Seasonal Release

An episodic approach to bundling and promoting themed product releases. Typically packaged by season "Winter 2025" or quarterly "Season #8" with dozens of features built around a single narrative.

Seasonal releases are a way for companies with fast-moving products to control their product story over a series of regularly spaced launches.

Instead of only highlighting "tier one" features as they ships, companies will develop a quarterly theme or narrative that connects dozens (or hundreds) of smaller updates into a single marketing event. This gives each release a clear focus that directs attentions to improvements which ordinarily might be overlooked.

Components of a seasonal release

1. Short term cycles (30-90 days) with clear story arcs + roadmaps, relative timeframes (“mid-season”), clear progression across time frame, high conviction of content in release.

2. Episodic themes (“In the last few seasons we started to introduce [X], today we’re taking the next step with [Y].”)

3. Video led by product managers and company leaders. Trailers, virtual keynotes, sizzle reels similar to TV shows. Narrators talk over b-roll of recorded product demos, instead of providing a realtime demo like a webinar.

4. Anchored on an event, either live streamed or prerecorded.

5. "Big number" summary of small improvements like "150 quality of life upgrades". Segmented into categories of features, with deeper dive on content.

6. Infographic roadmaps. Bento box designs. Strong sense of future direction with concrete examples.

Examples of companies with seasonal product releases

Descript has seasonal releases with titles like "Season 6 - Underlord" to highlight a flagship ("Tier 1") feature launch. See a breakdown and more examples here.

Most seasonal releases lead with a 2-3 minute product video highlighting the most important changes. This can include commentary from leadership and product managers, voicing over demos, motion graphics, and b-roll product clips. See: Shopify Editions, using season + theme title, "Summer 2024 Edition - Unified" for example

Companies can still ship frequently while following a seasonal release model — constant improvements are still made and shipped in between large announcements. Especially in B2B, the bundling of changes makes it easier for customers to find the latest updates for each of their vendors (instead of relying solely on weekly release notes).