Bookworld launches ‘shop local’ marketing campaign with pop-up bookshelves

14 November 2013 Books+Publishing

Online bookseller Bookworld has unveiled a new marketing campaign in the lead-up to Christmas that encourages shoppers to buy books locally.

The campaign officially launched on 17 November with a pop-up bookshelf filled with free books in a bus shelter in Newtown, Sydney. A second pop-up bookshelf was established in Camberwell in Melbourne on Monday 18 November, with other bookshelves to appear in Bondi and York Street in Sydney and Collins Street in Melbourne during a two-week period.

In addition to the bus-shelter bookshelves, Bookworld said in a statement that street furniture in Melbourne and Sydney will also be turned into Christmas-themed ‘concept bookshelves’.

Bookworld consumer marketing and public relations manager Kim Noble told Books+Publishing that the bookshelves will feature ‘all the biggest books for Christmas’, with publishers including HarperCollins, Allen & Unwin, Penguin, Random House, Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury and Simon & Schuster donating more than 3000 books for the giveaway.

The giveaway marks the beginning of a national advertising campaign by Bookworld, with print, digital, outdoor and magazine advertising focusing on the range of books available from Bookworld as well as the retailer’s free delivery policy and its pledge to beat Amazon’s prices by 10%. The advertisements feature slogans such as: ‘Our Great Dividing Range’, ‘For We Are Young and Free Delivery’ and ‘Mates Rates’.

Bookworld said in a statement that the pop-up bookshelves were built by brand management company Subnine together with Adshel and JC Decaux. The company said that any leftover books will be used in social media giveaways.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Bookworld launched its ‘Amazon Price Guarantee’ in the lead-up to Christmas in 2012. CEO James Webber told Books+Publishing at the time that the former Borders online business launched the guarantee ‘to show [consumers] that … you can often get books here in Australia quicker and cheaper and more easily’ than from Amazon.

Category: Local news