This idea – Blind Date with a Book – is so brilliant, I just stood there admiring it for several minutes while my marketing brain lit up with joy.
At Book Culture on Columbus, a reader’s paradise on the Upper West Side of NYC, there’s a center table piled with books wrapped completely so you can’t see their titles. A label on each one gives you clues to the book’s content, like so:
Trying not to look like a creepy stalker, I hovered around the table for a long while…just to observe the reactions of people who stumbled upon the table for the first time.
Here’s the big headline: every single person HAD a reaction. Some thought it was the coolest idea in the universe, some said they’d never buy a book sight unseen, some wanted to rip off the wrapping and see if they guessed correctly, some thought it was a unique gift for bookworms.
But… Everyone. Had. A. Reaction.
Do you know how hard that is to achieve? Breaking through the cluttered awareness of busy shoppers, amidst a sea of tables and shelves and displays and gifts and noise? Nearly impossible.
But Blind Date with a Book achieves it, because it’s rich with multi-faceted marketing power:
- It’s the bricks-n-mortar answer to the online suggestion algorithms (“If you like this, you’ll ALSO like…”) that the Amazons and Spotifys of the world have trained us to crave.
- The power of secrets and surprises…people can’t resist the mischief.
- It addresses a business need with grace, whimsy, and a consumer-facing benefit: the titles are all picked by staff because they’re worth a read, but for whatever reason don’t get as much purchasing love as they should.
- It connects with people…engages them, and definitely makes them smile.
- No question it gives shape to the store’s personality…anything unexpected and fun like this ignites a positive feeling for the brand. Even if you’re not the type to purchase a wrapped book, you still think they’re cool for doing it.
What’s the moral here? Stop reaching for the same old sales and marketing tools. If Book Culture had wanted to push slow-moving titles, they could have done a sale or marked them as “Staff Picks” or whatever. All usual tricks for bookstores, and all standing a 50/50 chance of getting people to care.
But wrap up a book in brown paper and call it a Blind Date? Winner. Hands down.