Jessica Bruno.
Jessica Bruno, Marketing Scientist, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
Some brand collaborations make perfect sense. Others make you look twice.
Brand collaborations are where two or more brands work together to create a new product that achieves a common goal and share mutual benefits. From Coca-Cola flavoured Oreos to Nike and Tiffany sneakers, brands invest millions of dollars to produce collaborative products to generate buzz and excitement.
The latest collaboration that has consumers talking brings together Australian beauty brand MCoBeauty and well-known confectionery brand Cadbury, owned by Mondelēz International. Launched exclusively at Woolworths, the limited-edition range spans both chocolate and beauty products, including a Cadbury Dairy Milk watermelon chocolate block inspired by MCoBeauty’s watermelon skincare range, alongside Cadbury-themed beauty products such as an eyeshadow palette and lip peptide treatment. Who said chocolate had to stay in the confectionery aisle?
While Cadbury x MCoBeauty may seem like an unusual pairing, food-inspired beauty products are not entirely new. Many consumers will remember Lip Smacker's Coca-Cola and Fanta flavoured lip balms from the 2000s, suggesting that food and beauty have crossed paths before.
Cadbury x MCoBeauty collaborating on chocolate and beauty products (Retail World, 2026).
While some consumers are eager to give collaborative products a try, others may question whether chocolate and beauty products really belong together. But getting people to talk about a brand collaboration is one thing. Getting them to purchase it is another. This is why the important question is not whether collaborations can be successful, but how successful they are across key audiences and how consumer responses influence that outcome.
Research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute investigated 19 real brand collaborations involving consumer packaged goods, durables and luxury brands. Results show that more than half of consumers have merely a neutral response when asked how likely they are to buy the collaborative product if it were available to them, meaning they neither strongly reject nor strongly embrace it. In other words, not everyone will love or hate a collaborative product. For many consumers, the response sits somewhere in between.
Among those with stronger reactions, rejection is more common than enthusiasm, with consumers up to 2.5 times more likely to reject collaborations than embrace them. Only four of the 19 collaborative products tested attracted more enthusiasts than rejectors, and all four involved consumer packaged goods brands.
What makes consumers embrace one collaboration and reject another?
People tend to embrace and reject collaborative products for many of the same reasons. How the new product looks or tastes matters, as does how consumers feel about the brands involved.
Among those enthusiastic about a collaborative product, liking the look or taste of the new product, having positive feelings towards the brands involved, and perceiving the two brands to be a good fit are common reasons for wanting to buy. For example, some consumers might like the idea of a chocolate-inspired lip treatment. Others may already feel positively towards both Cadbury and MCoBeauty and seeing two familiar brands come together.
In contrast, those who reject collaborative products often report negative feelings towards one or both brands, having no need for the product category, or disliking the look or taste of the new product. Some consumers may feel the flavour combination of chocolate and watermelon does not sound right to them, while others may not currently be in the market for beauty products. Research from Professor John Dawes at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute suggests this likely reflects the 95:5 rule, which highlights that at any given time most consumers are not in the market for a particular category. While chocolate is a frequently purchased, low-risk category, beauty products such as skincare and cosmetics are typically purchased less often, suggesting some consumers may simply have no current need for the beauty side of the collaboration.
What increases the chances of a successful collaboration?
If you're considering a brand collaboration, partner selection remains important. Consumers bring their existing attitude/knowledge of both brands into their evaluation of the new product. The collaborative product itself needs to deliver something that looks or tastes appealing, and the pairing needs to make sense to consumers.
Advertising also has a role to play. Rather than relying on the novelty of the collaboration alone, spotlight what makes the collaborative product appealing and communicate the benefit created by bringing the two brands together.
So, will Cadbury x MCoBeauty be a sweet success?
The collaboration has already achieved one thing many brands hope for: it has people talking. Whether that buzz translates into purchase will depend on how consumers feel about the new products themselves.
Perhaps adding a little pink to Cadbury’s purple world is enough to get consumers to look twice. The real test is whether they feel enthusiastic enough about the product to want to buy it.
Jessica Bruno is a Marketing Scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science, the world’s largest centre for research into marketing. For more information about Ehrenberg-Bass visit www.MarketingScience.info