If I said to you the word "launch", the first thing that would probably pop into your head is the launch of a rocket or a boat, or maybe even a kite. If you think a bit harder, you may come up with the idea of a product launch, but it really depends on what you are into.

If you love gadgets and are well up on the latest technology trends, then you are likely to be familiar with the idea of a product launch. Indeed, rarely a week goes by without a new product being launched.

Last week, for example, Sony's new PlayStation Portable (PSP) was "launched" in Ireland. Hundreds of people stayed up all night to ensure that they were one of the first in the queue when 20 shops across the Republic opened at midnight especially to sell the first PSPs.

The launch was PlayStation's biggest ever , but its media promotion campaign had not even started.

"Ireland has never witnessed anything like this," says Niall O'Hanrahan, managing director, PlayStation Ireland.

"It was without doubt the most successful launch of any product in the history of PlayStation."

If you have listened to the radio recently, you may well have heard adverts for something called Metro. If you have, then you will know what I am talking about, but for those who have not, it is basically an ad that consists of a voice saying: "Metro - coming to a town near you soon."

While some people may wonder what Metro actually is - discussions on this advertising technique should be saved for another column - the ad is in fact pre-empting the launch of a free newspaper, which will be available in Ireland's major cities later this year. It is encouraging people to look out for and anticipate something that its owners hope they want.

A launch can, as even those few examples show, take on many different guises and can be promoted as much or as little as is needed or desired.

It is usually pre-empted by a flurry of media activity, including newspaper, television and radio adverts, although in some cases, as with the PSP, the launch is so anticipated that no promotion is needed.

When Imagine launched its new broadband internet service earlier this summer, it gave away €10,000 in 10 minutes one morning on Grafton Street to attract people's attention and to ensure that it was a name that they will remember in the future.

"The type of launch you choose should depend on the consumer you are targeting," says Charley Stoney, managing director of McConnells Direct, a Dublin-based marketing and advertising agency that includes companies like Tesco and AIB among its clients.

"If you are targeting a youth market, then outdoor advertising such as billboards and hoardings are most effective, but for older people, newspaper adverts produce better results.

"In Ireland, TV advertising is the most effective. If people see a product or a company advertised on the TV, it reassures them that a product is bona fide," he says.

So, why am I telling you this? It is for two reasons. Firstly, by way of a preamble to my own launch. Please do not take the first example given at the start of this column and assume that I am launching myself into space. Not at all.

What I am attempting to launch is the Business 2000 column, which will appear every week in the Business This Week section of The Irish Times, starting today. The second reason is to demonstrate to you what the Business 2000 column hopes to achieve.

It aims to introduce you to techniques or methods that are used in business, and in this case in particular, to prompt you to think about how products come to be what they are and how they are sold.

The aim of the Business 2000 column is to serve as a starting point for discussion of different themes to do with business studies.

The idea is that you read the column and then go away and discuss the topics mentioned in the article with your teachers and classmates.

Meanwhile, The Irish Times will do its best to make the articles as topical and as relevant to real life circumstances as possible by using examples of individual businesses in your Business 2000 information pack, as well as those that feature in your daily lives and in the news.

We will ask questions such as: "What is marketing?", "How do you go about setting up a new business?" and "What makes a business successful?"

By talking to people from all walks of business life, we will be aiming to gain an insight into the modern business world.

Another key theme that we will be examining this year is the influence that joining the European Union has had on Ireland, and the effect that the expansion of the EU eastwards will have on the Republic in the future.

We will also look at regulation and the role of the Government in running the economy. These studies will be reinforced by the detailed case studies provided by the Business 2000 resources pack and website.

While this column hopes to give you an insight into the business world and its activities, it won't be able to teach you everything that you need to know.

In addition, you need to think about the articles that you have read and look out for other stories about businesses and individuals in similar situations. This does not even need to take up too much of your time.

By watching the adverts on television, you will see examples of effective advertising and marketing strategies, and you never know who might be setting up their own business in your favourite soap opera or drama series.

As well as going about your normal activities, we hope that you will turn to the Business This Week supplement every week to see what has been going on in the business world and, most importantly of course, to read the

Business 2000 column.