
• A pet food company might team up with a vet telehealth service and a pet insurance provider for a “new puppy starter pack.”

Then, design the smallest possible pilot:

• One co-branded email.
• One physical insert.
• One in-app banner.

Run it for a fixed period, track the basics (clicks, sign-ups, redemptions, revenue), and be honest with yourself about whether the lift justifies the effort.

If you’re handling customer data as part of the partnership, it’s worth getting familiar with privacy guidance from regulators like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Their business resources on data security and advertising practices are a good starting point:

• https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance

They’re not going to tell you how to design a campaign, but they will help you avoid the kind of data-sharing surprise that makes customers very unhappy.

Frequently asked questions about cross-promotion campaigns

Is cross-promotion only for big brands?

Not at all. In many ways, smaller brands have an advantage because they can move faster and test scrappier ideas. Things like shared packaging inserts, co-branded webinars, or joint discount codes are well within reach for early-stage companies.

How do we choose the right partner brand?

Look for three things: overlapping audience, compatible positioning, and a shared story about the customer’s day. If you can’t explain in one sentence why your products belong together in someone’s life, it’s probably not the right fit.

Do we need a formal contract for a cross-promotion?

For anything beyond a tiny, low-risk test, yes. You’ll want clear terms around use of logos, data sharing, campaign timelines, and how performance will be measured. Legal templates from reputable business resources, like those linked through the U.S. Small Business Administration, can be a useful reference point:

• https://www.sba.gov/business-guide

How long should a cross-promotion campaign run?

Most brands start with a short window – four to eight weeks – to gather data without overcommitting. Seasonal campaigns (back-to-school, holidays, major events) often have natural start and end dates. If it works, you can always extend or turn it into an ongoing program.

How do we avoid annoying our customers with partner offers?

The simplest test: would this feel like a favor if you were the customer? If the offer is genuinely relevant, clearly valuable, and easy to redeem, it tends to land well. If it feels random, pushy, or confusing, it’s probably better left on the cutting-room floor.

Cross-promotion isn’t magic. It’s brands doing something very old-fashioned: introducing their customers to a friend. When the fit is right and the timing is thoughtful, those introductions can be worth more than another round of interruptive ads.