Category: News
Sept-Dec 2012 campaign winners include a disaster-prone celebrity, a wimpy kid and Venetian foodies
At a packed BMS Meeting held last week (Feb 21st) in Bloomsbury’s beautiful new offices in Bedford Square, the winners of the Best Marketing Campaign Awards for September-December 2012 were announced. The winners in the three categories – Adults, Children’s and Shoestring – were:
Adult winner:
Is It Just Me?, by Miranda Hart
Marketer: Vickie Boff, Hodder
Hodder used the author to the best advantage, despite restricted access. They initiated an innovative Twitter campaign crowd-sourcing the general public’s own embarrassing stories in response to the book and released these as a free ebook, No, It’s Us Too a month ahead of publication, with embedded links to pre-order Is It Just Me? Nearly 90k were downloaded. They also released weekly themed videos through Telegraph.co.uk and Twitter; the Christmas video was viewed over 48k times. This was clearly the Christmas No. 1 celebrity book – and a genuine bestseller.
Children’s winner
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Third Wheel, by Jeff Kinney
Marketers: Vanessa Godden and Julia Teece, Puffin
Puffin has certainly not rested on their laurels – this campaign was another notch up from the last one (which also won a BMS Award). The team pre-tested the story line to see how readers responded; the campaign built on these responses and resulted in nearly 80k views of the trailer, 28k new fans recruited and a 23% growth in sales.
Shoestring campaign winner:
POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (of sorts)
Marketer: Alice Shortland, Bloomsbury
This book benefited from the genuine engagement of Waterstones booksellers, resulting in their voting it the Waterstones Book of the Year 2012; strong targeting of a foodie audience which managed to turn restaurant customers into book buyers; great competitions for the potential audience, and amazing sales and ROI.
Four campaigns were also highly commended:
Adult:
A Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
- Marketers: Charlie King, Helen Gibbs and the Marketing team at Little, Brown Book Group
The team delivered a hugely effective campaign within very tight guidelines set by the author and the need for complete confidentiality. They provided genuine support across the whole range of retailers, particularly independents, as well as the library sector. The result was a truly global campaign, with strong collaboration round the world, resulting in strong branding, awareness – and sales.
Big Questions for Little People by Gemma Elwin Harris
- Marketers: Susan Holmes & Silvia Novak, Faber & Faber
A brilliantly integrated campaign, including partnerships with Mumsnet and Heart FM plus NSPCC. Great Twitter campaign using an infographic as a highly visual and arresting image resulted in really impressive sales on a tight budget.
Children’s:
Dork Diaries: Dear Dork by Rachel Renne Russell
- Marketer: Kat McKenna, Simon & Schuster
The judges were particularly impressed with the range of partnership eg win a day as a journalist at Pop Girl magazine competition which worked hard – and successfully – to establish this new series in the mind of the target audience.
Shoestring:
Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook
- Marketers: Dawn Burnett & Owen Davies, Simon & Schuster
This was a very targeted promotion with lots of limited editions and lots of collectibles for the diehard fans, with strong sales through HMV – aided by free CD – the production of which avoided need for self-promotion.
The winners were chosen from a list of nearly 30 submissions from members of the Book Marketing Society representing the cream of the Christmas books crop for 2012. They were judged by BMS officials (Jo Henry and Alastair Giles, Executive Directors, and Jon Slack, Development Manager) together with Dominic Gettins of European ad agency Havas, Hugh Salmon of the marketing and communications agency The Salmon Agency and Brand Republic blogger, Sam Missingham of The Bookseller magazine, and Gary Sheppard of Gardners, the leading UK wholesaler).
Independent Booksellers Week Book Award 2013: Call for Submissions
Independent Booksellers Week this year takes place from 29th June to 6th July 2013 and the Booksellers Association is now calling for submissions for the IBW Book Award. The Award is presented every year to two paperback titles which have been voted on by independent bookshops – one adult title and one children’s title.
Click here to download the Submission Form for the IBW Book Award, and publishers are able to submit as many of your titles as they would like. There is no cost for submission though there is a charge for all titles once shortlisted) To be eligible, titles have to be published in paperback between 1st January 2013 and 29th June 2013, and be available in paperback by the 29th June 2013.
The BA has said that judging for this year’s Award has been improved with two judging panels who will decide the winners, to be announced. Independent booksellers will vote to create the shortlist of 10 adult and 12 children’s titles and then the two Judging Panels will select the winner for both categories.
Send TWO copies of each submitted title, together with a submission form for each title by 28th February to Sharon Benton, BA, 6 Bell Yard, London, WC2A 2JA. For any queries, contact [email protected] 020 7421 4640.
Pan Macmillan restructures sales, marketing and publicity
Pan Macmillan’s Digital and Communications Director, Sara Lloyd, has announced the creation of a single marketing and communications department with a renewed focus on holistic promotional planning and campaigns, digital marketing and direct reader engagement.
At the same, UK Sales Director, Anna Bond, announced the consolidation of the sales team into one division, with key account and sales managers given the responsibility for selling the entire Pan Macmillan list, including Macmillan Children’s Books to their customers. Three new Sales Director positions will be created, each having overall responsibility for one of Pan Macmillan’s key publishing divisions.
The new marketing and communications structure will see the creation of three distinct communications teams each incorporating marketing and publicity functions – Fiction led by Emma Bravo; Non-Fiction led by Dusty Miller; and Children’s, headed up by Katharine Smales. Camilla Elworthy, Group Publicity Director, Literary and Brands, will continue to work across fiction and non-fiction on publicity campaigns and author care.
Three senior digital specialists, with an expanded team, will work alongside marketing and publicity. Marketing and Communities Director, Lee Dibble; Head of Web Development, James Luscombe; and Sandra Taylor, newly promoted to Online Publicity Director, will focus on building and developing Pan Macmillan’s direct-to consumer marketing and community development. Rosanna Boscawen, who has been promoted to Content and Communities Editor, will create content and build strategies for the Pan Macmillan websites, email and owned social media platforms and new roles will be recruited to enhance and extend Pan Macmillan’s approach to social media and online communications.
Together, the digital team will work to create ongoing communication and dialogue with readers that go beyond short campaign-based lifespans, delivering deeper reader engagement and building Pan Macmillan’s brand authors.
Fiction
Emma Bravo, who becomes Communications Director, Fiction and Partnerships, will work across Pan, Macmillan, Picador, Mantle and Bello. Katie James, Publicity Director, Commercial Fiction and Brands, will report to Emma. Sophie Portas will move from her current role to become Fiction Publicity Manager and will focus on Tor and Pan Macmillan’s science fiction and fantasy publishing. Marketing specialists, Jodie Mullish and Rob Cox, will join this team to deliver integrated campaigns across Pan Macmillan’s four key fiction markets: Crime, Literary, Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Women’s Fiction.
Non-Fiction
Dusty Miller takes the role of Communications Director, Non-Fiction and Events. Much of her team’s focus will be on events and the development of third-party partnerships to build audiences, customer loyalty and brand longevity. Publicity Director, Philippa McEwan becomes Publicity & Events Director and will take responsibility for “serious” non-fiction as well as supporting Dusty in her events development remit. She will continue to work with her long-standing fiction authors. Joining them are Philippa Hardy, promoted to Publicity Executive, and Fergus Edmondson, promoted to Marketing Executive.
Children’s
Katharine Smales becomes Communications Director for Macmillan Children’s Books, leading a team which already incorporates marketing and publicity. She will add consumer research to her remit.
Sales
Elise Burns is promoted to Sales Director for the Non-Fiction division; recruitment is currently underway for the Sales Directors for Macmillan Children’s Books and Fiction/Picador. Lucy Hine is promoted to Sales and Marketing Manager to run the in-house support for the sales teams. Further appointments within the Pan Macmillan sales team will be made in the coming weeks.
Sara Lloyd said: “By bringing Marketing and Publicity into a single department and increasing our digital marketing resource and investment, we’ll be able to make the most of our extremely talented team in a fast-moving digital world as we address the huge shifts in reader and author engagement. I’m very lucky to work with some of the most talented communications people in the industry and I’m looking forward to delivering ever improved, more direct communications for our authors and books as well as developing an even more vibrant and dynamic dialogue with our growing readerships.”
Anna Bond added “Our focus on account specialism, and each retailer therefore having one point of contact for all of Pan Macmillan’s titles, will make our relationships with our retail partners simpler and allow account managers to focus on providing their accounts with all of the titles that they need to create innovative promotions.”
About the team
Emma Bravo has worked in IT, radio and copyediting before joining the publicity department at Faber in 1999. She moved to Pan Macmillan in 2002 and worked on Macmillan and Pan titles before moving to Picador in 2004. Significant campaigns include Emma Donoghue’s Room, Bret Easton Ellis’s Imperial Bedrooms and most recently, Liza Klaussmann’s Tigers in Red Weather.
Lee Dibble joined Pan Macmillan in 2009, and has risen from Senior Marketing Manager to Marketing and Communities Director, during this time she has won numerous marketing awards including a NBA for Best Marketing Campaign in 2011. Prior to joining the company she worked in Marketing at the Guardian News and Media across their owned digital and print brand portfolio.
Camilla Elworthy began her career in publishing in 1995, in the Marketing Department of Reed Consumer Books, moving across in 1996 to the role of Head of Publicity for the Sinclair-Stevenson imprint. She joined Pan Macmillan in June 1997 as Head of Publicity for Picador, beginning a close involvement with the company’s literary publishing which continues to this day. Her many campaigns here include Underworld by Don DeLillo, The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy, 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn, All She Wants by Jonathan Harvey and all Jon Ronson’s books.
James Luscombe is the Head of Web Development at Pan Macmillan, developing the new Pan Macmillan web platform, web apps and digital tools. Prior to joining the company he worked for publishing, FMCG and global technology clients and has produced mobile and web content for Bauer, Dennis and IPC media
Dusty Miller has worked in publishing for over twenty years, joining Verso as Administrator to become Marketing Manager in her first full time job and continuing in Marketing at Faber & Faber, The Royal Institute of International Affairs and Titan Books before joining Pan Macmillan as Publicity Director in 2002. Her campaigns here have included award winning work on Lord Sugar and David Blaine and top ten bestsellers ranging across memoir, celebrity autobiography, TV and film, history, travel, music and pop science.
Katharine Smales joined Pan Macmillan in 2004 and worked in Rights, Sales and Custom Publishing before becoming Marketing and Publicity Director for Macmillan Children’s Books in 2010. She has run campaigns for The Gruffalo Red Nose Day Activity Book and The Bear and the Bees in conjunction with ITV Daybreak. The MCB Marketing and Publicity team was shortlisted and highly commended for three Futurebook ‘Best Integrated Marketing Campaign’ awards, for Tony Robinson’s Weird World of Wonders history series, Josephine Angelini’s Dreamless and Dear Zoo’s 30th Anniversary.
Sandra Taylor has been with Pan Macmillan since 2005, progressing from Publicity Assistant to Publicity & Digital Communications Manager. In October 2012, Sandra returned to the Pan Macmillan Press Office following a one year secondment to Pan Macmillan’s UK Sales department where she handled the company’s Waterstones account. Prior to joining the company, she worked for literary agent David Godwin.
Elise Burns joined Pan Macmillan as Custom Publishing Director in 2010, responsible for all UK Special Sales. Prior to joining the company she was at Walker Books for thirteen years with positions in UK Sales and Special Sales, eventually setting up and running the Custom Publishing Department.
Random House joins together imprints for group Christmas campaign
For the first time Random House UK is running a digital consumer campaign with ‘handpicked favourites’ for their readers this Christmas, in a group project which has been co-ordinated with half a dozen people from their Marketing and Digital teams across multiple imprints.
The group has created a dedicated microsite (www.giftabook.co.uk) which enables people to browse and shop by recommendation either for a specific recipient (gifts for her, for him, for kids, for teens and stocking fillers) or by popular gift categories (books of the year, humour, cookery, autobiographies). The campaign is a running for four weeks and is supported by online display advertising, paid search and social media targeting.
White Label Productions was tasked with designing their online creative.
Random House said: “We know from our consumer gift research and insight that people really want recommendations when they are shopping. Giftabook.co.uk showcases over 100 specially selected titles, recommended by experts and booklovers at Random House, that readers of all ages and with varied interests can enjoy.”
Foyles launch ‘Patented, FoolProof Gift Acquisition System’ campaign
Foyles has announced the designs for its Christmas 2012 marketing campaign, with the ‘Foyles Bookshop Patented, FoolProof Gift Acquisition System’, a tongue-in-cheek flowchart designed in-house by Jeff Clark, Miriam Robinson, Foyles Head of Marketing, and Heather Baker, Foyles Senior Buyer.
The campaign guides the reader through a series of mildly irreverent yes/no decisions, with the Foyles’ marketing team describing the 16-sheet Central London Underground advertisements, 1000m x 1400m in-store posters and online banners designed “to remind Christmas shoppers that books are wonderful presents, and that Foyles bookshops is the best place to go for advice on buying them.”
Over the next few weeks, segmented versions of a larger flowchart will appear in windows and tables across Foyles five London bookshops and Bristol branch, as well as on Foyles.co.uk and other online platforms. The complete flowchart will then be trailed via social media before appearing on London Underground posters from 10 – 24 December.
Miriam Robinson, Head of Marketing for Foyles said: “We wanted to deliver the message that the beauty of bookshops is that no matter who you’re shopping for, we can find something to match their interests. We also wanted to have a little fun – Christmas shopping can be perceived as stressful but in a good bookshop it should be the opposite – it should be entertainment”.
The flowchart format builds on the design of Foyles’ autumn 2012 events leaflet, also created in house by Simon Heafield and Miriam Robinson.
Winners announced for the May-Aug Marketing Campaign Awards
The winners of the May-August marketing campaign awards have been announced, with Ebury, Palgrave and Macmillan Children’s Books all notching up a win for the season. The new “Shoestring” category proved popular in its first outing, with entries showing impressive levels of creativity and energy to hold their own against the big-budget campaigns.
Louise Jones from Ebury won Best Adult campaign for Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace, and was commended for a ‘hilarious campaign’ with lots of energy and the originality to help sell-in the first fiction book, difficult even from a ‘sleb’ such as Wallace. Louise found the right tone of voice to match the author’s and executed creative ideas throughout including a fully-fledged spoof London paper, resulting in a very good return on investment.
Amy Lines from Macmillan Children’s Books won Best Children’s campaign for Dreamless by Josephine Angelini, against some very stiff competition. The judges felt it was a well-targeted and very comprehensive campaign, which left no stone unturned in finding an audience for this new series. Behavioural research into 13-17 year old girls lead to an intensive online campaign which channelled all activity back to Mykindabook.com, while the publisher partnered with the likes of New Look and generated a strong pre-publication Amazon chart position, excellent click-throughs – and sales.
Claire Morrison from Palgrave was the first winner for Best Shoestring campaign, making the most of a successful ‘arty’ rebranding of the BFI Collection, with a high profile sampling exercise (GQ Man of the Year event) to reach a new audience. This was alongside a well-targeted but very cost effective campaign which increased sales by over 250% and boosted visibility within the trade.
Highly commended campaigns were as follows:
- SHOESTRING
Campaign Title: HHhH, by Laurent Binet
Marketers: Claire Wilshaw & William Smith, Harvill Secker
- CHILDREN’S
Campaign Title: The Hobbit, Tolkein
Marketer: Laura Di Giuseppe, HarperCollins Children’s - ADULT
Campaign Title: Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Marketer: Dawn Burnett, S&S
To find out more about previous Award winners and the judges, see here.
Search for the book trade’s up and coming talent
The Bookseller has begun its second annual search for its Rising Stars, a listing of the industry’s next generation of leaders and innovators.
The list, to be published in the 21st September issue of The Bookseller, will look at candidates from all areas of the trade including publishers, booksellers, supply chain, publishing technology companies and new digital entrants.
Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller features and supplements editor, who is leading the selection committee with deputy features and supplements editor Felicity Wood, said: “The Rising Stars is about up and comers, but we’re not necessarily talking just about an age-based list. It could be someone brand new to the trade with tonnes of experience outside of it, or even someone who has been in the trade for a long time who has shifted gears to a new, exciting role.”
He added: “Ultimately, what we’re looking for is people who have the vision, talent and creativity to lead the industry in what will certainly be a challenging future.”
The Rising Stars do get noticed. Of the 38 entries on the 2011 list, 16 were promoted or moved companies to take on greater responsibilities. In the last calendar year, for example, Random House’s Dan Franklin stepped up from digital editor to digital publisher; Rebecca Hart went from being the buyer for Foyles Royal Festival Hall and St Pancras locations to managing and opening up the bookseller’s high-profile shop in Westfield Stratford City; and Madeleine Milburn (née Buston) moved from being head of rights at Darley Anderson to setting up her own literary agency.
Anyone wishing to nominate a colleague or themselves or is seeking information about the Rising Stars, can contact Tom Tivnan ([email protected]) or Felicity Wood ([email protected]) by 5th September.
Market for travel guides being challenged by new media and new players
World travelers continue to find more reassurance in printed guidebooks than online information sources
A recent survey by Bowker Market Research in both the UK and the US has found that websites (alongside advice from family and friends) are now the most used source of information when planning a holiday, but that websites from non-guidebook publishers are rated more highly than the online resources provided by traditional travel publishers. In the US, magazines and printed leaflets are the next most used sources of travel information, whilst holiday makers in the UK tend to use online travel forms.
“Travel publishing is at a crossroads. As consumers’ use of the Internet and digital books grows, travel publishers have been investing in developing e-books, apps and websites,” said Jo Henry, director of Bowker Market Research. “This research identifies the information sources travellers are turning to and how satisfied they are. In particular, we explored how digital forms of information compare to physical guide books.”
The research was conducted simultaneously in the U.S. and U.K. Among the revelations: guidebook buyers’ choice of foreign destinations and their pursuit of cultural activities as a major part of their vacation plans were key reasons behind the purchase of printed guidebooks.
Use of social network sites has not crossed into travel planning in either the U.K. or the U.S.; so far, they are mainly tools for sharing pictures and experiences as well as staying in touch with friend.
The 2012 U.K. and U.S. Travel Reports explore the behaviour and attitudes of travellers in three unique categories: guidebook buyers, non-guidebook buyers and non-book buyers. The reports are now available either separately or together, providing a full and detailed analysis of travellers and their information sources, with a commentary by Travel Publishing expert Stephen Mesquita.
For more information please contact James Howitt at [email protected]
BA launches “Find Your Local Bookshop” button for publishers
As part of the Bookseller Association’s Keep Books on the High Street campaign, friends and partners in the book trade are being encouraged to help support bookshops by offering consumers the choice of shopping with their local bookseller, whether on the high street or on their website.
The trade body has created a Find Your Local Bookshop button, which anyone is free to use anywhere on their website. When linked with the URL http://www.booksellers.org.uk/Search-Tools/Bookshop-search.aspx – it will take website users to the BA bookshop search page, where they can search the over 3500 outlets in BA membership. BA members range from single independents in market towns, to campus bookstores, through Christian specialists, to large national bookselling chains and supermarkets. Consumers can search for All BA members, Independents Only and/or Chain and Independent Booksellers – and can then decide whether to buy online or visit their community bookshop.
Download a copy of the button here.
Gardners to support the Indiebound Christmas Books Catalogue
Gardners has announced it will support the Indiebound Christmas Books Catalogue this year and not produce its own consumer-facing catalogue, promoting Christmas Books titles to their customers throughout the Autumn with Sale or Return and discounted offers.
In a statement to customers Gardners said: “After working closely with the Booksellers Association, customers and publishers to assess how best to support independent booksellers, we have decided not to produce a consumer facing Gardners Christmas catalogue for 2012, as we have in recent years. Instead we will be focusing on fully supporting the BA Christmas Books catalogue and IndieBound campaign.
This announcement comes after research showed that the BA’s Christmas Books catalogue was consistently rated higher by its users than catalogues used by other booksellers, particularly on customized services such as overprinting the front and back of the catalogue with shop details.
The deadline for publisher title submissions has been extended to Wednesday 11th July. For further details please contact [email protected].
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