Old Medium, New Marketing

With the modern permeation of laptops, PDAs and other electronic media, many trendwatchers are sounding death knells for the printed word. Traditional media’s ad revenues, page count and circulation continually decline as the virtual world increasingly prevails.

Although book readership has also declined significantly, they still enjoy a pride of place among literary enthusiasts. Rather than providing routine, functional information to help one through the daily grind, books evoke leisurely reading and probably suit a person’s particular interests. Also, “e-book” technology lags behind other virtual applications, which may provide traditional volumes a measure of sanctuary.

However, just because books represent a traditional medium doesn’t mean publishers shouldn’t capitalize on new technologies to optimize marketshare. With this in mind, Random House Canada enlisted Onestop Media Group and Art for Commuters (A4C), both of Toronto, to develop a series of one-minute video clips that promote Random House’s release of The Killing Circle, a thriller about tracking down a kidnapper, by Toronto-based author Andrew Pyper and set in his hometown, aired on Onestop’s network of hundreds of LCD screens installed in the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) subway system.

A4C artist Leslie Loksi Chan developed a series of three, one-minute videos for the campaign, which lasts August 5-15, that reference different parts of the book. Each video aired individually for three days apiece, and the campaign culminated by airing the clips in succession during the final two days.