How to become an unstoppable launch machine - breakfast briefing October 2014 (speaker notes added)

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10 THINGS WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT LAUNCHES. @fivebyfiveuk

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As a launch marketing agency, we’ve worked on launches for products and services in many different sectors, to many different audiences across many different channels. Every launch is different. However, we’ve learned that there are certain things which are common to successful launches, which over time have become our guiding principles. This is a summary of these 10 guiding principles.

Transcript of How to become an unstoppable launch machine - breakfast briefing October 2014 (speaker notes added)

Page 1: How to become an unstoppable launch machine - breakfast briefing October 2014 (speaker notes added)

10THINGS WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT LAUNCHES.@fivebyfiveuk

Page 2: How to become an unstoppable launch machine - breakfast briefing October 2014 (speaker notes added)

As a launch marketing agency, we’ve worked on launches for products and services in many different sectors, to many different audiences across many different channels. Every launch is different. !However, we’ve learned that there are certain things which are common to successful launches, which over time have become our guiding principles. !This is a summary of the 10 things we’ve learned about launches. !!!

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(IN MARKETING ANYWAY.)

LAUNCHES ARE THE MOST STRESSFUL, EXCITING, TERRIFYING, WONDERFUL THINGS YOU CAN DO.

A launch is one of the most stressful, exciting, fun and satisfying things you can do in marketing. It’s high risk, but high reward - high pressure, and high profile.The eyes of your business, your customers and your competitors are on you. There’s a lot on the line; money, reputation, credibility, share price. It has to be perfect. A launch can make or break a year.

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Get it right, and you’re a step closer to the marketing rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame, with a glittering CV that says you can get it done when it matters most.

Get it wrong, and you risk being marketing’s equivalent of a drunken smelly Santa tramp.

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1. HAVE A REASON TO EXIST. If you’re launching something, start with the consumer need. Know how your product fulfils that need, and articulate it clearly so that people feel that they need your product in their world. Make sure the thing you’re launching is worth launching. !Let’s take the Apple iPod for example. The iPod wasn’t the only MP3 player to be released, but its 2003 strapline - ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’ - gave consumers a clear and immediate reason to want one. !You need to be able to articulate that reason to exist in 1 line before you even think about launching. !REFERENCE http://www.slideshare.net/fivebyfive/has-marketing-forgotten-about-the-consumer

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Smarter than any smart phone, and

easy to use.

Better for browsing or consuming content than a

laptop or a phone.

Apple have continued to quickly identify, and simply articulate, the reason for their products to exist. !Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4 Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj6q_z2Ni9M

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The most personal device we’ve ever invented.

A note of caution. Make sure you identify a genuine reason for your ‘thing’ to exist in your customer’s world - not just a reason why you think it’s great. !Arguably, Apple haven’t followed their own usual customer-centric approach with the Apple watch. What’s it’s reason to exist?

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What if you’re not Apple, and you’re not launching something as revolutionary as an iPod, an iPhone or an iPad? !You could be launching a pension, cat food, or a banana slicer. The same principle applies. Make full use of audience insight and know what consumers need. Articulate that in a compelling way so that people feel that they need your product in their world.

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2. HAVE A GOLDEN THREAD

This is the guiding theme which binds together all your campaign elements, uniting stakeholders, audiences and channels. It needs to be powerful, simple and flexible enough to meet all of their needs.

It should be the heart and soul of your launch.

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EXAMPLE: !Back in 1993, Orange was looking to launch into a hostile mobile phone network market. Cellnet and Vodafone were dominant with over 90% network coverage each. They were competing on tariffs, commoditising the market and blocking entry. Mercury one-2-one gained a foothold, but with an equally commoditised approach - free calls & regional coverage. !The opportunity for Orange was to take the ‘brand high ground’ and deliver a value message from a position of brand strength, not commodity weakness. !Their brand vision was built around a future where all communication was wire free. !This led to the golden thread that bound together their audiences, channels and messaging for years to come - The future’s bright, the future’s Orange.

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Here’s just one example of that golden thread being simple, powerful, and flexible. Here it is at the heart of a print advertising execution about a specific service. It doesn’t mention tariffs, network coverage or even mobile phones.

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But you also need to be disciplined. Once you have your golden thread, people will want to change it. Don’t let it go. !There will be stakeholders who the think their thing is more important, who will try to change your mind and sway you. !You’ve decided on the heart and soul of your launch - stand firm and stick to it.

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3. TELL A STORY Storytelling is one of the most ubiquitous buzzwords in marketing right now. !Of course telling stories is as old as the hills, and it’s basically about making facts interesting.

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The best stories are about overcoming easily identifiable challenges. And the most meaningful stories to us are the ones where we can personally identify with those challenges.

Storytelling is what gives your golden thread (or yellow brick road?!) substance and makes it meaningful.

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WE WILL PUT UP WITH A LOT. UNTIL SOMEONE TELLS US WE DON’T HAVE TO.

Once upon a time we would go to the video rental shop, choose our film, rent it out, take it home, watch it, rewind it for the next person, then rush it back to the shop to avoid a fine. !Until someone came along and said - ‘why not just download it in much higher quality in the comfort of your own home’. !Meaningfully overcoming easily identifiable challenges is the start of your launch narrative. !

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4. COORDINATE

A launch has a huge number of moving parts, stakeholders, audiences, events, channels - you have one chance, with all eyes on you, so everything has to be perfect. !It’s important to remember that being responsible for a launch is different to running a launch. Be honest with yourself - are you the best person to run your launch? If not you, then who? !

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You need an organisational ninja – someone with amazing attention to detail who gets the bigger strategic idea but who can still work on the front line. Find that person. Give them a big hug. Put them at the centre of your project. Trust them. Then take a step back and let them get on with it.

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Here’s an example of what can happen if you don’t have every detail buttoned down. !A poster in a supermarket, where they decided the POS supplied as part of the launch didn’t quite do the job they wanted it to - so improvised with comic sans! !

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5. BE A DEMOCRAT AND A DICTATOR

While your ninja is running the launch, you still need to manage the many stakeholders with different views, opinions, motivations and pressures. !There are times when you want to be inclusive and have people be part of the discussion. And there are times when you need to hold a straight line. !Knowing when to do what is really important and can make a difference in the direction of a launch.

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Let’s use an analogy. With the eyes of the world on you, you have one chance to get everything right, with your CV dependent on success. A bit like a World Cup.

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DEMOCRAT

DICTATOR

= WORLD CUP FAILURE & PR DISASTER

DICTATOR

DEMOCRAT

= HIGH PERFORMING TEAM BOUND FOR WORLD CUP SUCCESS

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WE ALL HAVE THE ANSWER. WE’RE ALL RIGHT. WE’RE ALL GENIUSES.

This is especially true when dealing with your agencies. !Because we all think we’re geniuses, we all have the answer. You have the unenviable task of separating fact from opinion, insight from instinct, and personalities from truth. !Trust your instincts on this. It’s your launch, not ours. !!!

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6. GET YOUR PEOPLE ONSIDE. A lot of institutions pay lip service to this but you should put as much time into getting your people onside as you do your customers. They need to get it like you get it – to be inspired and love it.

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EXAMPLE: !This year we launched the adidas body care range with a 3 month, multi-phase, integrated campaign with a big experiential idea, One Shot, at it’s heart. We recruited and followed 4 ordinary lads as we put them through their footballing paces, filming them as we asked them to step up to take a penalty in an underground lair, facing an international goalkeeper, in front of a baying crowd, a trip to Brazil at stake.

And it was quite easy for us as an agency, and our clients in the marketing team at COTY to get excited about the campaign. But it was crucial that we spent time with the sales team, who would be going in to meet the buyers at their biggest customers, so that they felt as excited by it as we did. The success of our launch rested on them.

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The war isn’t won in the boardroom or during strategy or brainstorming sessions. It’s won by the sales teams and the people out there talking to your customers. Unless they’re inspired, supported and listened to, you may win the war in the boardroom, but the wheels will fall off the moment you go outside.

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7. CUSTOMISE FOR EACH AUDIENCE

Think about the touch-points for each audience and how that links back to your golden thread and your reason for existence. Don’t create ‘matching luggage’ - it’s not ‘one size fits all’. !Customise your launch campaign so that it’s compelling to each different audience. !!

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WIIFM

Sure, this is like the first day at marketing school and the principle ‘what’s in it for me?’. But that’s the core. Understand what’s in it for each audience and deliver on it, excellently, first time. Remember, you have one chance to get your launch right.

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8. DEPLOY YOUR RED TEAM

Identify a Red Team and brief them to subject your plan, ideas and assumptions to rigorous inspection and challenge. Ask them to leave no stone unturned, no matter how painful their discovery may be. Eliminate anything that may knock your launch off course, and where possible have a plan B – you’ll be grateful you did when you’re in the eye of the storm.

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It’s a principle taken from the military, but used in many organisations. One example is penetration testing for websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_test !Identify any vulnerabilities in, or risks to, your launch plan.

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9. MEASURE IN REAL TIME

Identify up front what you can measure in real time, and put the tools in place to do so. This way you can immediately understand the affect any changes to the original plan may have. Don’t miss any opportunities to course correct as the launch is happening, as this can affect it’s success.

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No matter how well prepared you are, something will take your launch off script. Identify it through real time measurement, react quickly, confidently flex the plan and deploy plan B before anyone’s noticed.

!!

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10. HAVE FUN

If something doesn’t feel right, chances are something’s wrong somewhere. It’s not scientific, but experience tells us that the most successful launches are the ones where people are excited, rather than worried. They’re confident, they accept the risks, they’re not reckless, but they’re not scared. Positive energy breeds positive energy and if you have it, you’ll be an unstoppable launch machine.

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1. HAVE A REASON TO EXIST

2. HAVE A GOLDEN THREAD

3. TELL A STORY

4. COORDINATE

5. BE A DEMOCRAT AND A DICTATOR

6. GET YOUR PEOPLE ONSIDE

7. CUSTOMISE FOR EACH AUDIENCE

8. DEPLOY YOUR RED TEAM

9. MEASURE IN REAL TIME

10. HAVE FUN