The Launch Marketing Council gathered in Sydney in March 2019 to explore and share best practice on launching brands, products and businesses. This report is about distilling expertise from a variety of practitioners and is designed to give readers the insight to improve their own future launches.
The panel identified several issues when importing launch campaigns from overseas. Firstly, Australia is typically only a small fraction of global sales, which makes it challenging to build the case for any kind of dedicated effort to localising launch plans. It also makes it hard to secure physical stock under a globalised control model. Sponsorship properties can be less relevant in Australia than in major markets where ‘global’ agreements have been negotiated. The decision to localise or not is always a big one. Some brands are so iconically linked to their country of origin it makes sense to present them authentically rather than with Australian accents. Lastly, Australia’s timezone is a challenge for overseas brands needing to boost staff there, to support local teams here.
Equally, there are issues when exporting Launch Marketing campaigns. Australia has a powerful and emotive identity as a country and that tends to be generally positive for launching consumer brands overseas. However, it may not be an attribute that has ever been reflected within Australia, so it can be inauthentic to suddenly promote your brand’s Aussie personality. Australia’s remoteness and timezone can again be a factor when needing to react and move with agility in a new market. Location issues lead to a lack of insight. Without anyone in the market to advise on how best to localise Australian born campaigns, it is highly likely you’ll fall foul of a cultural misstep. Language too can be an issue. Translations need to be back-translated to ensure meaning has not been lost.
This report explores these issues around launching brands and products into Australia with real-life insight and examples. There is also an in-depth look at how a global beverage brand localises launches for Australia and New Zealand. My thanks to Tim Ryder of Monster Energy for presenting a candid review of the business as they grapple for market share. We’ve highlighted his perceptions as a case study, which provides great insight.
Since this white paper came out, there has since been a white paper produced on how to launch into Europe and the opportunities this continent offers if done right.
