What makes a co-promo sing? Try a distinct offer that is leveraged every which way possible. Capitol/Virgin Music gets that, and is on the lookout for like-minded partners who do as well.

"We explore all opportunities," says Angie Bazzana, director of marketing at Capitol/Virgin Music Canada. "It has to be the right fit."

A current example is a national promo called Yellowcard Typhoon, which has the record label hitching a ride with Toronto-based Canadian Scooter. The radio, print, viral, guerrilla and OOH effort hypes the launch of rock band Yellowcard's new CD.

Five Yellowcard-branded Typhoon scooters will be given away via CDs equipped with unique PINs, which drive kids to yellowcardtyphoon.ca to register. And mobile users who text "yellow card" to a short code receive an m-coupon, as well as a reminder about the contest.

Meanwhile, Yellowcard fanzines are available at select HMV locations and in Canadian Scooter's Vespa shops, and will be given away by street teams, as will mobile stickers and posters.

The record label is also leveraging its own database for email marketing. In September, Capitol/Virgin teamed up with Xbox for Yellowcard's tour. Since one of the band's songs can be heard on Xbox's Burn Out game, a Burn Out-branded vehicle was a tag along on show dates, culling names for a database that is already 5,000 strong.