Launch Practices of Highly Successful Versus Less Successful Consumer Products.

One of the most critical yet under investigated components of the new product development and marketing process is the product launch phase according to the findings of the Schneider/Boston University New Product Launch Report, a just completed study of 100 consumer product launches. The research was a collaborative effort conducted over a two-year period by Boston University’s Communication Research Center and Schneider & Associates, a marketing services and public relations firm specializing in consumer product launches. The study reveals substantial differences in the product launch activities of highly successful market introductions versus less successful product debuts.

“Historically, there has been little to no research done on the intricate phases of a consumer product launch,” said study consultant Susan Fournier, Associate Professor of Business Administration/Marketing at Harvard Business School. “This first-of-its-kind report gives consumer product companies insight into the intricacies of the product launch phase. The findings are eye-opening, useful and often times perspective gaining and practitioners who read this sound piece of research will come to realize there are several practices they can engage in and processes they can put into place that will help them increase the success of future launches,” continued Fournier.

The report finds that, to be successful, product launch must be a planned, thoughtfully executed, and closely managed phase separate from other new product development activities, not just a calendar date. While only 42% of respondents reported their company had a distinct product launch phase, the report finds that 62% of highly successful product launches studied had more definitive stages than less successful launches (35%).

“While there is an enormous amount of information about new product development and products that have succeeded and failed, there’s no GPS (global positioning system) to navigate the treacherous consumer launch landscape. If you think of new product development as a complex jigsaw puzzle, market launch is a critical piece of that puzzle. In conducting this study, we realized the launch phase is its own intricate puzzle and should be treated as such to achieve market success,” said Joan Schneider, President of Schneider & Associates.

Some of the study’s most insightful findings include:

— Brand managers, not senior executives, are critical to launch success. Out of three types of launch leaders, the study indicates that Brand/Product Managers should run the launch phase, not the CEO. When Brand/Product Managers were in charge of launch, the launches were highly successful 84% of the time. However, when CEOs/Presidents or Marketing VPs managed the launch, the launches were less successful 65-70% of the time.

— Consumer-focused spending spells success. Rather than spending money on trade campaigns, companies with highly successful products spent 78% of their marketing dollars on consumer-related activities. According to respondents, consumer-oriented activities including advertising (51%), promotions (44%) and merchandising (43%) provided the greatest return on investment.

— Spend money on products that are new. Products entirely new to a company that feature major technological breakthroughs are four times more likely to succeed. Of the highly successful products studied, 63% were entirely new to the organization, 26% were category extensions, 8% were re-introductions and 4% were line extensions.

— Timing is not everything. 70% of companies surveyed reported experiencing at least one timing delay in their product launch. While the number of delays in product launch does not appear to affect the product’s success rate, respondents communicated the importance of being flexible when confronting these delays.

Dr. Michael G. Elasmar, Director of the Communication Research Center at Boston University stated, “While it is rare for a PR firm to engage in primary research, Schneider & Associates has taken this extra step to determine what makes a launch successful. The result is a benchmark study that provides empirical research on new product launch best practices.”

Schneider concluded, “Our research has revealed significant differences in the launch practices of companies with highly successful products versus those with less successful products. We think the results will form the first available roadmap for marketing executives to guide new products down the successful launch path and improve their return on investment.”

The Schneider/Boston University New Product Launch Report was conducted between 1998 and 2000 for consumer products ranging from breakfast cereal and apple juice to camping appliances, bicycles and men’s and women’s apparel. Over 80% of the launches detailed in the report occurred between 1998 and 2000.