The 3 lessons I learned about setting up unique Partnerships

Why partnerships are so much more than collaboration

People love people. We often spend more time with colleagues, clients and calls than with our own friends. Then you can safely say the collaboration is important, right? Of course the quality of the work matters – I trust my team blindly on that. But for me the real difference is in how you work together. And in that process — collaborating, sensing, building — I've learned a few important things over the past years.

What partnerships mean to us

Partnerships, as we approach them at ON A DAILY BASIS, are about connecting two brands – or as we call it: two worlds. Brands that find each other in shared convictions, and set up a brand initiative together to reach a community. Sometimes that's a campaign aimed at thought leadership, at inspiration and growing cultural momentum. Sometimes it's conversion-focused – aimed at actually activating new customers.

But in all cases: the core has to be right. You have to speak each other's language, or at least be willing to learn to understand it. And when that works, something beautiful happens.

In many of the cases I work on, you see this come back: big brands collaborating with smaller initiatives that have diehard fans – what we call micro-audiences. Communities that may be small in reach, but big in engagement. That's where the energy is. And me? I bridge those worlds. I make sure it works. Strategically and culturally.

Working by The Big 10

On the commercial side we work by 'The Big 10'. Ten convictions we've built up over the years. Not rules, but principles that keep us sharp – on the collaboration, on each other, and on the bigger picture.

For me, partnerships are mostly about being able to build bridges. Between brands, between worlds, between people. That's what gives me energy. And honestly? It's also what I'm good at.

Attention makes everything better

The principle that always sticks with me is number 3 – give attention. Not on autopilot. But genuinely. Really thinking along. Sensing what someone needs – even when it isn't said out loud.

Creative partner in crime

That's also how I like to position myself: as creative partner in crime. I know, it sounds cliché. But for me it means: standing next to someone, not across from them. Not selling a service, but building together on an idea, a brand, a collaboration that works.

1. Shared values = shared energy

When brands work from the same convictions, flow emerges. Then collaboration isn't a compromise. The strongest partnerships we've built at ODB didn't start with a pitch – but with shared values. You believe in the same thing, so you look in the same direction.

2. The audience is the source of inspiration

The best collaborations are built on the end user. Not on egos or campaigns. When you think from the community – behaviour, culture, language – you create space for something that moves people. Then you're not building a campaign, but a brand movement. And that makes the partnership simply logical. Because it fits. Because people feel it.

3. The luck factor exists – but you have to understand it

Sometimes it just clicks. The partnership makes (as we call it) 'sense'. That's not always based on a shared audience, or core values. It's a completely surprising combination. And those are the partnerships that really push brands forward.

The power of real collaboration

Building partnerships isn't a trick. It's a way of working, thinking and sensing. And when it works, something special happens: a bridge between brands, worlds and audiences.

Because ultimately that's what it's about: making something together that goes beyond yourself. Collaborations where brands strengthen each other, reach new audiences and create something that sticks.

That starts with listening. With giving. And with the guts to really build together.

That poster next to my desk? There are nine more principles on it. Maybe I'll share them sometime.

Be sure to also check out the coverage here around one of my favourite partnerships, between TNO and NPL – Breaking Boundaries. Where brands strengthen each other, reach new audiences and create something that sticks.