2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

In a smart and quirky way, Stool Stories manages to entertain and engage with a wider audience while tackling a serious business problem: the downfall of readership and the printing press. The idea makes people re-experiment books and re-discover the pleasure of reading in a time that they would be idle otherwise, proving to be a smart and light-hearted solution for a problem that is intrinsic to the brand’s ultimate purpose: selling books. Essentially, it is an activation that manages to tackle a real, business problem while entertaining and enhancing people’s brand experience.

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 footfall in the stores and drive sales of books upwards, while also creating a memorable piece that resonates with the brand’s light hearted and fun tone.

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 become a part of everyone’s bathroom experience. The books are 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, 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.

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 activation. 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.