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Strategy and operations

No brand grows alone

A partnership between brands works as one more acquisition channel, so it has to be measured the same way. Each partner gets its own link and its own code, and that is how you know how much each one sold.

North team · Updated October 7, 2026 · 4 min read

  1. Affinity mapbrands with the same customer
  2. Joint offerbundle, collection or event
  3. Link and code per partnerUTM and unique code
  4. Cross promotioneach brand to its community
  5. Attributionsales by partner
  6. Splitas agreed
A partnership measured end to end.

Partnership formats

What two brands that talk to the same customer without competing can put together.

PackageStay with dinnerone price, two servicesHotel and restaurant sell together what the guest was going to look for anyway.
ProductCapsule collectionlimited editionFashion and eyewear, coffee and ceramics: an object that exists only because of the partnership.
EventCo-produced nighttwo communities, one dateA club and a sound system, a brand and a restaurant.
BenefitCross perkcustomer of A → benefit at BThe guest gets a free drink at the partner bar, and the other way around.
LoyaltyLinked programsshared stamps or pointsWhat they buy at one business counts at the other.
ReferralThe influential professionalbarista · concierge · chefSomeone the customer listens to recommends your product, as Oatly did.
ContentCollaborative postInstagram CollabThe same post appears on both profiles and combines the reach of both.
CommissionReferred sale% per booking with a codeThe partner earns on what they bring in, measured with their code.

How it is done

Choosing partners with a score

Each candidate is scored from 1 to 5 on four criteria: whether they talk to the same customer, whether they have a similar level, how close they are and how active their community is. The first one is measured by comparing the cities and ages of the two audiences.

Casa Aurora candidatestable
Candidate                 Same customer  Level  Distance  Community  Total
Fuego Lento (restaurant)        5          5        5          4        19
Mareas (boat tours)             4          4        3          4        15
Taller Barro (ceramics)         4          5        4          2        15
Mass-market beach club          2          2        4          5        13

Recommendation. The beach club has the biggest community and comes in last. Sharing the customer weighs more than size.

What a new customer costs through a partnership

Of total sales, only those from people who had never bought before count as growth. That gives the cost per new customer, which is compared with what it costs to acquire one with ads.

First quarter of Casa Aurora partnershipscalculation
Partnership sales            87
Cost per sale                $310   → total cost $26,970
New customers                64%    → 56 people
Cost per new customer        $26,970 ÷ 56 ≈ $482

Recommendation. Compared with an ad cost per customer in the thousands of pesos, a partnership with the right partner is usually the cheapest channel.

Linked points programs: Starbucks and Delta

On October 12, 2022, Delta Air Lines and Starbucks let members link their loyalty programs. Delta members earn one mile for every dollar spent at Starbucks and double Starbucks Stars on days they fly Delta.

The goal was one million linked accounts in the first year. According to Tim Mapes, Delta's chief marketing officer, they reached it in 16 days. Analysis of a public case; North Marketing did not participate. Sources: Restaurant Dive and Inc.

Recommendation. The same logic works on a small scale: a hotel and a nearby café adding stamps to the same card.

What the dashboard looks like

Casa Aurora partnerships · first quarterIllustrative example
Sales from partnerships87bookings and purchases
New customers64%had never bought before
Cost per sale$310average

Attribution by partner

PartnerCodeSalesNew
Fuego Lento · restaurantFUEGO103871%
Mareas · boat toursMAREAS3158%
Taller Barro · ceramicsBARRO1861%

Tech stack

Attribution
Links with UTM parameters and unique discount codes per partner.
Sales
A single purchase or booking link for the joint offer.
Agreement
Split by service or by commission, in writing before launch.
Tracking
Shared dashboard with each partner's sales, updated week by week.

Under the hood

A partner linkURL
https://casaaurora.mx/reservar
  ?utm_source=fuegolento
  &utm_medium=alianza
  &utm_campaign=cena-estadia
  &codigo=FUEGO10

Each partner has its own link and code, so every sale is attributed to the partner who brought it in.

What we measure

Sales by partner
Bookings or purchases attributed to each link and code.
New customers
Percentage of buyers who had never purchased before.
Cost per sale
What the partnership cost divided by the sales it brought in.

Case analysis

Oatly: entering a country hand in hand with baristas

Oatly · United States, 2016 to 2020

The Swedish oat milk was unknown in the United States. Instead of fighting for a spot in the supermarket, it partnered with the people who most influence how coffee is drunk: the baristas at specialty coffee shops.

What they did, step by step

  1. It created a barista version that foams like whole milk.
  2. It picked about ten high-end coffee shops in big cities.
  3. It introduced the product in person and left samples.
  4. The barista recommended it and the coffee shop gained something that set it apart: both sides won.
  5. With demand already built in the coffee shops, it entered the supermarket.
~10,000coffee shops in the United States in four years
+7,500stores in the United States
32,200coffee shops in more than 20 countries by the end of 2020

The mechanism

  1. Product for baristasBarista Edition
  2. Selected cafés~10 high-end
  3. Barista recommendationto the end customer
  4. Demand createdin cafés
  5. Supermarketafterward

Why it worked. A barista's recommendation is worth more than any ad, and the coffee shop had its own reason to recommend it.

How Oatly won over the United StatesWatch video

Video: CNBC Make It.

Analysis of a public case. North Marketing did not take part in this work. The figures come from Oatly's IPO prospectus (SEC).

Sources: F-1 prospectus (SEC) · CNBC

How we do it for your brand

  1. We look for brands that speak to the same customer as you without competing with you.
  2. We design a proposal where both win: a package, a collection, an event.
  3. Each brand shares it with its community through a single purchase link.
  4. We measure what each one sold and repeat what worked.

Go deeper

TopicRestaurant and hotel partnershipsDinner included with the stay: more nights and more covers.

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