How about NOT linking book-buying to addiction?
June 4th, 2009 by Vanessa
So, having had a good moan about the horrors of the BA/PA’s Bookaholism campaign, last night Malcolm and I got to thinking what would be a better plan. After all, it’s all very well to be critical but it’s good to follow it up with some constructive suggestions isn’t it?
I have to admit that the following idea was put together over a glass of wine while watching The Apprentice last night (don’t you think ‘Bookaholism’ is a sub-Apprentice type of slogan?) and polished on the school run this morning (whilst being deafened by three boys chattering in the back and the dog grumbling at having to share her bootspace with some of their schoolbags) so it isn’t as slick as something that could have been put together during “the result of numerous meetings and brainstorm sessions convened by Damian Horner involving senior members of the trade,” but I think it might be a better plan.
Taking inspiration from the milk marketing campaign I mentioned yesterday, and thinking about the whole idea of making people smile (because adverts that make you smile are memorable), using a number of well-known faces to reinforce the idea that reading is fun and that book-buying is an essential (for many of us) part of life as well as providing a person that the target market aspires to or can relate to whether that be Katie Price or the Archbishop of Canterbury. It also struck us that unlike the addiction-based scheme, it needs to be a campaign which can easily be adapted to appeal to all parts of the trade from children to older people, from avid readers to people who read only a few books a year. We also loved the American Booksellers Association slogan of “Eat. Sleep. Read.” and I’m sure that the UK could license that from them. It is quite similar to 2008’s National Year of Reading but to be fair, the message is pretty much the same with the new campaign just being tweaked to encourage people to buy books. I don’t know how ‘bookaholism’ encourages buying books specifically rather than borrowing them from the library.
So we’ve mocked up this:
What do you think? I think the made-up book titles could be fun and obviously would relate to the person reading. You could use Cristiano Ronaldo (yeak, ok, he probably doesn’t come cheap but a girl can dream) to promote books to boys (the boys on the school run assured me that he’s probably the coolest footballer around); Tinky-Winky from the Teletubbies or the Gruffalo would appeal to the under-fives; Victoria Beckham could appeal to young women (ads in Grazia?); for Scotland, how about Ian Rankin reading a book on writing romantic fiction and you could similarly adapt the concept for other areas such as Yorkshire, Wales or wherever. Something similar was done for the National Year of Reading in 2008 with a TV and print ad featuring various people, mainly comedians, reading from a wide range of books and other media*.
As Damian Horner, the marketing guru who appears to be in charge of bookaholism, points out in the comments section at The Bookseller article, cost is a huge consideration and it’s planned that the campaign will mostly rely on “rely on a random mix of media that include name badges, POS, bags and Author events”. I do wonder about that – if you’re relying on POS material then you’ve already got the customer into the bookshop which is hardly targetting the ‘light to medium reader’ that the campaign is suppsed to appeal to. And name badges sound a hideous idea. I also thought that campaigns weren’t supposed to be ‘random’ but I’m not a marketing guru so clearly I know nothing.
But you could use this scheme on bags, bookmarks and it could be used to garner lots of PR coverage. A few well-placed adverts would be helpful if the budget would stretch that far and bus stop ads probably come reasonably cheaply. In fact, I reckon that this campaign could probably be put together a lot more cheaply than the BA/PA think.
Our idea may not be incredibly original (although there’s little new under the sun in the marketing field). The key thing to bear in mind however is that if this is what we can come up with then the marketing directors of big publishing houses and ‘marketing gurus’ such as Damian H should be able to do better than linking book buying to alcoholism and drug addiction. Don’t you think?
* The Year of Reading was set up by not-for-profit organisations such as Booktrust, Arts Council England etc
Love it! A truly good idea, and adaptable as you say. Your example was perhaps unfortunate as poor old Edward is one of the few who cannot eat nor sleep – or was that deliberate on your part? Anyway, I agree with your comments about “bookaholism” and have said so on the Bookseller blog too. It’s so blatantly a dreadful idea that it’s hard to imagine anyone being so STUPID as to go for it. I met Damian Horner a couple of weeks ago and thought him lively, intelligent, knowledgeable … but not in this intsance. I really hope your idea takes off because it’s brilliant and could be really very funny too. Fingers crossed! (My two pennyworth – Jesus reading “The God Delusion”)
I am and have been addicted to books for more years than I care to share! along with many other addictions I have – such as shoes and watches! So I have no issues with a campagin which would promote that people MUST have books and that it is essential to have certain titles/authors etc etc.
I would so totally love our book buying customers to become even more addicted to buying books and if we can make them feel that “it’s trendy” to be addicted to book buying, hey ho.
We have had footballers promote books, we have had campagins with bags,. bookmarks and bus stop adverts, we have had “Love Reading” none of which appear to have resulted in any upturn in sales.
We need to think bigger and like you I was unable to attend the conference and would have loved to hear the full presentation rather then the report in The Bookseller. Contact Damian direct and chat with him – he is excellent.
A larger % of the population do not buy or read books, than do and that’s the group we need to target, the world today is driven by what’s cool and the must have feeling and whilst we might not feel comfortable with that style of life, it is a fact for younger generations and if even another 1% of the population felt they were addicted to books, the money would benefit us all.
Hi Kit – I’m glad you agree and thanks for being so positive: I was convinced that the first person to comment would say that our idea was 10 times worse that bookaholism so it’s nice to see that not everyone does. I’ve met Damian as well when I was a speaker at the BA’s forum for Scottish indies a couple of months ago and he didn’t seem deranged although I think something must have happened since! And yes, it was kind of deliberate using Edward but more that we couldn’t resist the book’s title.
Hi Sheila – I agree we need something that conveys books as being cool, but I’m not sure that trying to flog books by linking them to drug addiction is a good idea, especially as the general consensus in society is that drugs are A Bad Thing. And it does smack a bit of your dad trying to be cool when he talks to your friends when you’re a teenager… really embarrassing and just trying too hard.
Vanessa, yes agreed Damian is good and we’ve only got The Bookseller’s report on the presentation so we should not jump to conclusion (good or bad) At no stage have I seen anywhere mentioned that the campagin is being linked to drug addictions – except on the blog rants of the usual suspects on The Bookseller website – totally unhelpful. The industry needs action to raise the profile of books to the public beyond current book buyers – other industries are doing it and we need to get our act together and not with the ideas already tried – bags, bookmarks etc. We need to attract outside our current market in order to grow and that’s going to need ideas and thoughts which no one might necessarily think of from within the industry.
Sheila, I read the Book Brunch report too which was rather more informative, but even so, Damian has been saying things like “poetry, for example, could be sold with “fancy a line of Coleridge” and Book Brunch is reporting that possible straplines were suggested such as “Consume no less than one a month”, “Class A reading material” and “This book is seriously addictive”. I suppose it depends what the new market you’re trying to attract is – if it’s drug addicts and alcoholics then this could work.
I’m not saying we don’t need to try something new, I’m just questioning whether linking it to addiction problems is the way to go.
Bookaholism?
I want no part of it.
No Vanessa, linking anything with addiction is not the way to go. Books should be seen as positive, not negative. In winter there should be notions of curling up in a warm place with a good book. In summer there should be similar notions of stretching out and savouring a good book. (I know, it sounds cat like!)
I do not want my reading tainted by association with drugs, tobacco or an over-indulgence in alcohol. It is not the right message to be sending to children.
May I suggest that you develop a cat called Fidra and team the cat up with a certain dog? (I am sure you know who I mean.)
Bookaholic = nerd in the popular mind. The liberating effect of reading would, I think, be a stronger message to punt. Erwin James and Lee Stringer both found release (from prison and addiction respectively) because of books; Bill Bailey said of Lenny Henry that he’d become much more confident since completing his OU degree in English Lit. That’s Lenny Henry, nationally-recognised comedian since the mid-1970s, lacking in confidence.
None of the slogans proposed are particularly rhythmic or catchy, with the exception of ‘get hooked on a book’. And you’re right, Vanessa – there is something about it which smacks of a bogus attempt to get down with the kids. People generally appreciate and respond to quality, expertise, intelligence and sincerity, so long as they’re not being talked down to or talked over. It wouldn’t hurt to address the public as discerning adults rather than marketing categories or attention-deficit adolescents.
Of course we want to see more people buying and reading books, but the deeper question is one of nurturing a literate culture, the possession of which we used to take for granted. There’s a certain chicken-and-egg aspect to that debate, but if literacy is not taken as a fundamental part of citizenship, public discourse, personal maturity and national character, then all one is doing with this campaign (or any other) is expanding a niche interest – or worse, a niche market.
Though I accept that one has to start somewhere. School, f’rinstance.
I find it ridiculous that the bookseller are complaining about the feedback to their post; if they’re not going to properly explain then of course there will be backlash. Not to mention the idea itself. There are actually some fantastic suggestions posted in reply to the main article; it’s a shame the marketing people are too busy defending themselves to listen.
On a side note, I am totally going to print out your poster, Vanessa, and go and put it on every tree I can find.
Miss you all xx
Hi Vanessa,
Completely agree….we biblioholics may call OURSELVES that, but it’s hardly a good selling point to bring in the masses who don’t read, or read only occasionally!
Celebrity posters are always good….check out the link below to see some the American Library Association uses….from Hugh Laurie, Orlando Bloom, Star Wars and Twilight (acting) to Yo-Yo-Ma (music) by way of Stephen Hawkings and Bill Gates (science, technology) and Yao Ming and Danica Patrick (sport) with a side trip to Cesar Milan (dog trainer, with his favorite dog).
They all pose gratis, as it’s a good cause….granted booksellers aren’t a non-profit organization like the library, but they’re clearly a good cause….what writer is going to be able to make a living on books sold solely to libraries? A dwindling pool of writers is never, ever good for society! Maybe if bookstores, especially independants, approached them, they’d agree…it never hurts to ask!
http://www.alastore.ala.org/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=160
[...] the comments section on The Bookseller’s online edition – and when I wrote about it here and here the idea was given fairly short shrift by our commenters. Since then I haven’t met a [...]