The Communications-First Playbook That Drove MYOB's Solo Launch Success

Most companies treat communications like a finishing coat. You build the product, nail the strategy, and then call in the PR team to package it up. MYOB thinks that order is exactly backwards.

At CommsCon 2026 in Sydney, two MYOB executives made the case that putting communications first is not just good practice. It is a genuine competitive edge.

The Session That Challenged a Long-Standing Habit

On 25 March 2026 at Crown Sydney, Lia Pacquola, General Manager of Strategic Communications at MYOB, and Sally Davies, General Manager of Solo and Embedded Finance at MYOB, took the stage at CommsCon. The session was titled "Culture's role in building a B2B brand."

Their central argument was straightforward. The traditional B2B sequence, where product development leads and communications follows, is holding companies back. Lia Pacquola and Sally Davies want to flip that script entirely.

The Solo Product Launch: Proof of the Concept

The clearest example they pointed to was the launch of Solo, a new MYOB product. Instead of building the product and then figuring out how to talk about it, MYOB set its strategic positioning before the product design even started.

That meant brand voice, social messaging, and broader marketing were all locked in and aligned before launch day. The result was a cohesive market entry where every channel and message pointed in the same direction.

MYOB reinforces this approach structurally through its in-house agency model. Rather than outsourcing creative and communications work, MYOB keeps it embedded within the business. When communications people live and breathe the brand every day, it is far easier to keep the product and the story in harmony.

Why the Data Backs This Up

The MYOB approach is not just intuitive. The numbers support it.

The Earned-First Shift: How PR Is Reframing Its Role in Marketing Mix

PR shifts from second-class to central strategy. CommsCon 2026: earned media outperforms paid 4.7x, reframing marketing hierarchy.

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Research from Greenhat's 2026 APAC B2B marketing study shows that companies with tightly aligned marketing and sales teams see 60% higher win rates and 72% stronger customer engagement than those operating in silos. Integrating communications into the product process from day one is arguably the most upstream form of alignment a company can achieve.

There is also a trust dimension that matters especially in Asian markets. According to Edelman's research on B2B buying behaviour in the region, 73% of APAC B2B decision-makers say expert industry content gives them a more trustworthy basis for evaluating a company than traditional product marketing and spec sheets. Communications-first approaches are structurally better suited to earning that trust before a sales conversation even begins.

MYOB's content results also speak for themselves. After overhauling its content strategy to embed communications into brand-building rather than treat it as an afterthought, the company's blog The Pulse recorded a 1,200% increase in traffic within 12 months.

What This Means for B2B Leaders in Asia

For marketing and communications leaders in Asia Pacific, the MYOB CommsCon session lands at a meaningful moment. Asia accounts for roughly 80% of the global B2B ecommerce market. The stakes of getting go-to-market strategy right are enormous, and the region's buying culture places a particular premium on trust built over time rather than through product pitches.

As Lia Pacquola framed it at CommsCon: "Earned strategy can sit at the centre of B2B brand-building." That is a direct challenge to the assumption that PR and communications are support functions. It is a case for making them foundational.

The practical implication for B2B leaders is not complicated. Before your next product launch, before the roadmap is locked, ask your communications team what story you are trying to tell. Then let that answer shape the product, not the other way around.