The product launch checklist we use on every project

A product launch is a live broadcast with canapés. There are no retakes: the media attend once, the influencers post once, and your CEO holds the product up exactly one time while every camera in the room fires.

This is the countdown we run for launches in Malaysia, compressed from our internal 14-page run book.

90 days out: lock the spine

• Confirm the date against public holidays, school holidays and competing industry events (check both federal and state holidays — a Selangor date can fail in Penang).
• Book the venue and, crucially, the rehearsal window the day before.
• Define the single sentence you want every attendee to repeat afterwards. Every decision from here serves that sentence.
• Set the guest mix: media, KOLs, trade partners, internal VIPs. The ratio drives the format.

60 days out: build the moment

• Design the reveal — the ten seconds people will film. Screen content, lighting cue, music hit, product on pedestal. Storyboard it like a commercial.
• Brief and contract the emcee. Send them the product early; nothing kills credibility like a host reading specs off a card.
• Commission the demo stations. Rule of thumb: one station per 15 guests, or queues will swallow your event.
• Send save-the-dates to media desks — Malaysian tech and lifestyle editors plan four to six weeks ahead.

30 days out: pressure-test everything

• Full technical rider confirmed: LED resolution, stream encoder, backup projector, wireless frequencies licensed with MCMC where needed.
• Run the demo on venue Wi-Fi, then run it again with 200 phones simulated on the network. Then arrange a dedicated line anyway.
• Print collateral proofed by someone who has never seen it before — fresh eyes catch the typo in the tagline.
• Confirm dietary requirements and halal certification for all catering.

7 days out: rehearse the failure

• Full run-through with stand-ins. Time every segment; cut ten percent.
• Prepare the backup demo unit, the backup laptop, and the offline copy of every video file. Label them.
• Write the "it broke" script: what the emcee says if the product fails on stage. You'll probably never use it. The one time you need it, it saves the company's quarter.

Launch day: protect the reveal

• Sound check at full show volume before doors, not during canapés.
• Brief photographers on the reveal cue so nobody misses the money shot.
• Assign one person whose only job is the product itself — where it is, who touches it, when it moves.

Want this run for you instead of by you? Launch events sit inside our corporate events and brand activation services, and our consultants can audit an in-house launch plan in a single session.