Three Promotions To Help Your Brand Launch A New Product

New product launches are exciting times! Your brand has gone through the process of designing concepts, building, and testing, and making final tweaks. Now it’s finally ready to enter the market. And you want the world to know.

Promoting A New Product Launch

Hands-down one of the best ways strategies for new products is combining the launch with a digital promotion. Some of our successful product launches were digital promotions. They’re great for generating widespread interest while helping customers enjoy the new products first-hand.

Promotions in general are great for raising awareness, generating social media buzz, and collecting high numbers of customer opt-ins. If you’re looking for ways to build excitement and consumer interest in your new product, the below digital promotion types are perfect for you:  

• Fire Drills
• Instant Wins
• Sweepstakes

Fire-drills

Fire-drills are great promotions for getting large amounts of products into consumer's hands. Their best feature is generating interest through urgency. Fire-drills have a unique exclusivity appeal - anyone could get the new product but only a lucky few will actually do so.

If you’re not sure how a fire-drill works, they typically run like this: your brand announces ahead of time that a new product will be available and that a limited number of people will be able to claim their own product on a first-come first-serve basis. Consumers are directed to a dedicated microsite or app at a specific date and time. At the designated time the first consumers who succeed in filling the requirements will receive the new product.

Like most promotions, fire-drills can be extremely customized and creative. They can last for a predetermined set of times or until your available product stock runs out. You can let consumers receive one product for themselves or give them the option to also send the product to a friend. If your product has different versions or colors you can alternate when certain product types will be released to drive up hype. You can tease the new releases through different social media channels, and offer consumers who didn’t make the first round the option to create an account or return to try again.

One critical aspect of a fire-drill you need to know is to make the process as simple as possible. Like when a popular music artist's concert tickets go on sale, customers can be extremely excited and eagerly anticipate the fire-drill start time. You want to extensively test your microsite (or app) to ensure the sign-up process and fulfillment process are running smoothly before the launch date. If it’s too complicated or has a glitchy user interface you risk frustrating customers and driving down participation. This could also create a backlash and sour the reception of your new product.

Instant Wins

Instant wins are also great options for product launches. They typically attract interest because of their quick gratification - participants know right away whether or not they’ve won. Instead of having to wait days or weeks to find out, they can immediately celebrate! And if they didn't win they can simply try again.

Another reason instant wins are great for product launches is they easily allow brands to include a gamification element. Instant wins can be any type of game, from spin-the-wheel to memory tests. Another possibility is releasing specific entry codes online or in physical retail spaces, and tasking consumers to seek out and find them for chances to win additional exclusive prizes.

It’s worth mentioning there are laws and restrictions against requiring customers to purchase an entry; if a purchase is one way to enter then your promotion also needs to offer alternate methods of entry. However, this means you can further customize your instant win promotion design to include multiple ways to enter. This also increases the likelihood of a higher consumer participation rate. Data shows consumers are more likely to take part in a promotion when they believe they have more chances to win!

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes hold the honor of being the most traditional and well-known type of promotion. So they’re never a bad idea for a product launch!

While most digital promotions are customizable, sweepstakes especially can be easily scaled to any size or degree of complexity. This also means sweepstakes are easy to combine with other marketing initiatives. So whether you’re looking for a promotion to take center stage or act as additional support for your launch, you can’t go wrong choosing a sweepstakes.

Depending on the type and scale of your product launch a sweepstakes can provide the benefit of attracting consumers outside your typical customer base. Sweepstakes help incentivize participation from individuals who don't interact with your brand regularly, but who want a chance to win a new product or prize. Knowing this, your brand can prepare targeted messaging ahead of launch time specifically geared to acquiring and retaining these new customers.

One tactic is to offer a small incentive to every individual who participates in the product launch promotion. For example: while sweepstakes winners could get a large prize, each individual who signs up for the sweeps could receive a small discount code or coupon applicable to the new product or other brand products. While they may not have won, a small reward can still leave a positive impression of your brand.

Celebrating Product Launches: Engaging Customers Through Digital Promotions

Digital promotions offer brands a dynamic platform to introduce new products, transforming traditional announcements into interactive experiences. Unlike passive marketing, these strategies invite customers to become active participants in the brand's narrative.

Key Advantages of Interactive Product Promotions:

• Personalization: Promotions demonstrate that brands value customer experience beyond mere transactions
• Engagement: They convert product launches from simple notifications into shared moments of excitement
• Community Building: Customers feel connected to the brand's journey and innovation

Historical examples underscore this approach's effectiveness. Bookstores created entire events around Harry Potter book releases, while tech giants like Apple have elevated product launches into global spectacles. These aren't just announcements—they're celebrations that customers are eager to join.

The core principle is transformation: move beyond telling customers about a product to making them feel part of its story. When brands design promotions that genuinely excite and include their audience, they don't just sell—they create memorable experiences that resonate long after the initial launch.

Modern digital platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for this type of immersive, participatory marketing. By thoughtfully crafting promotions that invite genuine customer involvement, brands can turn product introductions into shared moments of discovery and enthusiasm.

*This blog was originally published in 2020 and was edited and updated in February 2025.  

At Brandmovers, we love building creative promotions. Plus we're pretty good at it.

If you're interested in exploring how digital promotions can launch a new product or grow your brand's reach, then get in touch with the consumer engagement experts today!