Launch marketing council Episode 4: Disruptive category launches

Our multi-part video series, Ready to Launch, is focused on unlocking the secrets of launching brands, products and services by exploring real-life examples from Australia’s marketing elite. The series is being produced as part of the Launch Marketing Council initiative by CMO in conjunction with Matt Lawton, MD at independent agency, Five by Five Global.

In our fourth episode, we’re joined by two heavy hitters in the disruptive category space: Jonathan Anastas, global chief marketing officer of One Championship; and Steve Brennen, chief customer officer of Zip Co. Also featured are Five by Five Global’s Matt Lawton and CMO’s Nadia Cameron.

Episode 4: Key markers

2.06 – Panellists share their most successful launches over their careers

5.50 – Orchestrating a truly head-turning, conspicuous product launch

9.29 – Coping with ever-shortening product release cycles

12.56 – Keeping up with cultural conversations and human psyche

14.49 – Achieving authenticity in the creative and media plan

17.00 – How brand equity and talent feed into the moment of launch

21.40 – Finding the right balance of awareness and reach with trial and sales

23.45 – Identifying the critical insight to get people talking about your launch

28.30 – The risk equation

32.00 – Competitive forces and how one-on-one rivalry helps – and hinders – launch efforts

39.00 – An appetite for disruption: How the people factor informs launch success

45.05 – Our CMOs on influencing local and international launch approaches  

About our speakers

Jonathan Anastas is the ONE Group chief marketing officer. In this role, Jonathan oversees all marketing for both ONE Championship, the largest sports media company in Asian history, as well as a top 10 global sports property by reach, and ONE Esports.    

Jonathan was previously CMO at LiveXLive Media, a publicly traded digital streaming music service focused on live experiences, where paid subscribers doubled under his leadership. He was also CMO at the Motor Trend Group, a Discovery company, leading the launch of Motor Trend OnDemand, the company’s first SVOD product. Jonathan was part of the management team that sold Motor Trend and other automotive media properties to Discovery in Q3 of 2017.  

Prior to this, Jonathan served as global VP and head of digital and social for Activision Blizzard. In this role, he established Call of Duty as the number-one console game on social media, which helped it to become a $10 billion franchise; oversaw digital marketing for the multi-billion dollar launches of Skylanders and Destiny, achieving record launch sales for new gaming intellectual property; and launched Call of Duty Online in partnership with Tencent, a free-to-play franchise extension that was the series' first IP released in China. Jonathan began his brand marketing career as the global head of marketing for iconic gaming brand, Atari.  

Steve Brennen is the chief customer officer of Zip Co, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) company founded in Australia in 2013 and listed on the ASX.  He boasts of more than 20 years of sales, marketing and management experience at a senior level with global challenger brands. Previous roles included director of marketing for Uber A/NZ, chief marketing officer at eBay, director of marketing Asia-Pacific at PayPal and head of acquisition marketing for Virgin. He’s also spent more than seven years as the chair of the Association of Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA).

Matt Lawton is a graduate of Melbourne Business School and managing director of Five by Five - a global independent agency that specialises in launching things. Australian clients include Volt bank, Patron Tequila, Red Bull, Lenovo, Crescent Tools and a host of innovative startups.