Managers of new-to-the-market ingredient brands often use brand alliances to help establish the identity of an ingredient brand name. One common form of a brand alliance is joint branding in which an ingredient brand name is promoted on the host brand package. For new-to-the-market or little known ingredient brands, joint branding is an opportunity for increased exposure, increased product trial, and the formation of stronger associations to benefits that characterize the host brand. Thus, it should not be surprising that new-to-the-market ingredient brands actively recruit well-established host brand partners. However, we will show that it is not the strength of the host brand associations to the target benefit that is responsible for changes in the perception of the ingredient brand. Instead, it is the level of improvement in the joint branded product relative to the host branded product that drives changes in perceptions about the benefits delivered by the ingredient brand. Therefore, ingredient brands may often benefit from an alliance with a host brand that has weaker, rather than stronger, associations with a key product benefit.