v1.0.0 to v1.0.1

2 added, 2 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: 60-launch-playbook-global

- description: "Use when the user needs a repeatable execution playbook for a product or offer launch: T-30 to D+7 timeline, per-function checklists for content, design, ads, sales, and engineering, launch-day war room, escalation matrix, and roll-back criteria. Trigger on 'launch playbook', 'launch process', 'launch checklist', 'launch SOP', 'war room', 'roll back launch', or 'how do we not fail this launch'."

+ description: "Use when a launch needs a repeatable EXECUTION playbook — a T-30 to D+7 timeline, per-function checklists for content, design, ads, sales, and engineering, a launch-day war room, an escalation matrix, and roll-back criteria. Trigger on 'launch playbook', 'launch checklist', 'launch day plan', 'launch SOP', 'war room', 'we launch in two weeks and nothing is organized'. Also use when a GTM strategy exists and nobody knows who does what on the day. Not for — the strategy and beachhead choice, see `59-go-to-market-global`; the campaign brief, see `02-campaign-brief-global`; the post-launch review, see `63-campaign-retrospective-global`; a live crisis, see `66-crisis-playbook-global`."

metadata:

- version: 1.0.0

+ version: 1.0.1

category: strategy

license: MIT

triggers:

- "launch playbook"

- "launch process"

- "launch checklist"

- "launch SOP"

- "war room"

- "roll back launch"

- "launch day plan"

- "launch preparation"

output: "File .md — three-phase playbook: pre-launch T-30 to T-1, launch-day war room plus D+1 to D+7, post-launch; per-function checklists, escalation matrix, roll-back criteria"

- 59-go-to-market-global

- 02-campaign-brief-global

- 41-campaign-asset-list-global

- 63-campaign-retrospective-global

- 66-crisis-playbook-global

---

# Launch Playbook (Global)

> A playbook is not a plan. A plan is for one launch; a playbook is reusable and improves after every launch. Successful launches are not luck — they are the product of correct preparation and disciplined execution. Run `59-go-to-market-global` first for the GTM plan; this playbook is the execution layer underneath it.

## Information gathering

Read the GTM plan and the campaign brief if available. If missing, ask up to 4 questions:

1. **What is launching, and on what date?** Product or offer, exact D-day, and any blackout dates in the period.

2. **Who is on the team?** Content, design, media buying, sales/support, engineering — who can do what?

3. **What assets exist already?** Landing page, creative, email sequence, tracking — status of each.

4. **What did the last launch teach you?** Read the previous retrospective and update the playbook; never reuse the old version unchanged.

## Principles

1. **Update the playbook after every launch.** Lessons from the retrospective must land in the playbook.

2. **"No-go" is a valid decision.** Launching at the wrong time is worse than launching late.

3. **Only the leader decides go/no-go.** Never delegate it.

4. **Plan backwards from D-day.** Every task has exactly one owner and a deadline with a specific time and timezone. Keep a one-day buffer before launch for the unexpected.

5. **Ads are built and left Paused.** They go live on D-day only, never earlier.

## Phase 1 — Pre-launch (T-30 to T-1)

### T-30 to T-21: Foundation

- [ ] Offer finalized: price, bundle, guarantee, bonuses locked (no changes after this point)

- [ ] Positioning and core message locked (from `58-positioning-global` or the GTM plan)

- [ ] Landing page brief handed to design/dev

- [ ] Content team briefed: angles, hooks, visual direction

- [ ] Media buyer briefed: audience research, account structure, ads plan

- [ ] Full asset list built (run `41-campaign-asset-list-global`)

- [ ] Claim substantiation file started: every performance, health, or income claim has evidence on record

### T-21 to T-14: Build

- [ ] Landing page live, tracking verified green (pixel, server-side events, UTMs)

- [ ] Pre-launch email sequence written (3-5 emails), unsubscribe and sender identity compliant with CAN-SPAM/GDPR

- [ ] Designer has the brief and the asset list (T-14 checkpoint)

- [ ] Teaser content starts: 1-2 posts per week, problem-aware, NO offer reveal

- [ ] Warm-audience ads live (engagement objective, low CPM)

- [ ] Email #1 sent: name the problem

- [ ] Seeding in relevant communities (Reddit, Discord, Slack, niche forums) following each community's self-promotion rules

- [ ] Creators / UGC partners briefed, with disclosure requirements stated (FTC requires clear #ad or #sponsored disclosure on paid endorsements)

### T-7: Ramp up

- [ ] Teasers move to daily cadence

- [ ] Designer submits MVP concept > leader approves (T-7); complex assets such as the landing page finished by T-5

- [ ] Email #2: reveal the problem, hint at the solution

- [ ] Ads budget increased (traffic to landing page to build custom audiences)

- [ ] Social proof collected: testimonials from beta users or existing customers

- [ ] FAQ content published: handles the common objections

### T-3: Final prep

- [ ] All content approved and scheduled (medium-complexity assets — carousels, banner sets — done by T-3)

- [ ] Ads fully built and Paused, waiting for D-day

- [ ] Landing page final QA: load time, forms, payment (card, PayPal, wallets), mobile rendering

- [ ] Email #3: "Doors open [date] — want to be told first?"

- [ ] Team brief: who does what, at what hour, in which timezone (war room roster)

- [ ] Inbox coverage assigned with response scripts ready

- [ ] Fast assets (statics, stories) done by T-1

### T-1: Go / no-go check

- [ ] Tracking 100% working

- [ ] Payment tested successfully across every method offered

- [ ] All links resolve, no 404s

- [ ] Offer copy correct (price, bonuses, deadline)

- [ ] Consent, privacy notice, and unsubscribe paths verified

- [ ] Team confirmed ready

- **LEADER SIGN-OFF: GO / NO-GO** — any missing item means NO-GO

## Per-function checklist (before D-day)

| Function | Checklist |

|----------|-----------|

| Content | Captions, scripts, and creative approved by leader; hashtags and UTM links complete; schedule set or a person on duty to post; backup content if creator delivery slips |

| Design | Correct size per platform; assets follow the timeline T-14 brief > T-7 concept > T-5 complex > T-3 medium > T-1 fast; quick-asset standby on launch day |

| Ads (media buyer) | Pixel and tracking verified; campaigns built and Paused; budget matches plan; UTMs on every link; backup creative ready in case of policy rejection |

| Sales / support | Inbox coverage by shift and timezone; reply scripts for common comments and DMs; lead handoff process to sales; complaint-handling script |

| Engineering | Page loads fast, forms work, payment tested; on-call engineer on launch day; redirect plan if the page goes down |

## Phase 2 — Launch-day war room

The war room is one shared channel plus a clear on-duty roster. The leader coordinates and each function has a single point of contact. Data is checked hourly and decisions are made same-day. For distributed teams, publish the roster in a single reference timezone with local equivalents, and require written status updates at each checkpoint so no decision depends on someone being awake.

| Hour (launch timezone) | Activity | Owner |

|------------------------|----------|-------|

| T-1h | Leader runs the final check (page, tracking, schedule) | Leader |

| 0:00 | Publish the official announcement | Writer |

| +0:30 | Turn on BOFU ads (Meta, TikTok, Google) | Media buyer |

| +1:00 | Email and SMS blast: "We're live" | Leader |

| +2:00 | Data check 1: page views, form submits, ad delivery | Leader |

| +4:00 | Second post (different angle — social proof or urgency) | Writer |

| +7:00 | Mid-day review — adjust or hold | Leader |

| +12:00 | Evening push at peak time: stories, reposts | Writer |

| +15:00 | Day-1 wrap: numbers, anomalies, decisions for day 2 | Leader |

### D+1 to D+7

| Day | Activity | Owner |

|-----|----------|-------|

| D+1 | Follow-up email to non-buying leads — handle objections | Leader |

| D+1 | Mark winning and losing creative from day-1 data | Media buyer + designer |

| D+2 | Post social proof: first buyers, early results | Writer |

| D+3 | Media buyer report > leader decides scale, hold, or cut | Leader |

| D+5 | Urgency push: "X seats left" or "bonus ends [date]" | Writer + leader |

| D+7 | Last call: email, SMS, post > close cart | Leader + writer |

### Escalation matrix

|-----------|----------|--------|------------|

### Roll-back criteria

Roll-back means pausing part or all of the launch to fix it. The leader decides.

| Situation | Threshold | Roll-back action |

|-----------|-----------|------------------|

| Tracking wrong or not firing | Any | Pause all ads until fixed — do not burn budget blind |

| CPA above threshold | > 3x target after the first 24h | Pause BOFU ads, keep organic; review creative and audience before restarting |

| Landing page CVR far below expectation | < 1/3 of expected after 48h | Keep TOFU, pause BOFU push; fix headline, form, and speed, then restart |

| Offer displayed wrong (price or bonus) | Any | Remove the post, fix, repost — faster than apologizing on the broken post |

| Reputation issue or complaints spreading | Spreading | Switch to `66-crisis-playbook-global`, stop all sales posts until resolved |

Roll-back is not failure. Continuing while knowing you are wrong is.

## Phase 3 — Post-launch (D+8 onward)

- [ ] D+8 to D+14: pull all data (revenue, leads, ROAS, CPA, CVR, top channels); media buyer writes the performance report; collect new customer feedback; 30-minute team debrief

- [ ] D+14 onward: decide on an evergreen campaign (if yes, always-on ads with an explicit ROAS target); document testimonials and case studies from the first customers

- [ ] **Update this playbook** with lessons from the retrospective (`63-campaign-retrospective-global`) — mandatory, never skipped because the team is busy

## Output structure

File name: `launch-playbook-[product-name]-[YYYYMMDD].md` — contains the T-30 to D+7 timeline with owners and deadlines filled in, the 5 function checklists, the war room roster, the escalation matrix, the roll-back criteria, and a "lessons applied from last launch" section.

## Related skills

- `59-go-to-market-global`: run first — the GTM plan is the strategic input, this playbook is the execution layer.

- `02-campaign-brief-global`: brief the team before entering the timeline.

- `41-campaign-asset-list-global`: enumerate the assets to produce at the T-30 to T-21 checkpoint.

- `63-campaign-retrospective-global`: run after every launch — lessons feed back into this playbook.

- `66-crisis-playbook-global`: activate when negative sentiment spreads or a reputation issue appears.

## Quality checklist

- [ ] Timeline complete from T-30 to D+7, planned backwards from D-day

- [ ] Every task has exactly one owner and a deadline with a time and timezone

- [ ] Checklists cover all 5 functions: content, design, ads, sales/support, engineering

- [ ] T-1 go/no-go checklist complete — leader signs off

- [ ] War room has an hourly roster and a named point of contact per function

- [ ] Escalation matrix is explicit: situation > severity > action > owner

- [ ] Roll-back criteria use concrete numeric thresholds, not judgment calls

- [ ] Ads are built and left Paused — only turned on at D-day

- [ ] A one-day buffer exists before launch

- [ ] Claim substantiation and endorsement disclosure are verified before assets go live

- [ ] The playbook update step after launch is included