The song officially premiered via Bunton's newly-launched website on 14 February. Nancy Phillips, who was hired in 1998 to manage the Spice Girls' business affairs, was by early 2001, also in charge of each of the four members' individual projects, including the launch of Bunton's solo album A Girl Like Me and Melanie C's touring schedule in support of her debut album Northern Star (1999). The promotional campaign for "What Took You So Long?" started in March 2001, but according to Phillips, the release was in danger of been overlooked by the press because of Melanie C's comments in an interview to Reuters, in which she declared not to enjoy working with the Spice Girls anymore. She commented: "We've all been very honest and all wanted to pursue solo careers. We're still linked business-wise and we're still friends, but I don't really consider myself to work as a band now." The media's focus shifted to the end of the group. Aiming to end the press stories, Phillips persuaded Melanie C to set a telephone interview on 10 March to the television programme CD:UK, where Bunton was presenting the song. In the call, she denied leaving the Spice Girls and added: "We're concentrating on solo stuff but no-one has left the band. I've not left the Spice Girls." This lessened the speculation but also prompted Phillips to end her involvement with the group, although she continued to manage the solo careers of Melanie C and Bunton. An intensive promotional campaign in the UK that lasted a couple of weeks started at the end of March 2001, while the song entered the top 20 of the UK Airplay Chart. Bunton began with a performance at the nightclub G-A-Y and instore presentations alongside signings. She then appeared at CD:UK on 24 March, The Pepsi Chart Show and MTV Select on 29 March, Live & Kicking on 31 March, T4 on 1 April, GMTV on 4 April, and Diggit on 7 April 2001. After the release of A Girl Like Me, Bunton began promotional visits abroad. On 24 April 2001, she did an interview at TV total in Cologne, Germany, then visited Italy, France and Scandinavia. Bunton promoted the song in Singapore during May, and appeared at the television show Patrick Kielty Almost Live in Belfast on 27 July 2001. "What Took You So Long?" was commercially released in the UK on 2 April