The average launch takes 37.5 weeks, (read that in one of my Marketing Daily Briefs). But that didn’t cover what happened in the course of those 37.5 weeks and whether it was a successful launch or not.

It didn’t even define what a successful launch was….which I would need to define in advance of the launch, at its outset, in fact.

Now that new media has taken center stage, it is the much buzzed about method du jour for marketing, a key step to that successful launch. With all of the options available, wonder what will work and wonder what one needs to pass on by?

For many mass retailers these days, private label is the thing. So, where would new media come in on that one for manufacturers? Keeping a brand name alive actually, while private label trys to take the market share.

But taking it a step further, what’s the product? What’s the goal? These are the questions I like to ask and answer before starting the launch. It gives the process a structure and a destination and also an audience.

Once the audience is determined then you can decide what new media can or can not do for your company/product/launch.

Ashton Kutcher’s goal of hitting 1 million followers on twitter before CNN in and of itself was his product launch, and a terrific success at that. But does that make twitter the end all and be all? Lots of people are jumping onto the twitter bandwagon, almost in unison….I’m not an adopter myself, not yet.

It only makes sense to me if there is something very specific I am working on that needs to generate buzz; some may argue that thought. It also helps to be able to speak so people will hear in 140 characters or less so truthfully it has to be connected to something that someone will bother with. I do see twitter as being a very useful way in which to keep up with one’s friends/network. I recall when there was a run on the market for Beanie Babies (in the 90’s)….twitter would have been very useful because when a mom went into a shop and found out there was a brand new shipment she would make that call to her friend who would in turn call someone else and so on. Twitter could have made that all happen so much faster. Now this is a little in jest, given sometimes that new shipment would be sold out in an hour….I mean how much faster do you need for your customer to be unhappy and frustrated that you don’t have the much requested gift for your their child….15 minutes? Just sayin’

Speaking of humor, Ellen Degeneres has used it very successfully in her pet care product launch for Halo keeping her followers all apprised of when she would be on QVC to sell the all natural, made in the USA, cat and dog food. On top of that she has an auction, Whatcha Sellin’ Ellen, of her clothes (worn for very special occasions) on Ebay and that of her friends, i.e., Drew Barrymore’s Oscar del a Renta dress she wore onto Ellen’s show promoting Grey Gardens. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Humane Society.

All of this works, but especially so in tandem with each other. The links connect so well it’s easy to bounce from one medium to the next, staying connected to the brand the whole time (see Ellen.com). And that’s really where the genius lies, in my opinion wrt marketing. Talk about impressions. There are so many touch points in that process for one, its remarkable; I don’t know, maybe we should all get Ellen’s marketing guy/s name. If nothing else, at least take note.

And finally, in my process of working on this piece, I discovered two blogs, A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC and Logic + Emotion getting into this subject even more in depth but at a different angle and with different perceptions on the same topic, now a new marketing buzz term: earned media.

However, the Search Engine guys would, will, and do argue that paid search must be a part of this process and that leads back to the previous paragraph….check out the two blogs, it’ll be worth your while. Trust me.

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