Invert the Industry

In the computer games industry, its common practice for developers to announce a game’s release date a good year in advance and then quietly let that deadline slip by months or even years. In the movie industry, it’s common for the trailer to show a compressed version of the plot and most of the explosions or the funniest jokes.

Promoting a product can only be so effective if you’re just altering the message within the conventions of the industry. You may have developed the most wonderful product, but it still seems like all the others already out there.

Apple inverted the idea of new product announcements by getting rid of the press release and putting a face to the presentation in the form of Steve Jobs. Now, Apple product launches are events in themselves.

In the music world, it was a commonly-held belief that labels should announce that a band is in the studio (heighten anticipation) then that they’re releasing a single in a month (heighten further) then have a big premiere on commercial radio for that new single (generate pre-sales and single sales) then release the album and go on a vast tour to promote it.

Then Radiohead released In Rainbows in a week and made the entire system look redundant.

It certainly helps that the products in these instances were excellent in themselves, but they also made waves in the way they were presented to the world. Unique. First. Different. Remarkable. Yes, your product should be a Purple Cow… but if your promotion is too, then you’re on to something big.

PS. Movie trailers needn’t fit the mould – just ask the Coen Brothers.