Steps to Planning Perfect Product Launch Events

After many years of research and development or product design, a corporation is always—and naturally—excited to hold a once-in-a-lifetime event to showcase its new product, service or gadget.  Building hype and excitement is key to the success of such events—as is having a qualified event planning company on your side.  In this day and age of social media, an important key to success is to create the right buzz about the event.  As an experienced event planning company with many successful product launches to its credit, GMS recommends the following important steps for a perfectly-planned product launch event:  

The Purpose

Like every other event type, a product launch event must also start with a set of objectives.  The purpose of your product launch event is not just to get exposure or have as many guests at the event.  It is for the rightaudience to be introduced to your product or service creating the right vibe about it through social and other media.  Ultimately, the goal is to convert the target audience—and by extension their connected networks—into people willing to pay for your product or your service.  

More specifically, you have to decide on specific goal(s) for your event: Is it product awareness, sales, product distribution, media coverage, or to reach out to key industry influencers?  Articulating your purpose will help in deciding what type of event (for example, trade event, media event or consumer event) you should plan for.   Despite the temptation, the bigger is not always better in this case.  It’s critical that you don’t try to host one event that caters to multiple audiences. Keep your target audience narrow. This will help you to market and sell the event itself.

The Venue

Much like any corporate event, the venue plays an important role in product launches.  Some venues have their own appeal.  Obviously, you want the emphasis to be on the product and not the venue. Nevertheless, a venue with unique attributes will certainly help with your marketing efforts. Needless to say, you would want some positive association between the venue and the product/service being launched. Don’t forget your intended demographics when choosing a venue.   

The Timing

Timing can make or break a product launch.  Pick your timing carefully considering such important factors as time of the year based on the intended audience, the seasonality, if any, of the product in question.  It is equally important to keep in mind that if the product is not ready for market release, it is better to call off the event than have a launch for a product that is not market ready.   

The Theme

Theming plays a critical role to the success of the event.  A technology product calls for a different theme than a pharmaceutical product—likewise for a service.   The theme should be related to the product, or at least to the industry.  Similarly, the amenities at the venue must also be compatible with the product/service being launched.  A technology product may require specific upgrades the venue to be able to demonstrate the product properly.  You may also consider specific themes for a series of information seminars during the course of the product launch event for interested groups (for example, media or specialists).  If any samples are being handed out, the packaging must reflect the theme for added emphasis.     

The Entertainment

While the event is primarily intended to introduce, entice and educate the audience about a product or service, don’t underestimate the value of entertainment for such events.  Entertainment is intended to make the event fun and memorable—a welcome outcome for any product launch.  When it comes to entertainment, the range of possibilities is very wide—anything from a DJ, to a comedian, to a big-name celebrity.  The right entertainment could act as a vital draw for some products or services.  Depending on the subject product or service, entertainment can also incorporate the very product or service being launched—such as a game or activity.  

The Social Media

Regardless of how “private” you may wish to keep your product launch event, in today’s environment, social media play a vital role in creating a buzz—even among those who don’t get invited to the product launch event.  Thus, marketing the product launch event itself becomes an important task.  Your event planning company should help you put together an online marketing strategy in the weeks leading up to the event.  The strategy should incorporate all possible and pertinent platforms—from print to e-mail, to blogs, to social media, etc.  Social media can play a vital tool in creating a buzz for your new product or service or for your product launch event itself.  

The Conclusion

While the hype generated at the product launch event may die down, the interest in the product or service need not.  Make sure to send off the participants with some keepsake items to remind them of the product and/or of the event itself.  A follow-up strategy needs to be crafted to reach out to not only those who attended the event, but also the broader universe that you so carefully cultivated through social media.  This strategy should, in some way, mirror the pre-event marketing campaign. It should include lots of social media activity, continuing use of the event hashtag, and other platforms appropriate for the product or service in question.  

Product launch event planning provides a unique forum to showcase your new product or service.  It should be viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a lasting hype about the subject product or service.  Your event planning company should be able to help you strategize to take full advantage of all possibilities to maximize your ROI from such an event.

GMS is your go-to event planning support to roll out your perfect product launch event.