About Me

Welcome to Launch Talk:

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Launch Talk where I, with the help of my colleagues, will be discussing news, trends and events on launching products, services, companies and communities. Together we will be following new products and how to launch them and will be conveying our primary data obtained through research, plus my opinions on what’s happening as it relates to consumer, corporate and public affairs in the “launch” category.

We will offer news, opinion, statistics and ideas on what makes a new product launch memorable. I hope you'll respond in kind by sharing your thoughts on launches you've noticed, ones that have driven you to the store to try and buy new products. We hope you’ll participate in our blog, as we are interested in your opinions about our research and new products in general.

My Agency

I am president and creative director of Schneider Associates, a Boston based independent public relations agency I began 30 years ago. We represent regional and national clients with concentration on launching consumer products and services, re-launching icon products, corporate communications and public affairs.

My Background in Launch

By way of background, my fascination with launching new products began in 2001, when my agency and I embarked upon the first ever study of best practices in consumer launch with the Schneider/Boston University Launch Report. Our goal was to understand why companies spent years of research and development time and millions of dollars to create new products---yet only spent a fraction of the budget—and time—to launch the product into the marketplace. Each year, we also publish the Schneider/Stagnito/IRI Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey to identify the Most Memorable Products of the previous year.

My agency and I have continued our quest for information about launch in a recent study with the Innovation and Research Center at Babson College on Best Practices in Business to Business Launch. In B2B marketing, we found that companies seemed to use the same methodologies when launching new products. Our goal is to find out what tactics are most effective and why companies select them.

Joan is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston University's College of Communication, Joan is also a graduate of the Owner President Management Program (OPM) at Harvard Business School and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Boston. She received Boston University's "Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to the Profession" and currently serves on the College of Communication's Executive Committee.