The Holmes Report featured an op-ed by Schneider Associates’ EVP and Launch Expert Julie Hall about how social media is changing the way we launch new products.
Hall and Schneider Associates introduced the Most Memorable New Product Launch (MMNPL) Survey in 2002, and since then, the poll has surveyed thousands of consumers about the most memorable product launches each year, analyzed media consumption and purchasing habits, and predicted trends based on the results.
Hall highlighted one significant change in this year’s MMNPL findings: “Facebook was nowhere near the top 10 sources of information about new products – and in the span of one year, it became the third most used source of information on new product launches, jumping from 17% to 40%. And this is just Facebook.”
Based on this and other findings, Hall coined the fifth P in the product marketer’s arsenal – Participation (the original four: product, price, promotion and place). Hall insists that consumers can be engaged by “Relationship Marketing,” which allows them to interact more closely with brands and products they love. Going forward, campaigns must consist of a blend of participatory marketing through various sources of old and new, traditional and social media marketing techniques in order to succeed.
At this year’s SXSW 2012 event, brand names vied for exposure in a space teeming with messages and activity, with everything of course being shared in existing and new social media platforms. For more about what’s hot in the digital world and being launched and experienced by the 20,000 visitors to SXSW, be sure to watch the following videos with Launch Expert Julie Hall of Schneider Associates and our on-site correspondent, Lynne Viera, president and CEO of Rival Marketing.
No SXSW conference is without free food and sampling, and this year was no different. Some of the brands displaying innovation and creativity include Chevrolet, Nikon, Miller Lite, Monster Energy, and Doritos. Doritos JACKED, the newest tortilla chips from Doritos, were being sampled at a Doritos sponsored concert that also featured a chance to win special prizes. Doritos also displayed a nearly six-story tall pop-up vending machine with giant oversized quarters, to help promote the new extra large chips flavored as Smoky Chipotle BBQ or Enchilada Supreme. Doritos also recently launched a Doritos branded taco shell which is being served at Taco Bell. For additional commentary on food brand promotions at SXSW, check out the post from Dom Celentano, The Foodpreneur, on About.com.
SXSW also launched its first Tex-Mex Taco Table that featured participating restaurants Taco Deli, Habanero Mexican Café, and Matt's Famous El Rancho. What better place than Austin, Texas to promote foods and restaurants with Hispanic flavor profiles and influences? This year, FedEx delivered food and free coffee from their food truck, along with providing a power up from their human chargers (see photo). Even world champion eater Kobayashi showed up to scarf what we think was a record number of grilled cheese sandwiches. The Today Show also had a food truck, as many brands find it is easier to get the attention of attendees outside the convention by offering free food or other services.
(Fedex Human Chargers)
(Today Show food truck)
Beer company Miller Lite gave its consumers a chance to enter the “SXSW 2012 Instant Win Game” for a $200 gift card or more. Attendees can also "Tweet a Beer" to someone, buying a Miller via PayPal which is redeemable at some bars. They also sponsored giveaways and downloads on Pandora, Spotify, and other music apps. Another beverage brand, Monster Energy, offered free breakfast and morning beverages during its events.
On the non-food front, Chevrolet developed an innovative promotion by providing taxi cab rides to Austin, Texas venues. Dubbed “Catch a Chevy,” the shuttle service showed off a full line of cars including Cruze sedans, Volts, Camaros, Corvettes and Mailbu Ecos featuring their updated OnStar service. People test drove the vehicles from the convention center or hailed a car to take them to their next destination.
Nikon put its new Nikon D4 and D-800 HD SLR cameras in the hands of fans. SXSW attendees sampled the devices by snapping pictures of featured musicians.
The annual SXSW event began in 1987 in Austin, Texas, at the Austin Convention Center, and has become one of the best chances brands have to get in front of a core audience of influencers and trendsetters.
If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.comor on Twitter @SchneiderPR.
“The omnipresence of the Internet in everyday life has been a prime game changing phenomenon for new product launches, and has created a new paradigm for marketers—the arrival of business-to-everyone, or B2E. In the United States, 74.7 percent of the population has Internet access; that’s over 304 million people. Overall, the Internet is the medium with which users spend the most time (32.7 hours/week), according to IT market intelligence giant International Data Corporation (IDC). This is equivalent to almost half of the total time spent each week using all media (70.6 hours), almost twice the time spent watching television (16.4 hours), and eight times more than reading newspapers and magazines (3.9 hours).
"When literally anyone around the world can visit your Web site, you are no longer aiming your messages at only your carefully targeted business to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) customers. Instead, you are talking to everyone—B2E. This may have broader implications for those in the B2B market since B2C companies are more accustomed to thinking of virtually anyone as a potential customer. In the more tightly controlled B2B arena—particularly in the business service sector— companies usually talk to a carefully selected group of target customers and prospects. Now anyone, including your competition, can visit your Web site and see your products, pricing, and case studies, and learn how you are positioning your wares. No one cares whether you characterize your product, service or company as B2C or B2B; all they want is information available 24/7 brought to them by Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engines that provide rapid search access.”
Schneider Associates President Joan Schneider joined forces with Ann Cave, SVP at Cramer Productions and moderator, Maura Driscoll, to discuss trends, strategies and tactics for launching new consumer and B2B products. The interactive video discusses different types of launches, how to understand the emotional and rational aspects learned from consumer/customer segmentation, how to use imagery to trigger emotional responses, pointers for dealing with media fragmentation, as well as several other topics. Watch the video and let us know what you think!
Schneider Associates is pleased to announce the launch of our newly redesigned, Web 2.0 optimized site at www.schneiderpr.com.
We’re doing so much research here at Schneider preparing for our new book, The New Launch Plan: 152 Tips Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products that is being published first quarter of 2010, that we needed a new Web site and content management system to be able to regularly and easily post news, research, content and video.Plus with all our work in Social Media, we wanted to lead the way with our own Social Media Newsroom.
According to Joan Schneider, president of the firm, “There’s so much happening in the field of new product launch and community launch, we wanted our Web site to be a place where marketers go to learn the latest technology about launching products, services, companies and communities. We’re excited about having a blog, video, Social Media Newsroom, downloadable content and other useful tools to share on our new site.”
Check back for excerpts from the new book that will be posted on the site, and let us know what you think! Message us on Twitter @SchneiderPR, join our Facebook community (http://bit.ly/2AQPq5) or email: launch@schneiderpr.com
Our friends and Worldcom partners, Hermanoff & Associates, work with MacuChek, a medical technology company based in West Bloomfield, MI. MacuChek has recently pioneered a device that is the first available to eye care professionals to assess a person’s risk of developing the leading cause of legal blindness, macular degeneration which affects approximately 30 million worldwide.
The MacuScope™ is the first commercially available, scientifically validated instrument that accurately measures macular protective pigment density, assesses a patient’s risk of developing macular degeneration decades before symptoms begin. With increasing lifespan and an aging population, the number of people affected by the disease is expected to double in the next 20 to 30 years, so this device will prove to be increasingly useful to the medical world.
Following a painless, non-invasive and brief examination, the MacuScope™, is able to quantify macular protective pigment density changes (MPPD) in the macula and then categorizes patients as either high-risk or low-risk for developing macular degeneration.
The MacuScope™ has already allowed for some fascinating success stories. “There was a recent case in Ireland where the MacuScopeTM was used in assessing and treating a patient who was told he would be blind within a year,” said Dr. David Segel, president and CEO of MacuChek. “Through the proper combination of MacuScopeTM screenings and corresponding dosage of ocular supplements, LMZ3 – known as MacuShield in Europe -- he has been able to regain his sight and begin driving again within six months.”
Besides Europe, The MacuScope™ is currently being used in 21 states throughout our country, Canada and will soon be available to Asian countries as well.
Schneider Associates recently collaborated recently with the Center for Business Innovation at Babson College on the Schneider Associates Business-to-Business Launch Survey, which polled sales and marketing executives most involved in successful B2B launches to determine best practices and success factors for launching new products and services.
The study identified 10 tips companies can use to improve their odds of launch success in the highly competitive B2B market. Over the next 10 days, Launch TV will profile these tips so you can have a better sense of how to have a successful B2B launch.
We’ll also be showing you some clips from a presentation given by Joan Schneider, President of Schneider Associates, at The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) New England Chapter meeting in November.
Asked what they would do to improve their next launch, the response that drew the largest number of votes was “increase the budget,” selected by 37% of respondents. By being last in line in the new product process, the launch team may get short shrift when budget dollars are being allocated. This is another reason to start launch planning as early in the new product process as possible before R&D and production gobble up the lion’s share of resources.
“Having an adequate budget is especially important if your new product has a high degree of newness,” said Schneider. “Introducing something revolutionary requires a comprehensive launch program with a significant budget and an expanded timeframe for product education and acceptance.”
Schneider
Associates recently collaborated recently with the Center for Business
Innovation at Babson College on the Schneider Associates
Business-to-Business Launch Survey, which identified 10 tips companies
can use to improve their odds of launch success in the highly
competitive B2B market. Launch TV is profiling these tips so you can
have a better sense of how to have a successful B2B launch.
This
video contains a clip from a presentation given by Joan Schneider,
President of Schneider Associates, at the PDMA New England Chapter
meeting.
9. Include the right external profesionals on your team.
Make sure the skill set of the external professionals on your launch team matches the launch activities in your plan. It’s worth noting that the most critical success factors chosen by nearly all the B2B launchers in the survey were tasks that are best accomplished by a marketing communications firm. These factors included educating the sales force and internal audiences and generating word-of-mouth excitement. Yet, unfortunately, an ad agency is often the first –and sometimes only– outside source many companies tap for launch advice. “To avoid this trap, make sure the skill set of the external professionals you add to your launch team matches the launch activities in your plan and includes Web experts, public relations professionals, channel distribution and sales promotion consultants,” said Schneider.
The study identified 10 tips companies can use to improve
their odds of launch success in the highly competitive B2B market. Over the next 10 days, Launch TV will profile
these tips so you can have a better sense of how to have a successful B2B
launch.
We’ll also be showing you some clips from a presentation
given by Joan Schneider, President of Schneider Associates, at The Product
Development and Management Association (PDMA) New England Chapter meeting in
November.
8. Do a great job educating your sales force and other internal audiences about your new product or service.
When asked to select the top three factors that contributed
the most to launch success, sales force preparation earned the most votes as an
important success factor by far with both product (55%) and service companies
(66%). Both types of companies also selected word-of-mouth campaigns as one of
their top three success factors.
The third highest contributor to launch success was
different for product and service firms. Educating internal audiences was named
by 29% of service companies, compared with just 16% of product companies.
On-line campaigns also received 29% of votes from service companies. For
product companies, distributor/retailer/dealer education earned the third
highest number of votes, with 33% calling it a top three success factor.
The study identified 10 tips companies can use to improve
their odds of launch success in the highly competitive B2B market. Over the next 10 days, Launch TV will profile
these tips so you can have a better sense of how to have a successful B2B
launch.
We’ll also be showing you some clips from a presentation
given by Joan Schneider, President of Schneider Associates, at The Product
Development and Management Association (PDMA) New England Chapter meeting in
November.
Surveyed companies used two types of success metrics: 1) results-based measures, which focus on business outcomes such as sales or profits, stock price or market valuation, and 2) process measures, which capture activities that contribute to business outcomes, such as number of projects in the pipeline, time-to-market, or percent of sales from new products.
“We recommend using process measures, which can be tracked on a monthly or weekly basis to provide quick feedback,” said Schneider. “In contrast, results metrics are lagging indicators. By the time these results are in, it’s often too late to change course.”
In the survey, 45% of product companies and 24% of service companies said they met only half the success metrics they had initially set for themselves. In addition, another 5% of service companies reported they had met none of their success metrics. These percentages indicate a problem with how some companies are measuring success. “If you’re consistently missing your launch metrics, it may mean you’re measuring the wrong things or that you’re setting the targets unrealistically high,” said Schneider.
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