Category: News
Winners of the April-June 2019 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.”
The BMS Awards are now open!
The January-March 2020 BMS Awards are now open for entry. Submit your campaign here!
Winners of the January-March 2019 BMS Awards
Campaigns from HarperCollins, BonnierZaffre, BlueBird (PanMacmillan) and Hachette Children’s have been announced as winners of the January-March 2019 awards at the quarterly BMS Members’ Meeting, held 22nd May at the Havas KX Creative Agency.
The full list of award winners are:
Best Debut Campaign
HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Silent Patient
“a meticulous, strategic campaign which wasted no resource and smashed its objectives”.
Award goes to: Amy Davies, Orion
WINNER: The Familiars
The judges said this campaign “delivered on its objectives in spades, overcoming both market and industry hurdles to create an unmissable title. The approach was targeted, creative and relentless – it took nothing for granted and took no prisoners.”
Award goes to: Stephen Dumughn, Felice McKeown and Sahina Bibi, BonnierZaffre
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Adult Fiction Campaign:
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Lanny
“This campaign turned all its challenges into opportunities in true jujitsu fashion, resulting in one of the year’s most talked about titles.”
Award goes to: Katie Hall, Faber
WINNER: The Binding
“This campaign had it all – long-lead strategising, immaculate targeting, innovation and engagement. It placed the book as physical object at the core of everything it did, and this confidence – plus an absolutely colossal amount of hard work – paid off in its stellar sales.”
Award goes to: Sarah Shea and Katy Blott, HarperFiction
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Adult Non-Fiction Campaign:
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Marvel Fearless and Fantastic
In a crowded marketplace, this team used an arsenal of channels, forged new partnerships and thought way outside the box to cut through the noise.”
Award goes to: Jamie Elby, DK
WINNER: Pinch of Nom
“This was a dynamic, creative and highly professional campaign that has set a new standard for converting Online engagement into physical sales. From the clever early release of information to Pinch of Nom’s fanbase, driving unprecedented early pre-orders, to the sustained multichannel push that has resulted in record breaking sales, this has been a marketing masterclass.”
Award goes to: Don Shanahan, Jodie Mullish and Andy Jouannou, BlueBird (PanMacmillan)
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Young Adult Campaign:
HIGHLY COMMENDED: A Curse So Dark and Lonely
“Clever use of subscription box Fairyloot and a strategy that led to an amazing first week in sales.”
Award goes to: Emily Moran, Bloomsbury
WINNER: King of Scars
“An impeccable executed six month campaign which combined clear audience targeting and creativity, from retail activation to Waterstones pre-orders. The campaign had well thought out branded partnership with subscription boxes Ilumicrate which generated a strong ROI across sales and engagement.
Award goes to: Naomi Berwin and Natasha Whearity, Hachette Children’s
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Children’s Campaign
HIGHLY COMMENDED: A Pinch of Magic
“Very clear targeting and school outreach, with a stand out partnership with the Reading Agency, Skype call with the Author and use of Authorfy. Innovative approach to partnerships and technology.”
Award goes to: Olivia Horrox, Simon and Schuster
WINNER: The Valentines: Happy Girl Lucky
“Excellent audience understanding and cohesive messaging throughout, with great brand partnerships, VOD and social activation. In addition, this campaign achieved wider social engagement creating a strong platform for the series.”
Award goes to: Alex Cowan and Beth Maher, HarperCollins Children’s Books
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Guerrilla Campaign
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Chasing the Sun
“A tenacious campaign yielding phenomenal results, with strong retail partnership and a clear creative message throughout, on a very small budget.”
Award goes to: Flora Willis, Profile Books
WINNER: How to Clean Your House
“A multi-platform campaign leveraging a strong existing platform with creative brand partnerships and social activation.”
Award goes to: Janet Aspey and Hannah Sawyer, HQ
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For the first time, the BMS also awarded some Spotlight Awards in some of the key judging areas. The winners of these were:
- Audience Development: Double Crossed, for its close targeting and growth of a hard-to-reach demographic – Stephanie Naulls, Ebury Publishing
- Innovation: The Hunting Party, for its innovative and agile approach to reinvention which snowballed into a mass success – Abbie Salter, HarperCollins
- Creativity: The Dirty Dishes, for hyper-creative use of resource, partnerships and content – Don Shanahan, Jodie Mullish and Jess Duffy, Bluebird (PanMacmillan)
A NEW LOOK FOR THE BMS
Welcome to the Book Marketing Society. We’re delighted to unveil the new branding for the society.
We’re grateful to Graphic Designer Amy Lines who has reimagined the logo and introduced a fresh new colour palette.
The Bookseller today reveals the branding to the wider trade beyond our membership.
Over the course of the year ahead we’ll be working more closely with The Bookseller to showcase the great campaign work coming out of the publishing industry’s marketing departments – whether from publishers, retailers or book charities and other organisations.
You can read an interview with the new Co-Chairs discussing the new look BMS here.
Winners of the September-December 2018 BMS Awards
The winning campaigns from the BMS seasonal awards (in association with Total Media) for the September-December 2018 were announced at the BMS member meeting at the new Total Media offices in Soho on Wednesday 27 February 2019.
As always we had a huge number of extremely high quality campaigns – it’s so great to see all the hard work going on across the industry.
In the Adult Fiction category, the winners were Sarah Arratoon, Philippa McEwan, Andy Joannau, Ruth Brooks, and Lee Dibble of Pan Macmillan for Tombland by C. J. Samson. This was a highly cohesive, multi-faceted campaign ensuring all bases were covered, and exceeding all objectives and previous sales records.
The Guerrilla category (for campaigns spends of £2,500) saw the judges give Highly Commended to Tom Noble from Orion Publishing Group for The Holy Vible by Elis James & John Robins campaign for its generally note-perfect execution. This campaign showed a very clear understanding of how to “get the vote out” and maximise fan preorders and included some witty and appropriate touches.
The winning campaign went to Alice Murphy-Pyle of Transworld for Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being by Romesh Ranganathan. The judges commented that the campaign that started before it even started, by making a strong case for the author’s (very scarce) time and integrating marketing needs into the whole publication.
In the Multi-Title category, the winners were Jamie Norman, Alan Trotter and Vicki Watson from Canongate for the Canongate Christmas campaign. This was judged as a quirky and distinctly charming campaign, which blended native online advertising with innovative online and physical moments to reach and reward readers across the country.
The judges gave the Highly Commended award in the Children’s category to Hannah Sidorjak of Penguin Random House for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown. The judges said his campaign made the most of a seasonal (wintry) Wimpy Kid with clever creative and well-judged media buying and excellent partnerships.
First place went to freelancer Emily Cox and Natasha Pile from Canongate for The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig, illustrated by Chris Mould, a highly effective and good value campaign for challenging publication. The judges said they didn’t over-rely on the author’s existing brand, but instead extended it into new territory. A concept-led campaign with a lot of creative and carefully honed material (schools packs were superb).
Highly commended in the Non-fiction category was given to Tom Noble and Katie Moss of Orion Publishing Group for their Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book campaign. The campaign’s effective use of the OS mailing list and the neat touches such as the like geographically personalised POS for stores enabled the campaign to compete with some heavy hitting clever- gift opposition published at the same time.
The outright winners were Amelia Fairney, Rose Poole and Poppy North, from Viking for Becoming by Michelle Obama, for their well-crafted and comprehensive campaign that cleverly navigated around limitations and reached both traditional and non-traditional book buyers through strategic partnerships.
Congratulations to all of the winners!
Want to find out about when the next awards open and how to enter? Fancy coming along to an upcoming members’ meeting? Find out how to join the Book Marketing Society here.
Four #BMSShoutOuts from our October meeting
#BMSShoutOut is a chance to celebrate great work from across the industry and inspire the campaigns we’re working on now. See the latest shoutouts we pulled together and presented at the October 2018 member meeting.
If you have something you want to show off or have seen someone else worth talking about, be sure to add in #BMSShoutOut on twitter/FB and Instagram.
Enjoy!
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Beastie Boys Book Rough-Trade Takeover weekend: Hannah Marshall at Faber did a great job with rough trade and it looked like they had loads and loads of fun.
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In at the Deep End by Kate Davies: Congratulations to Fleur Clarke at HarperFiction for the super proofs for In at the Deep End.
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Listening to the Animals by Noel Fitzpatrick: Well done to Amy Davies of Orion for super vet pandemonium in the Orion Lobby.
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Work Like a Woman, Mary Portas: Vicky Palmer and Ella Horne at Transworld for influencer mailing proof, highlighter, flyer, drinks coaster, notepad and great copy.
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Important news about #BMSShoutOuts 2018
Use the hashtag to share your team’s very best bits from across 2018. We will pick out some of the year’s highlights at our 5 December Christmas social. Whether it happened in January or June, reshare, post afresh or just add the hashtag to an old post and we will find it.
BMS best summer campaigns
The winning campaigns from the BMS seasonal awards (in association with Total Media) for the summer (May-August 2018) were announced at the BMS member meeting at HarperCollins’ offices on Wednesday 31 October 2018. The judges again had a hard time picking the winners especially in the Non-Fiction category, which ended up with two highly commended awards and two winners!
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The Adult Fiction category saw the judges give Claire Brett and Jen Porter of HQ (HarperCollins) Highly Commended for their fully-committed, creative and engaging campaign for VOX by Christina Dalcher. The winning campaign went to Jennifer Breslin from Orion for The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton, which the judges thought was an exceedingly clever and fitting campaign that targeted retailers and the book trade effectively. |
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In the Guerrilla category (for campaigns spends of £2,500 or less) Highly Commended was given to Vicky Abbott from Headline for her campaign for Eat, Drink, Run by Bryony Gordon. This campaign included successful tie-ins and interesting audio clips, all resulting in a good return on investment. First place went to Fleur Clarke and Sofia Hericson at Hodder & Stoughton for their highly targeted campaign with strong partnerships and a commendable return on investment and sales for Legendary by Stephanie Garber. |
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Highly Commended was given to the Multi-title category was given to Rosanna Boscawen and Leena Normington from Vintage for their original campaign of promoting classic titles as ideal holiday reads for Vintage Summer. The winner was Madeleine Hall from Virago for the successful increase in social media engagement for Virago Modern Classics 40th Anniversary. |
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In the Children’s category, judges gave two campaigns Highly Commended: Oi Cat! by Kes Gray and Jim Field for the strong brand visuals for maximum impact for Fi Evans from Hachette Children’s and Alex Cowan and Beth Maher at HarperCollins who built on previous campaigns resulting in a better return on investment for Birthday Boy by David Baddiel. The outright winner was Sarah Lough, Faber & Faber, whose campaign successfully targeted teachers with engaging materials resulting in trade success for Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll. |
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Judging the Non-Fiction category proved to be a considerable challenge and two campaigns were awarded Highly Commended as well as two being crowned joint overall winners. Highly Commended was given to Justine Gold at Simon & Schuster for using eye-catching visuals and partnerships for Spitfire by John Nichol, and Alexandra Cooper from Little, Brown for the inspired creation of endurances events for The World’s Fittest Book by Ross Edgley. |
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The joint winners for this category were Jamie Norman, Alan Trotter and Vicki Watson from Canongate for their campaign for a Room to Dream by David Lynch, which included live-streaming a ‘Lynchathon’ and Jodie Mullish at Pan Macmillan for an ingenious campaign retargeting the brand author to a more contemporary audience for Real Food Kids Will Love by Annabel Karmel. |
Congratulations to all our winners!
The BA launches Independent Booksellers’ Children’s Book of the Month
Submissions for Q1 2019 open on Monday 22 October
January 2019 will see the launch of the Independent Booksellers’ Children’s Book of the Month which will be chosen by a panel of independent booksellers, from a range of new children’s titles submitted by publishers.
It will give one new children’s book the opportunity of focused promotion in independent bookshops across the country each month, with the organiser’s stated goal to showcase independent bookshops’ power and unique expertise to drive sales of children’s books.
Emma Bradshaw, Head of Campaigns at the Booksellers Association, said: “We launched the Children’s Book of the Season in Autumn 2017, and it’s proved so popular that we’re delighted to now be relaunching it as a monthly campaign. The Children’s Book of the Month creates a unique platform to celebrate children’s writers and illustrators. It also demonstrates the enormous impact that independent booksellers can make by working together to build readerships for the books they love.”
Submissions are open to books for children aged up to 11 years old across picture books, middle-grade fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with the genre varying from month to month. Publishers will be invited to submit titles on a quarterly basis, with a maximum of six titles per quarter. Submissions must be published within the quarter – or ideally the month – of promotion, and sequels will not be considered. Full submission details can be found at https://www.booksellers.org.uk/indiebookofthemonth
Submissions for the first quarter of 2019 close on Monday 5 November
Top #BMSShoutOuts from our August meeting
#BMSShoutOut is a chance to celebrate great work from across the industry and inspire the campaigns we’re working on now. See the latest shoutouts we pulled together and presented at the August 2018 member meeting.
If you have something you want to show off or have seen someone else worth talking about, be sure to add in #BMSShoutOut on twitter/FB and instagram.
Enjoy!
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This stylish pre-order competition announcement from Faber’s Niri Bharadia as an Instagram Story of Sally Rooney’s limited edition screen print
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Transworld wanted to show their equal appreciation of indies *and* Waterstones by providing different coloured ‘Bridge of Clay’ proofs — pink/rose gold for indies and cream/yellow-gold for Waterstones. Everybody wins, not to mention a joy to behold | |
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A cracking high-impact design from Matt Clacher at Fourth Estate Books with this LU 12-sheet poster, which used a quote from Celeste Ng to position the ‘shock’ of book but also hint at the uplifting nature of the ending
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This spectacular Christmas window display from Hodder Books at Foyles took over three hours to make (including painstaking attention to each individual snowflake). Well worth the time and energy spent, surrounded by #summer reads. |
Inspiring #BMS ShoutOuts from June member meeting
#BMSShoutOut is a chance to celebrate great work from across the industry and inspire the campaigns we’re working on now. See the latest shoutouts we pulled together and presented at the June 2018 member meeting.
If you have something you want to show off or have seen someone else worth talking about, be sure to add in #BMSShoutOut on twitter/FB and instagram
Enjoy!
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The Familiars by Stacey Bartlett
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The Binding by Bridget Collins
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Recovery by Russell Brand
Russell Brand Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions campaign across formats from Jodie Mullish at Bluebird. The tube ads for hardback were great. They are running phone box ads in East London for the paperback. All the events have all been in non-trad venues like community centres and churches. Rather than theatres and bookshops which could be off-putting to some audiences. |
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