Discover 10 creative and unique ideas for making your product launch event stand out, from leveraging social media and storytelling to interactive elements and custom swag. Learn More.
Are you currently in the planning stages of a product launch event, but find yourself strapped for creative ideas to make your event stand out a lot more?
If you are, then this will be the post for you.
It goes without saying that running a successful product launch comes with a bunch of benefits, especially when it comes to establishing your product as a big deal. The fact that anyone would go so far as to run an event for their products is attention grabbing.
That being said, not every product launch event falls into the ‘unforgettable’ category. Which is a shame considering the number of possibilities there are when you run a virtual or hybrid version of the same event.
To help, we’ve come up with 10 unique product launch event ideas to help put your offering on the map. Ideas that should help you cut through the noise of other product launches and enable you to go on to find greater success.
Now, let’s get started.
Feel free to skip this section if you’d like to get straight into the product launch ideas. We just thought it was necessary to go over this event type real quick as it’s so often confused with trade shows and conferences.
A product launch event is a gathering that marks the introduction of a new product or service to the market. Organisers typically open this event up to practically everyone, from investors, to media personnel, to influencers, to your customer base.
Launching a product in this way is one of the best ways of getting as many eyes on it as possible. If your event goes well, it can generate a lot of interest in your product, not to mention, provide you with a lot of content to share once the event has concluded!
Below we’ve put together 10 unforgettable product launch event ideas. We’ve tried to be as creative as possible when coming up with these ideas. Also, we’ve tried to make every idea unique and different from the others covered.
Let’s start with building social media hype around your product launch and go from there.
One more thing:
The product launch event ideas will apply to both hybrid and virtual events, which gives you a lot of scope in terms of what you can take and apply to your own events!
Look at any blog post identifying product launch event ideas and we can guarantee they will mention social media to some degree. Only most of these posts are limited to things such as ‘organic posts’ and ‘teaser videos.’
While both of these things are effective, easily one of the best ways to drum up interest in your product launches is by running paid ads across these channels.
Which platform you choose will depend entirely on your audience base, or who you’re looking to attract with your product launch. For maximum effectiveness, we’d recommend aligning yourself with an influencer; anyone who can help you reach more attendees.
49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations to make key decisions – Digital Marketing Institute
If you can get that influencer to attend your event and post about it while they’re there, even better. You can then share that content on your own channels, thus encouraging others to check out your product launch!
Do keep in mind that any money spent on social media advertising, or paying the influencer, will need to be accounted for in your virtual event budget.
Stories sell, they also sell products when utilised effectively. In the case of product launch events, you should really be using this as the perfect opportunity to tell a story. The story could be about your company leading up to where it is now, or a story about the product.
Alternatively, you could tell the story of one of your customers, documenting where they were before utilising your product and where they are after.
Doing so will provide your attendees with a better understanding of how it works while allowing them to envision what it’s like to use in a practical setting. We’d recommend presenting any story you showcase in a video format.
Video is a powerful marketing tool that almost every product launch event leverages. And there’s a good reason for that:
It sells.
Of course, this idea can only work if the products you’re launching are shippable. This applies to any organiser looking to run a virtual-only product launch. Running a hybrid version of the same event makes it a little easier to give your products out to attendees to try.
You’ll find that attendees are a lot more willing to engage with you by running with this product launch event idea. Why that is comes down to the exclusivity of these interactions.
In other words, letting your attendees try out your products first hand is a great incentive; one that will no doubt increase the satisfaction rates of your attendees!
Again, we should point out that not every product can be handled by attendees directly. Some products are incredibly fragile, not to mention, expensive in some cases. Meaning giving them to attendees could cost you a lot of money should anything be damaged.
Use this idea wisely.
Who doesn’t love picking up something for free at a product launch event? We certainly do. It’s actually one of the main reasons why we love attending events in general!
Here’s a top tip if you’re going to offer swag at your product launches:
Always offer something that relates to your product in some way or another. Doing so will make your event all the more memorable as a result.
Sure, a branded mug and pen is nice to have, but something unique, such as a miniature version of your product on a keyring, will go a lot further in terms of putting your event on the map in the heads of your attendees.
HR Redefined did something interesting a few years ago at one of their product launch events. They gave attendees custom name plates that were designed by a popular Brooklyn-based designer.
Things like this are great at driving engagement and interest in your events.
If you’d like to learn more about virtual event swag, check out our post here.
Custom event hashtags technically fall under the ‘social media hype’ banner. Still, we think they deserve a separate section based on just how important they are in selling your product launch events online.
You see, social media is a haven for grabbing the attention of prospective attendees (more-so if you can get your event hashtag trending). When choosing an event hashtag be sure to do the following things:
That last point is an important one. Promoting your event hashtag as much as possible will ensure that people actually use it to engage with you on social media. Sharing content in real time will only encourage more attendees to follow suit.
Utilising hashtags also gives you a direct source of user generated content (UGC), which you can share after the event to promote your products, or any future product launches. In other words, it’s an easy way to gather free content.
You might be wondering:
How can you facilitate networking at a product launch event?
The answer to this question is easy to answer when you utilise the right virtual event platform. Event organisers can facilitate networking through things such as breakout rooms; rooms that encourage attendees to interact with others while they take a break from the rest of the event.
With the right platform, live chat can be used to seamlessly connect attendees seamlessly, allowing them to meet other attendees, and even meet the organisers themselves. Here they can ask questions directly; something a lot of people do at this type of event.
Organisers of product launch events run competitions all the time in order to garner interest in their events. They do this either, before the event, during the event, or after the event. Choosing to run a competition at each of these stages comes with a unique set of benefits:
What you choose to offer as a prize is completely up to you. You could offer one of your products to the winner, or something given to you from one of your sponsors. The possibilities are endless; similar to what is possible with virtual events, generally!
You might think that a product launch party is only possible if all of the attendees are there in person physically. We’re here to tell you that it’s entirely possible to run a product launch party in a virtual environment.
The same applies if you’re looking to run a hybrid product launch party that has both a physical element alongside a digital one. Sure, they won’t be able to enjoy the catering or drinks there, but they’ll still get to enjoy all that comes from attending a launch party.
This is possible through a virtual event platform capable virtual event platform capable of hosting the festivities. This is another great way of facilitating networking, similar to the product launch event idea mentioned above!
Like event competitions, organisers can choose to distribute product launch event surveys at multiple stages of the process, either before, during, or after the event.
Surveys you run before the event allow you to ask questions around what attendees expect so that you can deliver on their expectations. Distributing surveys during the event allows you to track your attendees’ experiences. And asking attendees to fill them out after the event gives you a better understanding of how to improve at future events.
Not sure what to ask with these surveys? Check out our post on virtual event surveys here.
This product launch event idea is arguably the most important of them all. It’s important because practically every product launch has utilised the other ideas mentioned at least once.
This makes standing out in a competitive market, in and amongst similar product launch events, all the more difficult. Trying something new that your audience will respond to is easily one of the best ways of cutting directly through the noise.
A perfect example of this would be when fashion brand Moschino used puppets to launch its latest clothing line at a runway event. Using puppets to sell products won’t work for every company, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a fantastic idea that got a lot of people talking.
All you need to do is find your own version of this, and run with it. It’s easier said than done, we know, but it is possible.
Anything is possible when you utilise the right product launch event platform.
From running a product launch party to facilitating networking through live chat and one-to-one functionality, there’s a lot you can do to make your product launch events stand out from all the rest.
We hope that we’ve helped inspire you to come up with your own event ideas too. Sometimes, all you need is that little bit of inspiration in order to get the creative juices flowing.
Just remember:
Your product launch event ideas don’t need to be boring, or follow the same format as other product launches you might have seen. If you’re ever in doubt, simply ask yourself “does this help sell my product,” if it does then feel free to run with it.
With virtual and hybrid events, anything and everything is possible, which we know first hand at Ivent having helped countless brands launch their products in a virtual or hybrid space.
We help turn all event ideas into a successful reality. For more help with your product launch, simply get in touch.
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