Episode 78: The Anatomy of a Successful Partnership

We've all seen brand partnerships all over the place – from Target's collaboration with Missoni to Kanye West's partnership with Adidas. But as a wedding business, how can you leverage a brand partnership? In this episode of the This Week In Weddings podcast, we're chatting all about brand partnerships and how even small businesses can think about growing their brands with valuable collaborations.

 

About our guest: 

As Head of Brand Content at Shutterfly, Amber Harrison oversees the content strategy for all of Shutterfly Inc., including Tiny Prints, the Wedding Shop and flagship Shutterfly. In this role she is responsible for the strategic development of influencer relations, content creation and amplification, organic social awareness, UGC and brand partnerships. 

Previously, Amber headed up all communications for Wedding Paper Divas (now the Wedding shop by Shutterfly) where she established successful strategic partnerships with high profile industry experts, including wedding planner Mindy Weiss, designer Claire Pettibone and reality star Whitney Port. She created visibility for the brand through celebrity wedding celebrations, such as Sofia Vergara & Joe Manganello’s and Tara Lipinski & Todd Kapostasy’s.

Through her work as a writer, interviewer and producer, Amber is known as a modern authority on relationships, wedding trends and etiquette guidelines. She developed and hosted a weekly web series called “Small talk. Big day”, which has accumulated nearly 2 million views to-date. Through the series, Amber offered couples and their families practical advice and insights for the wedding planning process and interviewed industry influencers. For nearly two years, she wrote a weekly etiquette and advice column, Manners Mondays, for Huffington Post. Amber’s expertise and advice is regularly featured in wide variety of national media outlets including the Today Show, ABC News, Good Morning America, E! News, FABLife, Glamour, Brit & Co., Bridal Guide and Inside Weddings.

Prior to Shutterfly, Amber was an Account Supervisor at Edelman, the world’s largest communications firm. There she created and managed public relations programs on behalf of clients such as Orange France Telecom, Adobe Systems Incorporated and others. Amber came to Edelman from Zazzle.com where she developed a celebrity-endorsed cause-based marketing campaign that increased the company’s market share by nearly 15%, moving the company ahead of a major competitor.

Working with The Birthday Party Project, which aims to bring joy to homeless children through the magic of birthdays, Amber brought the monthly celebrations to two new locations —San Francisco and Silicon Valley— and established awareness and support within the local communities.

Amber studied Musical Theatre at Ithaca College and acting at The New Actors Workshop in New York. Her first job was in a touring production of Pippi Longstocking, in which she played the role of Annika.

 

In this episode, listeners will hear about:

Brand partnerships and how they come to be The why of partnering with another company or brand Things to keep in mind when considering partnership opportunities Viewing styled shoots as partnerships How even small businesses can partner with larger brands Considering what you have to offer and what you have to give in a brand partnership situation

 

 

Want to connect with Amber?

On the web: The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly Amber Harrison: Instagram Wedding Shop by Shutterfly: Facebook / Instagram  Shutterfly: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter