Co-advertising is the practice where one or more companies choose to run a joint promotion campaign where the brands the participating companies are shown in the same ad format.

Typically, the costs of the co-advertising campaign are shared between participating companies - though more often than not, the company receiving the prime visibility or receiving the best perceived publicity might end up picking up a bigger share of the tab.

Co-advertising is often confused with cross-promotion or co-branding.

Co-advertsing however is not cross-promotion or co-branding.
It's the marketing form in the middle.

With cross-promotion, two companies include each other in their respective marketing campaigns. There are two different companies, two different products, two different marketing campaigns and often two different databases.

With co-advertising, two companies undertake a joint marketing campaign for two different products. There are two different companies, two different products but one marketing campaign and usually one database.

With co-branding, two companies jointly promote one product or service using two brand names for the product. There are two different companies, one product and one marketing campaign and usually one database.

Cross-promotion example:
eBay promotes Fedex to the eBay members and Fedex promotes eBay to it's userbase.

Co-advertising example:
eBay and Fedex run a joint marketing print campaign aimed at small businesses extolling the combination of selling on eBay using Fedex to send the parcels.

Co-branding example:
eBay and Fedex joint develop and promote a special Fedex parcel box with a preferential rate for eBay sellers.

A sample of co-advertising examples:

- Intel and Dell share the costs of a marketing campaign promoting the latest Dell laptop with a very prominent mention of the "Intel Inside" feature (Fortune 500 co-advertising)
- Two small businesses share the costs of a joint booth at a local trade fair (small business co-advertising)
- A local restaurant and a local fitness share the costs of a leaflet and direct mailing
campaign extolling the virtues of the local restaurant and the fitness (local co-advertising)

Co-advertising key Succes factors:

- Easy to use together:
Co-advertising works better if the two products work well together/enhance each other.
Think a jeans & t-shirt co-advertising campaign versus a jeans & dogfood co-advertising campaign

- Coherent brand message:
Co-advertising only makes sense if the two brands have a similar appeal.
Think a Dell & Microsoft co-advertising campaign versus a Microsoft & Aplle co-advertising campaign (the horror!)

- Trust and co-operation between the brands:
Co-advertising could be a disaster when none of the participating brands is willing to execute the co-advertising agreement in good faith. Often it makes sense to include a third-party to help out in potential trust issues.

We hope this page was instructive on the tenets of co-advertising.