Londonstani syndrome
A tipster pointed us to an item on Spacing Wire, a Toronto blog (and spinoff of Spacing magazine) concerned with public space issues, that took issue with Chevrolet’s use of sidewalk stenciling in a current marketing campaign, similar to HarperCollins’ current Londonstani campaign. As you may have read in Q&Q intern Briony Smith’s story last Friday, the multinational publisher has adopted guerilla marketing tactics, stenciling the tiger image that adorns the book jacket on sidewalks in front of media companies and bookstores.
Referring to the goals of this aspect of Chevy’s campaign, Shawn Micallef of Spacing Wire wrote: “[M]aybe they looked forward to a blog like Spacing or Aquatic Existence picking up on it, and getting Johnny’s word out even more. If you turn your speakers up right now, you may be able to hear Bob Seger’s Like A Rock in the background.” HarperCollins certainly seems to be taking that approach. They issued a news release about the Londonstani campaign earlier this week that seemed a touch defensive, but mainly pleased that someone noticed. “Booksellers had mixed reactions to their sidewalks being painted,” the news release reads, “but there’s no doubt they are much more aware of this book than they would otherwise be.”
Related links:
Click here for the Spacing Wire item
Click here for the original Q&Q story
I hope my publisher goes to as much effort if I ever get a book published!