Winners of the April-June 2019 Awards!

POSTED ON: 02/09/19 TAGS:

by katie

Book Marketing Society Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the April-June 2019 BMS Awards! The full list of winners are…

Best Debut Campaign:

  • Highly Commended: The Flatshare by Beth O’LearyMarketers: Bethan Ferguson and Hannah Winter, Quercus, Hachette
    The judges said: ‘An attention-grabbing and fun campaign that exhibited the team’s enthusiasm for the book. Clever stunt-marketing with ‘the bed’ was supported by a strong rollout with powerful influencer marketing and a well-targeted consumer strategy.’
  • Winner: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

    Marketer: Cait Davies, Orion, Hachette
    The judges said: ‘A truly integrated campaign that created multiple opportunities to showcase not just the book, but also the author. Highly coordinated planning plus imaginative touchpoints meant that Queenie launched with an army of advocates.’

Best Guerrilla Campaign

  • Highly Commended: My Lovely Wife by Samantha DowningMarketer: Beth Cockeram, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House
    The judges said: ‘This campaign is a best practice example of how to strategically support an ebook price promotion and take nothing for granted, through a strike team created bringing together editorial, sales and marketing which then enabled a killer bestseller to stay at the top of the bestseller charts.’
  • Winner: Lowborn by Kerry Hudson

    Marketer: Sophie Painter, Vintage, Penguin Random House
    The judges said: ‘A stellar example of a campaign delivering on some clear objectives with a small budget and within a very short timeline. They not only conceived and delivered a campaign to support an important social justice campaign, but also made use of high profile partnerships with relevant charities to deliver a wide range of events and reach new audiences for this book.’

Best Adult Fiction Campaign

  • Highly Commended: Hunting Evil by Chris CarterMarketer: Richard Vlietstra, Simon & Schuster
    The judges said: ‘What made this campaign really stand out is the way it identified re-engaging fans as a key objective and deployed tactics to do so that feel logical, customer-centric and appropriate to the genre. Demonstrated evidence of strong audience insight, campaign planning, and incentives in play—and a canny and consistent use of storytelling in author-led and interactive social content.’
  • Winner: In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin

    Marketer: Tom Noble, Orion, Hachette
    The judges said: ‘An exemplary, rigorous campaign and campaign report that really does the scale of budget in play here justice; a critical approach is visibly demonstrated from early planning to fine details during execution. Partnerships feel constructive and relevant, though still creative. And the result is to die for.’

Best Adult Non-Fiction Campaign

  • Highly Commended: How to Fail by Elizabeth DayMarketer: Liv Marsden, 4th Estate, HarperCollins
    The judges said: ‘How to Fail sets the standard for marketing a podcast spin-off. From the audio-first approach to the smart social targeting, the campaign displays a keen understanding of the audience and achieved impressive ROI. It was also deftly executed, harnessing the power of advocates including Bookstagrammers, big name influencers and HarperCollins employees.’
  • Winner: The Secret Barrister

    Marketer: Paul Martinovic, Pan Macmillan
    The judges said: ‘It’s not easy to follow an impressive hardback campaign with something innovative and incredibly successful. What we loved about the Secret Barrister is that it took a relentlessly creative approach, stayed true to the mischievous tone of the book and achieved extraordinary sales.’

Young Adult Fiction Campaign

  • Highly Commended: Isles of Storm and Sorrow: Viper by Bex HoganMarketers: Natasha Whearity and Naomi Berwin, Hachette Children’s Group, Hachette
    The judges said: ‘This team’s understanding of its audience was impeccable. With that knowledge at the centre of their work they crafted a dynamic, smart campaign with stunning visuals and outstanding results.’
  • Winner: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

    Marketers: Jasveen Bansal & Dannie Price, Electric Monkey, Egmont Publishing
    The judges said: ‘This team developed a brilliant core creative concept and used it to drive truly impressive pre-awareness and sales. This, partnered with methodical planning and strategic positioning, broke an unknown debut author onto the scene in exemplary fashion.’

Children’s Campaign

  • Highly Commended: Starfell: Willow Moss and the Lost Day by Dominique ValenteMarketers: Alex Cowan and Beth Maher, HarperCollins Children’s Books, HarperCollins
    The judges said: ‘The campaign managed to generate fantastic buzz at retail and among influencers, with a great proof tour and 51 bookstores visited in one day. It showed innovation with a mobile-first approach, creativity with the Magical Witch’s kit competition, and a targeted advertising strategy across YouTube, cinemas, shopping malls, schools and online communities like PopJam and Toppsta.’
  • Winner: Malamander by Thomas Taylor 

    Marketers: Jill Kidson, Jo Humphries-Davies, Josh Alliston, James McParland, Walker Books
    The judges said: ‘A wonderfully orchestrated campaign which brought the world of Eerie-on-Sea to life, with a brilliantly executed bookseller outreach, an excellently promoted, cinematic trailer, an Eerie-on-Sea Enquirer newspaper created in-house, an interactive map for the website, creative partnerships and POS.’

The judges also awarded some BMS Spotlight Awards in some of the key judging areas. The winners of these were:

Audience Development:

How to Be Right by James O’Brien – For precision use of audience insight for careful audience targeting

Marketers: Caroline Butler, Ebury, Penguin Random House
The judges said: ‘The dirty words Cambridge Analytica were mentioned in relation to this campaign. However the Ebury marketing team used incisive data-driven strategy to do the right thing. They skillfully built a new audience for O’Brien with insight-driven, targeted messages across multiple channels. This is what the future of marketing looks like.’

Innovation:

Tin Can Cook by Jack Monroe – For innovative thinking into how to combine a crowdfunding campaign to support social objectives of book campaign)

Marketers: Jodie Mullish, Jess Duffy, Andy Joannou, Will Upton and Alex Ellis, Bluebird Books, Pan Macmillan
The judges said: ‘A crowdfunding platform isn’t the usual channel for promoting a bestselling cookery book. This is proof that a marketing campaign can break all the rules, shift units and do genuine good in the world. By building on the core message of the book, Bluebird have created something inspirational.’

Creativity:

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata – For creative thinking in using striking assets, developing a unique vending machine for the book and innovative fish bunting!

Marketers: Simon Heafield, Granta
The judges said: “The POS in this campaign created a brand identity for the book that made it stand out. Fun, kitsch, quirky, it brought themes of the book forward effortlessly to connect to a wider audience than the original edition.”

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