If it looks like licensing, tastes like licensing, smells like licensing and feels like licensing, is it licensing? Not necessarily for a range of luxury brand collaborations and partnerships, says Unity Marketing’s luxury marketing guru Pam Danziger in The Robin Report.

In the article, Pam and I explore the question in the context of examples including Kathy Ireland’s furniture line with Raymour & Flanigan and Sarah Jessica Parker’s partnership with Manolo Blahnik to develop a shoe collection exclusively for Nordstrom—cases where the celebrity often has an active role in product design and development.

“Some [other] collaborations are short term,” notes Pam. “Capsule collections that many fashion designers do with off-price brands like Target and H&M—while others are more substantial, like Apple and Gucci, or Tag Heuer, Google, and Intel for smart watches. Other examples are Valentino and Havaianas flip flops; Tory Burch and Fitbit wearables; Beats headphones by Dre and Fendi; and Cynthia Rowley and J.Crew wetsuits.”

Click here for the complete article, including many more examples of unique luxury market collaborations and partnerships.

And if you’re looking for competitive research on licensing and branding — luxe or otherwise — contact me at ira@iramayer.com.