How Firstbeat Technologies Oy can utilise customer brands through a partnership marketing

Abstract

Partnership was considered an essential type of relationship in society with numerous forms and approaches, including applications in marketing. The research was conducted to examine partnership marketing and to analyse its implementation opportunities and risk management for Firstbeat Sports. To support the findings, a partnership marketing guidebook was developed. The research was carried out as a case study, following an interpretivist philosophy with an inductive approach. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees who had participated in partnership marketing. In addition, secondary data was collected to establish a theoretical background and to support the creation of the guidebook. The analysis of the interviews revealed repetitive patterns that employees emphasised during the discussions, as well as individual cases that influenced the geographical implementation of partnership marketing. The findings clarified the process of partnership marketing in the case company, its practical implementation, and the related risks highlighted by employees. The conclusions indicated how customer brands were utilised in partnership marketing, while also identifying key risks and providing approaches for their management.