Are quiet product launches more effective than big bangs?

Bold creative, huge advertising slots, hammering prospects for months with extensive multichannel campaigns - it might seem like ‘go big or go home’ is the only mantra when it comes to product launches.

However, some brands are taking a more subtle approach when bringing new lines to market, and it's paying off.

Instead of pumping money into flashy concepts (cough, Jaguar, cough), paid media placements and shouting at prospects in as many different ways as possible, a relaxed, low-key marketing strategy is helping products land more effectively. We’ve listened to the whispers to help you understand why quieter launches can be better.

Why are brands launching quietly?

Let’s be honest, every marketer wants to create a prize-winning campaign that everyone recognises and fawns over. Being shy and retiring might not fit that bill, but it can generate real results and push product launch performance metrics in the right direction. Here’s why:

Customers are sick of noise

These days, there’s hype about everything. You can’t scroll through a social feed without someone shouting about their ‘next best thing’. It’s samey, it’s loud and it’s generating rather than cutting through the noise. This is important, particularly for brands targeting the 18 to 24-year-old age group, 59% of whom don’t plan their purchases, but act on emotional impulse.

So, ironically, to capture customers’ attention in the modern media landscape, a quieter approach can be more impactful. Forget the fanfare and confetti, just a simple graphic or email with a link will mean prospects can discover your new product in their own time without it feeling forced upon them. Plus, if they’re already engaged with your brand, they should find it pretty quickly.

Quiet connects with communities

Brands that have already done the hard work warming up prospects and bringing them together shouldn’t have to spend more cash splashing their product launch across every medium. Instead, dropping a note or image into the right channels Discord, email, WhatsApp groups - should be enough to get a community excited.

Letting your brand’s biggest fans know about new products before everyone else also reinforces their sense of being special and rewards them for their loyalty. Creating a sense of exclusivity will get them excitedly sharing their experiences with friends, meaning excitement grows organically. Plus, recommendations are powerful for building brand trust.

Beta launch learnings

Whether your product is still in development or you’re ready to launch to market, testing and learning from quiet (or soft) launches helps you refine your approach and make the most of your marketing investment. It also minimises the likelihood of making unintended blunders or meeting unexpected blockers as you start to scale.

Test out different activations quietly, see how the results and feedback come out, then take these learnings into your final launch. This saves you wasting money on tactics or creatives that don’t work and means your team doesn’t feel rushed pushing campaigns live, which can lead to costly mistakes (for your reputation and budget).

Authentic beats artificial

At dinner parties, it’s often the people who talk little but add lots of value who you chime with. Prospects feel the same about brands. The reason more customers are going off large-scale launches is because it feels salesy, untrustworthy and fake. If it fits your brand’s characteristics, then being quieter and more intentional with your product launches will make sense.

Rather than trying to impress prospects, showing up consistently, delivering value and using concepts and activations which are interesting (not ‘shouty’) will create a two-way conversation they can genuinely engage with. After all, authenticity is high on the list of must-haves for customers when choosing a brand to buy from.

How do quiet launches work?

Other than focusing on talking softly to the right people rather than broadcasting to everyone through a megaphone, there are no specific rules to quiet launches. With no pressure to be delivering big numbers straight away, you have the space to take a more considered approach that will create traction rather than a big noise.

Hush Hush Row homeware

In a move characteristic of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s quiet luxury fashion label The Row, they launched their homeware line at an exclusive event in a discreet corner of Milan. There wasn’t even a sign announcing the presence of this collection’s release, which created the sense of an artist’s studio exhibition rather than an exclusive launch.

This didn’t just reemphasise the brand personality, which is all about understated elegance, but headlined the products, their quality materials and designs, which is another hallmark of their business. Harking back to the brand origins, which started with the Olsens’ mission to create the perfect T-shirt, this quiet launch caused a stir in an authentically exclusive way.

DM me Dior

To launch its new Dior Addict lipstick, the luxury fashion house turned to an unexpected platform: WhatsApp. For the first time, Dior used the messaging app to connect directly with customers. An AI-generated version of brand ambassador and Blackpink member Jisoo invited followers via Instagram Stories to join her exclusive WhatsApp group. Once inside, fans could chat with the bot to explore and learn more about Dior products.

Although the campaign only ran for four days, the WhatsApp group hit its capacity limit within 24 hours. By creating the opportunity for Jisoo lovers to interact with her one-to-one on a direct messaging platform, Dior didn’t have to compete with brands on overcrowded platforms like Instagram. It also generated a sense of exclusivity and attracted word-of-mouth interest.

Beaten track Bottega

Back in 2021, premium fashion label Bottega Veneta withdrew from all social media channels. In an era when these types of brands relied on platforms for reach and engagement building, this was a shocking (and potentially fatal) move. However, creative director Daniel Lee felt the brand held inherent strength and desirability to reach audiences without an algorithm.

Instead, he switched his focus into developing ‘Issue’, a quarterly brand magazine.

This didn’t just launch new lines or collections, but showcased the creative process behind them, becoming pieces of art in themselves. By doing less, but focusing on the quality of each activation, Bottega quietly enhanced their reputation for craftsmanship and cultural relevance.

Want to make the right (quiet) noises?

For a product launch that’s different for all the right reasons, quieter, more targeted activations may better suit your brand. Cost-effective, engaging and high-quality, a soft launch approach is worth considering, and we can help you weigh up the pros and cons.

To find out more how we can support your next product launch, call us on 01926 754038 or drop us an email at hello@designmc.org.