2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

This campaign is relevant for direct because it manages to use an everyday idle moment to build a new relationship with people by actually driving them to re-experiment books and re-discover the pleasure of reading. Essentially, it directly affects our target audience (everyone) in a moment where they are most prone to sample our products (books), bringing them to the store and making them more likely to buy other pieces and fall for the literary word.

Background.

24% of people say they haven't read a book in full or in part in the recent past. And that’s flushing the publishing industry down the toilet. How could we get people to re-experiment books and re-discover the pleasure of reading? Reading is a lovely thing and the modern days have made people forget it. We need to remind them of this. Increase store footfall and drive sales of books upwards, consequently getting people to read more. As well as maintain consistency with brand’s tone of voice and create a piece that can gather talkability around the region and the world.

Describe the creative idea.

Stool Stories uses a fun and unique insight to build a quirky and entertaining idea that tackles a real-life, business problem. It finds one moment where everyone, CEOs and Presidents alike, has a few minutes to read (the moment when we go to the bathroom) and creates a solution specific for its placement. Printed on toilet paper, the short books ironically illustrate the fate of the publishing industry and seamlessly becomes a part of everyone’s bathroom experience. The books are also meant to be read in less than 10 minutes, fitting even more to your trip to the loo. There are different genres for you to choose and different books for you to rediscover the pleasure of reading and head to Aaliya’s Books for more.

Describe the strategy.

The idea strategy manages to find people in an unexpected place, where they have enough idle time to read a short book and fall in love with the literary word once again. Meant for men and women, the idea successfully approached people from all genders and ages in a fun and quirky manner, maintaining consistency with the brand’s tone of voice whilst also bringing more awareness through word of mouth. The call to action at the end of the book ties the whole idea together and manages to bring people to the bookstore after they have “sampled” a small book and rediscover the pleasure of reading.

Describe the execution.

During the month of January 2019, book shelves were installed outside a few public bathrooms around Dubai and Beirut. There, men and women could pick a book from 5 different genres and take it inside the cubicle for a quick read. Dozens of books were made and placed (and replaced) in the book shelves, proving that people were interacting with the piece. As of today, more book shelves and books are being crafted and placed in other bathrooms around the region. Local writers have even expressed their desire to participate and new pieces, custom-made for the project are going to be executed soon.

List the results.

Store visitors increased by 8% during the month of the activation, driving sales upwards during this time as well. Consumers who weren’t likely to go to a bookstore became prone to visit Aaliya’s Books and find a literary piece for themselves. Aside from that, the brand image and awareness were enhanced through word of mouth as the campaign became a talking point in the local community.