Launching a new product - launching into and out of Australia white paper.

The Launch Marketing Council gathered in Sydney in March 2019 to explore and share best practice with regards to launching a new product, brand or business. This report is about distilling expertise from a variety of practitioners and is designed to give readers the insight to improve their own future launches.

The Executive Summary is below detailing the outline of the white paper’s contents.

The panel identified several issues when importing launch marketing campaigns from overseas:

• Australia is typically only a small fraction of global sales, which makes it challenging to build the case for any kind of dedicated effort to localising launch plans.
• It can be hard to secure physical stock under a globalised control model.
• Sponsorship properties can be less relevant in Australia than in major markets where ‘global’ agreements have been negotiated.
• The decision to localise or not is always a big one. Some brands are so iconically linked to their country of origin it makes sense to present them authentically rather than with Australian accents.
• Australia’s timezone is a challenge for overseas brands needing to boost staff there, to support local teams here.

Equally, there are issues when exporting launch marketing campaigns:

• Australia has a powerful and emotive identity as a country and that tends to be generally positive for consumer brands launching overseas. However, it may not be an attribute that has ever been reflected within Australia, so it can be inauthentic to suddenly promote your brand’s Aussie personality.
• Our remoteness and timezone can be a factor when needing to react and move with agility in a new market. Location issues lead to a lack of insight.
• Without anyone in market to advise on how best to localise Australian born campaigns, it is highly likely you’ll fall foul of a cultural misstep.
• Language can be an issue. Translations need to be back-translated to ensure meaning has not been lost.

There is an in-depth look at how a global beverage brand localises launches for Australia and New Zealand. My thanks to Tim Ryder of Monster Energy for presenting a candid review of the business as they grapple for market share. We’ve highlighted his perceptions as a case study, which provides great insight.

Participants:

• Dean Chadwick, Chief Marketing Officer, Velocity
• Alexandra Tully, Brand Lead, Airtasker
• Adam Ballesty, former Marketing Director, Fox Sports
• Nicholas Cornelius, Chief Marketing Officer, Pack and Send
• Maria Loyez, Chief Customer Officer, Volt Bank
• David Hovenden, CEO, The Misfits Media Company, editor-in-chief B&T
• Matt Lawton, Managing Director, Five by Five Global

Absentees:

• Daniel Gervais, Head of Marketing, Airbnb (post-event contributor)
• Serena Leith, Director of Marketing Asia Pacific, Spotify

Guest:

• Tim Ryder, Director of Marketing – Oceania, Monster Energy

Download your free white paper copy now and learn how to get the best outcome when launching a new product into or out of Australia.

By Alexis Eyre