A Book With A View
HarperCollins’ online marketing manager explains how the campaign behind Michael Crichton’s latest best seller created a multimedia ‘view into the world of [the] book.’
March 2007 By Matt SteinmetzYamaguchi: Probably the same advice I would give myself now, that I need to remember to adhere to [today]: Take chances, be creative, have fun with it, work hard, look for and try new ways of doing things. All those things sort of go hand-in-hand. It’s easy to say or give that advice and much harder to actually pull-off consistently, but I think the best work comes through when all those elements are in play. Oh … and learn how to sell. No matter what you are doing, you have to sell it.
As a book marketer, what kinds of books do you find yourself drawn to outside of the office, and what have you read most recently?
Yamaguchi: I have read three books recently: “The Long Haul” by Amanda Stern; “Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima” by Stephen Walker; and “A Designer’s Eye” by Ali Edwards. I’m always reading more than one book, a mix of fiction, nonfiction and how-to.
What would you point to as the biggest challenge for today’s online marketers?
Yamaguchi: Getting the money and the time to do effective marketing campaigns. Doing online campaigns is not cheap and easy, and it takes time. There is a depth to it, and sometimes it’s hard to actually … go deep enough.
What’s the most fun you’ve had working on a particular book’s campaign?
Yamaguchi: Working with the creative agency Honest (Stayhonest.com) on the online campaign for Michael Crichton’s “Next.” We created a view into the world of that book through a Web site and lots of online videos. It was a very creative process, and a very effective campaign.
What was the Web site you created and how did the videos tie in to Crichton’s book?
Yamaguchi: The Web site [www.Nextgencode.com] is [for] a faux genetics company called Nextgencode, and it was a way to feature elements in the book [including] the science of genetics in a humorous/future-is-now kind of way. The online videos were commercials for Nextgencode—one featured fat soap, another the gene for blonde hair. There’s also a commercial for a Bug DNA Kit, as well as a cure for anhedonia [the inability to experience pleasure from normally pleasurable life events such as eating, exercise, etc.]. The biggest hit was the commercial for perma-puppies, puppies that never grow up. These videos served to give depth to the online campaign, and they were just entertaining in a provocative way. Is this real? Is this just around the corner? It helped to push people into thinking about the issues addressed in “Next.”
The best part about the videos is how we were able to use them all over the place. We used them on the Nextgencode.com site, but we were also able to put them up at YouTube.com, use them at HarperCollins.com on the home page and on the feature [page] we built for the book. We were able to give them to online retailers. Even the media picked up on the videos, and they were shown on [several] morning shows. It was just great exposure for the book. The company we tapped to build the campaign—Honest—did an amazing job.
So the more we pulled our promotional and marketing levers (banner ads, newsletter mailings, outreach to Crichton fans), the more attention the online campaign got. And, of course, that just meant more coverage of and interest in the book. BB
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