Launching a new product in the UK sounds like it should be an easy task - with over 68 million people living on our little island surely there’s a receptive audience ready to try new things?
But over recent years there’s been a notable decline in the volume of new products launched to market in the UK, although this varies by sector. Mintel’s Global New Products Database reported only 16% of UK food and drink product launches in the year leading up to September 2023 were entirely new products, showing a big decrease from 33% in 2014.
The same report found the proportion of UK food and drink launches that were packaging redesigns rose from 20% to 31% and relaunches increased from 4% to 10% between 2014 to 2023.
Other sectors have fared better than food and drink. Take consumer electronics for example. SharkNinja introduces over 25 new products annually with their consistent innovation strategy contributing to big revenue growth. Its UK market is approaching nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.
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The beauty and cosmetics industry is another which has seen a surge in new brand and product launches. The industry in the UK is valued at £30 billion with platforms like TikTok becoming central in helping emerging brands achieve sales and brand traction.
So, there are certainly challenges for brands when it comes to launching new products. An oversaturated market, competitiveness and big brands dominating merely scrape the surface. Other challenges can include brand awareness, pricing pressures and compliance with UK / EU regulations.
But whether you’re launching a new product or relaunching a firm favourite, supporting PR activity can help you reach your core customer base, whether they’re trade or consumer shoppers, and increase brand awareness and sentiment.
If you’re looking for support on a new product launch or a relaunch read on. We explain the PR tools you can use to elevate your exciting product launches.
What’s in this article:
- Why run a PR campaign for a new product launch?
- How to launch new products to consumers
- Defining the hook
- Media targets
- Press releases
- Case studies
- Samples
- Competitions and giveaways
- Influencers
- How to launch new products to trade
- Defining the hook
- Media targets
- Press releases
- Samples
- Trade shows and events
- Amplifying media coverage
- Key takeaways
Why run a PR campaign for a new product launch?
Running a PR campaign alongside a new product launch is essential, especially in competitive markets. Here’s why brands - whether new or established - should factor it into their planning.
1. Building awareness
When you launch a new product, you need to build awareness around it. Because how can people buy it if they don’t know it exists? PR helps generate earned media coverage by creating interview and sampling opportunities with journalists. This amplifies your brand alongside the paid channels you may be investing in. But PR activity looks beyond your existing followers and brand supporters to reach a wider audience.
2. Credibility and trust
Achieving coverage in a well regarded media publication will help build trust and credibility in the brand and product. They could be mainstream titles like the major UK nationals and lifestyle publications or more niche if your product is aimed at a very particular market.
3. Digital discovery
A high quality backlink as a result of a PR placement can improve search rankings. This is particularly important if you’re an e-commerce brand.
4. Buyer confidence
Media coverage, influencer endorsement and consumer interest all reassure buyers. They’ll be more likely to search for your product online or look on the shelves.
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How to launch new products to consumers
A consumer audience can be described as the group of people most likely to buy your product. Most brands will have a customer persona which will include basic facts about who they are, their shopping behaviours, needs and motivations.
Having a clear customer persona or personas will make reaching out to them much easier and will guide the voice and tone of the brand, but there are a number of steps to take before you get started:
Defining the hook
What makes your product stand out from the crowd? What is its USP? This could be an innovative product design or a unique flavour combination for UK shoppers, or maybe it’s helping solve a problem for consumers or clearly linked to a trend.
Think about why it’s being launched now - is that relevant and could it provide a hook? For seasonal products, time of year is most definitely a hook - key celebrations like Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are big opportunities to launch new products relevant to these big events. Think too about why your audience should buy this ahead of the competition if it’s entering a competitive market place. Our client Inhaler Tailor solved a real problem with their innovative covers for asthma inhalers to help sufferers overcome their reticence to use them in public. As a result of our campaign which focused on a customer story, there was a 1050% spike in sales and a 470% increase in traffic to the website. You can read more about this campaign here.
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Media targets
What will the key customer be reading, listening to and watching? Think about where they’re likely to scroll and which social media platforms they’ll gravitate towards. This will help you define your media targets. You could break these down into clear tiers for consumer outreach including national titles and the supplements, regional publications and lifestyle and women’s media, for example.
Once you’ve established your hook and target media, it’s time to use a range of PR techniques to get the product you’re launching in front of the right consumer audience.
Press release
A press release is a great tool to launch a new product, particularly if the hook is strong. A carefully crafted new product release should cover the basic questions asked by any journalist - who, what, when, where, why and how. Who’s launching the product, what is it, when and where will it be available, why should a consumer buy it and how can they? You should include quotes from the founder or product development team, clear, high quality imagery - and make sure it’s newsworthy, not advertorial copy, as journalists will see straight through that!
Case studies
Case studies are a good example of a third party (the case study) telling the audience how great your brand and product is. Customer stories are powerful, particularly if the customer has a strong, emotive back story.
For example, we ran Christmas campaigns for MuscleFood.com promoting their money saving Christmas hamper. We worked with the brand's customers to create Christmas money save stories showing how cash savvy Brits were able to cut the cost of Christmas dinner with a MuscleFood hamper, and have enough leftovers to cover the whole Christmas period. These resulted in great coverage for the brand - and solid Christmas sales.
Journalist samples
Sending samples to journalists to trial and review your new product is a good way to get an emerging or established brand in front of a journalist and ultimately their readers, viewers or listeners.
We supplied pet loving journalists with samples for pet food client Years.com when they launched their premium chef inspired collection. The luxury meals for dogs were loved by the pets that tried them and their journalist owners with coverage in titles including Daily Star, Dogs Today, and Nottingham Post. Targeting product reviews and round ups in titles including Good Housekeeping and IndyBest are a great way to keep the brand you work with front or mind, and secure valuable coverage.
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Competitions and giveaways
Giving away products via competitions and giveaways will get your brand and product in front of more potential customers - and you often have the opportunity to purchase data about the people that apply to the competition (e.g. email addresses). Alongside the exposure you’ll receive through the competition, the data you acquire is ideal for any email marketing campaigns you have planned.
Influencers
Working with influencers who have credibility in your sector, or within your local area if it's a regional launch, will help you reach a new, engaged audience. Their endorsement will build credibility in your brand and endorsement of it among their followers. If you offer a discount code or a swipe up link, there’s the potential to turn that awareness into conversions.
How to launch new products to trade
A trade customer is someone who buys goods or services for a commercial purpose, not for themselves. They buy in bulk or wholesale, will look for strong margins and discounts, a profitable product and will be looking for supporting materials and a good business to business (B2B) customer service. Their purchasing decision will be very different to that of a consumer, but the core PR tools remain very much the same.
Defining the hook
Identifying the news hook is as important for a trade product launch as it is for the consumer. The difference is the audience you’re targeting. These will be trade buyers and businesses like shop owners and other retailers. Seasonal hooks are always important - do you have a product a retailer may stock for Christmas, Easter or Mother’s Day, for example? Will your product or service save or make them money or will it streamline their business? These will all be key considerations for trade customers.
We frequently launch new products to market with trade client World of Sweets. As a confectionery retailer, there are key selling seasons for them including Christmas, Easter and Halloween - which offer strong news hooks. There are also innovations within the confectionery sector resulting in exciting new product launches and additions to popular ranges.
Media targets
There are less trade targets so curating a really solid media database with up to date contacts will be key to success is placing the product launch. Think about who the client is selling to and focus on publications, websites, podcasts and other media outlets which will reach them.
Press release
A good press release is important in pitching the new product launch to key publications. It will need to be clearly written to answer the questions trade customers will be asking. Who’s launching the product? What is it? Where is it going to be available from? Why should I stock it? For a trade customer, will it save or make me money? What are the margins and will it attract customers to my store, e-commerce site? When will it launch? How can I get hold of it? Always include a quote from a senior figure within the business and add relevant imagery.
Samples
If you have key journalists within the sector who you work closely with, arrange to send them a sample. It can lead to coverage and sharing on social channels. It also cements the relationship the brand has with them and gives them the opportunity to try new products before they launch to market.
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Trade shows and events
Trade shows and events are a good way to launch new ranges to trade customers and media publications. They can see the product for themselves - it may be a prototype at this stage - and can have insightful conversations with the team behind them about the product.
Amplifying media coverage
A trade supplier or distributor is likely to have its own sales team and amplifying media coverage will build trust in a brand and highlight it as a well regarded, reputable brand. Brand awareness and trust is vital in competitive markets.
Key takeaways
- A well thought out and executed PR campaign around a new product launch is vital for reaching key trade and consumer customers. It will help increase brand awareness and create a buzz around the product and brand.
- For a consumer launch, a PR campaign is critical for brand recognition and creating a desire to try the new product. Press coverage, sampling, running giveaways, and working with influencers will all create touch points where potential shoppers will see the brand and product.
- For trade customers, it’s all about convincing retailers, buyers and distributors to list or stock your products. An effective campaign will put the brand and product front of mind as well as building brand recognition and confidence.
To find out more about launching to trade and consumer audiences, take a look at our case studies.
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