The Marks & Spencer Matchmaker Colin for Valentine's day was cute. I sent a picture to my mum and her response was — "What's next? Crucifix Colin?!"
At first I thought "What, Colin variations are cute!", so much so that I spent an hour thinking up others:
- Payday Colin: Surrounded by chocolate coins, he's cash rich for the week baby.
- 🚆 Tube Strike Colin: Backpack, rage, and a blue zip gilet, he's trying to get to Bank.
- 🍼 New Parent Colin: Get a mini Colin and put him in a baby carrier on his back. (Works for Connie too obvs)
- 💘 First Date Colin: Make him shorter than the usual Colin, he's not 6ft like his profile said.
And finally — Startup Founder Colin in an AG1 collaboration.
AG1 x Colin The Caterpillar fake collab but like doesn’t even feel fake anymore
I asked our designer Alex to make me this as a joke and was staring at it until it hit me:
My attempt at absurdity feels…plausible.
After all, this is the era of Frankenstein Food – the cronut, the crookie, the cruffin, hard kombuchas, protein-infused cereals, matcha yoghurts, chocolate butter, vodka pasta sauce, pre-mixed tinnies, spicy honeys, and mushroom teas that promise to boost your energy (whilst also tasting a bit like soil).
Some collaborations go beyond mere novelty to become products consumers want to keep buying. When Heinz partnered with Absolut for vodka pasta sauce, they created a product perfectly aligned with the viral recipe trend. Marmite's expansion across M&S products saw how considered partnerships give us beloved flavours in ways we actually want.
The most successful brand marriages understand cultural context, identify genuine brand affinities, and solve our needs - creating products that outlive the initial PR cycle. These aren't just marketing stunts; they're thoughtful extensions that highlight both brands while delivering something we would actually eat and buy.
Left to right: Sauce Shop x Aldi Brussel Sprout Kimchi, Pepsi x Captain Morgan, Marmite x M&S, Ardman x Tyrells, All Things Butter Chocolate, Collective Matcha Yoghurt, Ben&Jerrys x Tony’s, Dr Pepper Cherry Crush, Surreal x Gymshark, Heinz x Absolut, Heinz x Richmond, Burts x Guiness.
But collaboration does not replace innovation, and some products pushed out by are simply bewildering — is there any value for us as customers beyond a laugh or are we just purveyors of corporate performance art?
A recent collaboration between Knorr Stock x Ann Summers saw the brand’s make a sexy aphrodisiac stock pot for couples looking to “cook up desires”. Another was Flamin Hot’ x UpCircle, if you hadn’t noticed Flamin’ Hot is everywhere, did it need to be in a lip balm?
Left to right: Monster Munch x Heinz, Wicked x Robinsons, Minecraft x Doritos, KFC x Propercorn, PepsiCo x UpCircle, Skittles x French’s, Knorr x Ann Summers, Cajun Squirrel Walkers, PepsiCo x Doughlicious, Oreo x Coca-Cola, Brussel Sprout Surreal Cereal.
These partnerships typically follow a formula of: luxury meets mainstream, sweet meets savoury, food and fashion, or pure absurdity. The results? LinkedIn posts that start with "Excited to announce our groundbreaking partnership..." followed by comments and likes in the LinkedIn echo chamber before disappearing into the graveyard of limited editions.
Perhaps the balanced view is to enjoy the creativity while maintaining healthy scepticism. As true triers of things, we decided to participate in the spectacle and bought the Flamin’ Hot Doughlicious Ice Cream balls.
Spoiler: Whilst probably a short-lived fad, they are delicious.
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