From Campaign US:
Barnes & Noble has launched its first major campaign in years after Havas North America won a competitive pitch to own creative and media duties.
The work, entitled “Nobody Knows Books Like We Do,” is the brand’s reminder of the joy and discovery bookstores can bring us in a world dominated by digital.
“Our biggest challenge is that people are busy and don’t have the same amount of time they once had to read,” Tim Mantel, Barnes & Noble’s chief merchandising officer told Campaign US. “We’re competing with how busy people are in their own lives, as well as all the entertainment and information they can get right in the palm of their hand.”
He explained: “Barnes & Noble has always been an incredible place of discovery, whether it’s for people shopping for themselves, or looking for a thoughtful gift for someone they care about. This campaign gives us the chance to remind our customers around the country of what a special place our stores are, and how amazing it is to come into a Barnes & Noble to find just the right book or gift during the holidays.”
. . . .
The brand’s 23,000 booksellers live at the heart of this campaign. It is these people who are the key point of differentiation between Barnes & Noble and digital giants like Amazon, “because they can help customers find the perfect book in a way that can’t happen online.”
Mantel said the bookseller is leveraging its brick and mortar status as community centers, whether its attending a book club, bringing a child to a Storytime, or dropping by for a cup of coffee.
“As the campaign shows, going to your local Barnes & Noble is not just about discovering life-changing books and gifts, but interacting with people and communities in a way that can’t happen in front of a computer,” he added.
Link to the rest at Campaign US and thanks to Dave for the tip.
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“Our biggest challenge is that people are busy and don’t have the same amount of time they once had to read,” Tim Mantel, Barnes & Noble’s chief merchandising officer told Campaign US.
Their biggest challenge is increasing loss of market share to Amazon.
Yet here I am, in front of a computer, interacting with a community of people, snug and comfy in my long johns and sweatshirt.
Bad little consumer! I’ll bet you’re going to shop Black Friday from your dang easy chair too! B&N and all the other B&M need you out there wasting gas chasing their bait-n-switch sales.
Won’t somebody please think of those poor stockholders?
Riggio and five funds own appx 85-90% of the company. Stockholders are all they ever think about.
Man, I sure do hate the new usage of the word “drop” for streaming a batch of shows or a new ad campaign.
It’s the exact opposite of the old meaning of “cancelling the ad campaign” and “cancelling the tv series”.
Think of it as bags of money falling down a sewer pipe. 🙂
At least bags of money might stop up the sewer pipe and keep still more money from being flushed down the drain. 😛
Hmm, if they’re dropping money on actual ads they must not think any “bestseller” book will bring in the book gifters.
No GOLDFINCH this year.
That right there bodes poorly for the holiday season. For B&N and the BPHs both.
Any book they might mention people would then google – and discover Amazon sells it for less without them having to go out in the cold. 😉
In years past they didn’t do ads because they could count on bandwagon books released in the fall to bring in book gifters. Which hasn’t worked too well for them in the past few years. Then they tried signed special editions of popular books. Didn’t work out quite as well as they hoped.
This year they’re doing generic “book discovery” books which strikes me as an admission there is no recent release they can count on to bring in the gifters.
I suspect the most popular “book” gift this year will be gift cards.
…they’re doing generic book discovery *ads*…
(sigh)
“I suspect the most popular “book” gift this year will be gift cards.”
And getting a B&N gift card would be a sign they really don’t like you! 😛
A lump of coal vs getting an Amazon gift card. 😉
Wouldn’t that depend on how far you have to drive to redeem it? 😉
Those that know them know it’s a joke, those that don’t don’t care in the first place.
The only people that actually care about the ad are those that made money on the ad itself.
I’ve been hearing this for the last 50 years. I’m not convinced that it is any more true now than it was in 1968. Haven’t people always been busy with earning a living, getting the chores of daily living done, gathering with friends and family, and having fun?
No broadcast exposure, not that that means as much as it used to I suppose.
The ads tout B&N’s experience as a bookseller, and are incredibly hypocritical considering that they laid off anyone with experience at the beginning of the year.