Product Launch Video: Planning the Film Backward From Launch Day

A product launch video is the film that introduces a new product to its market, and its schedule is counted backward from the launch date. A launch date is usually fixed for reasons that have nothing to do with video, such as a trade-show slot or a competitor's announcement.

The plan depends on two dates besides the launch itself: the day the video has to be live, and the shoot date, locked to the day the product stops changing. Both belong in the plan from the start, and the rest of the schedule follows from them.

The guide is written for in-house marketing and communications leads who have a fixed launch date and no plan for the film yet. The planning windows come first, followed by an eleven-milestone schedule to fill in with your own dates.

How far ahead should you start a product launch video?

Concept work on a launch video has to start early enough for production to finish before the film goes live, and most commercials at Blank Media take two to six weeks from the first briefing to the final file. When evaluating how much lead time your launch needs, start from the purpose of the film, because the purpose decides how big the crew and the edit have to be. A complex launch, such as a software or technology product with several features, needs more lead time than a single product with one use case.

A single product with one use case

When the video can focus on one product doing one main job and the shoot happens in a studio or another controlled location, the lead time can be at its shortest. The shortest lead time still leaves room for a proper shoot day and for post-production that nobody has to rush.

Launches across markets or tied to an event

A launch needs the longer lead time once any one of these is true:

• Several features or product models to explain, where a simpler launch has one core use case.
• More than one market or language, which means more than one finished video.
• A live event on launch day, where the film plays in front of an audience.

In Switzerland the second condition is common, since B2B product films there are usually made in more than one language. The extra languages get their own section below.

Which date do you count back from?

The backward count for a launch video starts at the day the film has to be live, which falls days or weeks before launch day. The film's first users all need it before the morning of the launch:

• Sales, to prepare for the customer conversations the launch will start.
• The launch event team, whose rehearsals run with the film on screen.
• Marketing, whose pre-launch teasers and social content run in the weeks of anticipation before launch.

What happens when the shoot date stays TBD?

When the shoot date of a launch video stays open, post-production gets squeezed into the last weeks before launch, and the edit continues into the weeks marketing and sales were supposed to be using the finished film. The shoot itself drifts to whatever week the video production company has free.

At Blank Media, a video production company in Zurich that makes commercials and product launch films for brands, the same pattern comes up again and again: the launch date is locked early, and the shoot date stays "TBD" until the product is closer to final. The caution is understandable, since nobody wants to film a product that might still change. The problem is the squeeze that follows, and it usually ends in one of two failures:

• The film misses the launch. It goes out weeks later, after the moment it was made for has passed, and it is the most common failure we see.
• The edit is rushed. Motion graphics get created in a few days, with fewer rounds to refine them and less polish than the product deserves.

Lock the shoot date to the product's feature freeze

A fixed launch date needs an equally fixed shoot date, and the product's feature freeze, a milestone borrowed from software development after which the product stops changing, is a more reliable anchor for the shoot than the launch date. Align that shoot date with the product team as early as the product timeline allows, and collect the product data the film will show at the same time.

Shooting before the freeze carries its own risk: products change right up until launch, and a shoot too far ahead can capture a version that is already outdated. For the same reason, keep the focus on the problem the product addresses and the value it delivers, since a film tied to the details of this year's model dates sooner than one that shows the capability behind it.

Between the shoot and the day the video goes live, a launch schedule needs one buffer week held in reserve. The buffer week rarely goes unused, and having it in the plan means a late change lands there while the launch date holds. The delays it absorbs look like this:

• A delayed asset the edit cannot finish without.
• A last-minute change to the messaging.
• A stakeholder review that runs long.

What does the schedule look like, counted back from launch day?

A launch video schedule has eleven milestones, from the start of concept work to launch day, and each one is counted back from the fixed launch date. Read the sequence from the bottom up, starting at launch day.

Every extra version adds time in the edit

Each finished version of a launch video is created as its own piece of work in post-production, from a broadcast master to a 9:16 social cut. The full collection therefore belongs in the project plan from the first meeting. For a launch, that content can include:

• Broadcast masters for TV and cinema, each in the resolution its screen requires.
• Platform versions matched to the social media platforms and devices the launch runs on, in 16:9, 9:16, 4:5 and 1:1.
• Subtitled, sound-off cuts with captions for feeds that play without sound.
• Product demo videos, a mini-series that lets viewers explore one feature at a time.
• Teaser and sales cuts, the short tools marketing and sales work with.
• Language versions, with one voice-over or subtitle track per language.

Agree the full list before the edit starts. What each extra version adds to a budget is covered in our guide to what video production costs in Switzerland.

Across the whole collection, each cut focuses on one message with simple visuals, so nothing distracts from it, and a concise message holds a viewer longer than a long one. Every cut ends on a single call to action, whether the next step is a purchase, a demo request or a visit to the website. In the feed cuts, the opening seconds decide whether the viewer continues watching, so the first shot has to win attention.

When do the language versions need to be decided?

Language versions of a launch video need to be decided before the edit begins, even though they are produced after picture lock. When the languages are known before filming, the shots are planned with space for voice-over and on-screen text, and every language is recorded over the same picture. A language that arrives after the edit means rebuilding the cut for it.

Each Swiss language can be covered with one of three methods:

• Subtitles for each language, the least expensive of the three.
• A voice-over in German, French, Italian or English, as covered in our guide to B2B product video in Switzerland.
• A separate shoot with local talent for each language region.

Voice-over and subtitles for each language are created after the final cut is locked, and they are the step most often forgotten until it is urgent. For Bestsmile, Blank Media filmed a production in three languages at two locations over three production days. For Merz Aesthetics, one day on site at the Forbes Women's Summit 2025, where the brand presented new innovations, became several videos of social content in multiple languages.

Can a launch video still be made with a few weeks to go?

A launch video can still be made with a few weeks to go through express production, at the cost of the buffer that absorbs delays. A compressed schedule usually means fewer review rounds and less time for motion graphics creation or animation.

Express production is meant for dates that cannot move, such as a campaign start or a media deadline. What a late start removes is margin, so the useful first step is a clear answer on what the remaining weeks can hold, and an approach that fits them.

Frequently asked questions

The five questions below are phrased the way they are typed into a search box. For the full schedule, use the table.

How early should a launch video be filmed?

Weeks before launch, not days, so that post-production, the review rounds and a buffer week all fit before the film goes live. Post-production of a commercial often takes longer than the shoot itself.

Should you film a product before it is finished?

Usually close to finished, at the product's feature freeze, which keeps the footage accurate without pushing the shoot too close to launch. Parts that are not built yet can be shown as 3D renders, joined with the live footage in post-production. For a software launch, 2D animation makes the product visually accessible.

How long should a product launch video be?

For TV, a launch spot is cut to thirty seconds to broadcast specification. Everything else, from the website video to the vertical feed cut, is edited to match the length its placement needs.

Can one shoot produce all the versions a launch needs?

One shoot can create finished files for every screen a launch runs on, and product demo videos can be filmed on the same day, provided the shot list includes them. Campaign stills can be photographed during the same shoot and lit to match the film, so the stills and the film share one visual style.