How To Run a Product Launch Campaign in Los Angeles
Looking to increase awareness for your product through an impactful demo campaign?
Bringing your brand experience directly to consumers via interactive samplings and demonstrations can be an incredibly powerful marketing tactic.
However, proper licensing and planning is essential for legal and effective execution.
Here's a step-by-step guide to staging a standout product demo activation:
Define Your Target Consumer
Before any planning, get crystal clear on defining your ideal consumer profile (ICP)and target audience.
factors to consider when defining your ideal consumer profile include:
Age: What age is your ICP?
Interests: What does your ICP prioritize?
Income: Is your product for everyone or only for the wealthy?
Gender: Is gender evident when it comes to purchasing your product?
Location: Where in LA would your ICP reside?
Having an understanding of your ideal consumer profile (ICP) focus will guide your location selection by targeting areas that your ideal consumer frequents.
Knowing your ICP also informs training your demo staff to deliver messaging that truly resonates with that specific segment.
Obtain Necessary Permits and Licenses
Many cities and municipalities require specific permits for conducting product sampling activations of any kind.
Do your due diligence researching regulations around:
Solicitor's Permits: Most places require these general permits for selling, sampling or promoting products in public areas. Costs can range from $10 for a day to $1000+ for an annual permit.
Health Permits: If your product demo involves consumption of any food, beverage or consumable item, a Health Department permit is required. For example, Los Angeles County requires a Processed Food Registration (PFR) permit costing around $800 annually.
Plaza/Venue Permits: Many malls, gyms, event venues and other private properties in Los Angeles require permits for any solicitation or sampling demonstrations on their premises, with fees varying.
Mobile Sampling Permits: If executing vehicle-based product demos via sampling vehicles or food trucks, specific City/County permits are often required, such as the $450 Mobile Food Facility permit in LA.
Sponsored Events Permit: Some counties require a permit to have any sort of sponsored marketing activation or brand experience at large-scale public events like festivals, fairs or concerts. Only consider this permit if you plan to pop up at large scale events in Los Angeles.
Failure to secure proper permitting can lead to fines, shutdowns or even criminal penalties in some cases, so ensure you adhere to all relevant local regulations based on your demo plans.
Build permitting costs into your budgets, and apply for permits with ample lead time before any activations.
In my experience, reaching out to gyms, or stores are the easiest way to start product demonstrations because they will only require health permits and a conversation with the store manager.
Identify Strategic Venues
With your target consumer profile defined, get strategic about determining the ideal venues that will enable you to share with your core audience cost-effectively.
How to consider location:
Select locations that have the minimal amount of insurance requirements and places that are willing to accommodate demos
High-traffic areas like malls, event venues, transport hubs, college campuses
Relevant contextual environments like grocery stores, and gyms
Neighborhood/city demographics that fit your consumer
Here is a useful article on the top product launch venues in Los Angeles by Party Slate.
Design Attention-Grabbing Demos
With venues selected and permitted, bring your demo footprint to life through unmissable branded assets that capture attention and create an immersive product experience.
For product demos, here are the items you’ll need:
6 ft table
6 ft Table cloth with branding
Pop up banner
Print out collateral to explain product
QR code to website encased
Cooler (if applicable)
Disposable cups (if applicable)
branded napkins (if applicable)
T-shirt or hat for your demo staff
Advanced product demos include:
Impactful displays, coolers, banners, multimedia content reels
Sleek product sampling vehicles/food trucks for mobile demos
Elegant product merchandising racks/tasting containers
Enticing interactive elements like games, prizing and photo ops
It’s important to invest in quality visuals, fabrications and demo environments that feel truly premium and on-brand.
Design Interactive, Multisensory Engagements
Create an experience that immerses people in your brand. Incorporate multimedia video reels, animation footages, and intuitive iPad interactions that spotlight your products' features, benefits, ingredient/manufacturing specifics, and more.
Encourage people to physically interact - tasting, smelling, touching the product.
Allow full immersion versus passive sampling. These layered sensory experiences provide deeper encoding.
Craft an Engaging Brand Story
While free samples grab attention, you need to go beyond just product handouts.
Train your demo staff to convey the brand's origin story and unique selling propositions in an authentic, inspiring way.
Have them highlight key product benefits, advantages over competitors, and the authentic heritage behind your company through compelling storytelling.
This emotional connection builds affinity.
Include Data Capture
Don't simply have people sample then walk away.
Create an offer like a percentage off of sale online, or a free item at checkout (in exchange for their email).
Equip your demo staff with tools to seamlessly capture emails, phone numbers and other contact details from interested consumers looking to purchase or learn more post-event.
Leveraging tablet data capture or digital lead retrieval allows you to effortlessly compile opt-in databases.
You can then add qualified leads to your newsletter and retargeting campaigns to maximize conversions and ROI.
Partner with a Demo Staffing Agency
Having the right staff can make or break your campaign's success.
Work with an experienced staffing partner specializing in executing attention-grabbing product demonstrations and brand activations nationwide.
They can recruit knowledgeable, brand ambassadors fluent in your product's unique selling propositions.
Properly trained staff will create buzz as true product experts who deliver a best-in-class consumer experience.
To ensure demo staff are properly trained on your product or service, create a training video that explains your products specifications, why it was created, and any relevant information about the brand.
You can also partner with an agency that will cater to your demo needs by creating a run-of-show for efficient demos at scale.
In our experience working in product demos, many brands want to focus on the off-site logistics while having an event staffing agency cover the on-site experience.
To effectively partner with a brand ambassador agency, create a schedule of your demos and provide all of the set up materials necessary. The staffing agency will coordinate with their brand ambassadors to facilitate delivery, set up, and tear down.
Measure, Analyze and Optimize
Like any marketing initiative, you need a robust measurement plan to assess performance and optimize demo tactics. Track metrics like:
Product sampling rates, impressions and consumption numbers
Foot traffic, dwell times and engagement rates at footprints
E-commerce sales lift data pre/post each market activation
Demographics, survey and qualitative feedback from participants
Social sharing, amplification and earned media
You can do this by requiring staff to fill out a form after each demo to track all of these metrics.
Continually analyze to pinpoint your most and least effective venues, staff personnel, branding, interactive elements and more.
Iterate your approach, doubling down on what works while shifting investments away from under performers.
With this strategic, data-driven approach to planning product demo activations, you can power engaging brand experiences that build fame, affinity and tangible conversion results.
By nailing your licensing, consumer targeting, staffing and execution, you'll fuel product trials and awareness that encourage consumers to proudly embrace your brand.
