If you visit Bambu Lab website or social media pages today you’ll see that they have a big announcement coming up on September 20th, but what are they launching? Also why do companies put so much effort into a product teaser and what makes it a success?
Okay before we go into the speculation around launch day, let’s address the why. That is… why do companies run product teaser campaigns and what makes a product teaser campaign successful.
Why do a Product Teaser Campaign?
Build the Hype 📢
In my time as a product marketer I’ve run dozens of product teaser campaigns. Alongside the leak, the product teaser is one of the best ways to build pre-launch hype and establish an early prospective audience. Not only do you get customers excited, but you also spark media coverage, online conversations on Twitter / X and Reddit, and influencer videos which are all going wild right now speculating on what Bambu is about to launch
Minimize Buyer’s Remorse 😟
Imagine buying a product at full price one day only for a brand new version to launch the following day at that same price while your version is replaced, or the price is slashed. You probably wouldn’t be very happy about that. A product teaser is a good way to give their customers a heads up that something new is coming in the near future which can help them avoid new customers starting out with a sour taste in their mouths.
Prep Buyers’ Wallets / Budgets 💳
Sales cycles for new, potentially expensive tech products can be long. Buyers need to convince themselves that they need the product. Product teasers can kickstart this psychological process early before the product is even announced, and if the product lives up to the hype, orders or preorders can take off on launch day.
Key Elements of a Product Teaser Campaign
Sign ups / Invitations ✉️
Most teasers offer a simple email sign up to “Stay Informed” or “Register” for an upcoming launch event. This can provide a great list of warm leads to be nurtured and remarketed to in the weeks leading up to and following the launch.
Hinting Messaging 🖋️
Coming up with a teaser slogan can fuel speculation around the upcoming product. Sometimes this slogan is the name of the event itself, other times multiple features of a product have hinting slogans. The goal is to tease without giving too much away – a fun challenge for any copywriter.
Cloudy Visual Clues ☁️
Similar to the messaging, clouded visuals can clue users what to expect without giving everything away. A dark silhouette, a texture, an element of a new feature magnified – all can be good options for teaser visuals.
Choose Your Lead Time Wisely 📅
I typically like to start a teaser 2-3 weeks before launch. That allows enough time to build hype and see an audience sign up, but it’s not so long that you risk freezing sales of your product for too long.
Avoid holidays, April Fools 🎁
Holidays are great for promos, but can also have a lot of competition when it comes to advertising attention. If you want to sell during a holiday, I would recommend launching the product at least a few weeks (maybe even a month) beforehand to find your attention window. Also – don’t launch on April 1st if you don’t want people to think your product is a complete joke.
What are the Risks of Product Teaser?
- Overhype, Under deliver – Make sure your product is worthy of your product teaser and not just another accessory that people will be underwhelmed to see.
- Product Leaks – Teasers bring attention and speculation. People will be looking for leaks and you need to be prepared for that.
- Upstaged by Competition – Your competition will likely be paying close attention to your launch, and if they have the capability, they try to steal your thunder by making an announcement, ramping ad spend, etc.
- Freeze Business – As mentioned before, lead time choice needs to be strategic as a product teaser can freeze sales during the campaign. Be prepared to drop product pricing or run a promo for existing products as needed or just anticipate higher sales after launch to make up the slack.
So what does Bambu Lab have in store for us on September 20th?
As mentioned at the top, Bambu Lab is currently running a product teaser for their launch event on September 20th and at the time of writing this we’re less than a day away, so what are the clues and what can we expect?
Clue #1 – Colorful 3D Printing for Everyone
Four colored filaments feeding into a single extruder might allude to some sort of multi-color splicing would allow the printer to print even faster with less waste than their existing automated unload / reload feature.
Clue #2 – Active Motor Noise Canceling
3D printers can be noisy, added dampening or computational white noise? A tease of 48 db could make this truly a desktop option for a quiet office when you consider average office noise ranges from 50-70 db.
Clue #3 – Rethink Flow Dynamics Calibration
Adjusting flow rates on the fly is always an engineering challenge that can be further compounded by multimaterials. It would appear that Bambu is tackling this with some sort of break through that will allow for high precision prints.
Clue #4 – Quick Swap Revolution
A swappable extruder without the need for tools wouldn’t be a revolution as it’s been done many times before, but it’s always a welcome addition when you consider how much a clog can hamper a 3D printing project.
Clue #5 – Tangled? Tackled!
My thought here is some sort of spool that has a feeder that slides around the spool to ensure filament doesn’t overlap and recoil on itself.
Clue #6 – We Confess
Okay so this says bed slinger to me. Probably something very inexpensive – sub $500. This could be very disruptive in the entry-level price point and might continue Bambu’s path to total 3D printer domination.
So there you have it. Bambu has developed a solid teaser campaign that has the internet in a frenzy. I expect at least one low cost 3D printer to launch and compete with the most entry level of options with a slew of new innovations that we’ve come to expect from Bambu Lab. What product do you expect to see? Will the event unveil more than just one 3D printer?
Are you launching a new product in the coming year? We can help with that. Check out machinegrowth.co – the growth marketing shop for hardware companies.