What are you reading?
Client
Penguin Books
Role
Creative direction
Graphic design
Project
Penguin Books needed solve the problem of book reading not being social enough as they are not typically topics of conversation on social media. Using target audience insights, an approachable ad slogan, and a special url, a social campaign was developed enabling Penguin to create communities of people who socialize around books.
Services
Advertising campaign strategy
Environmental design
Social media strategy
Animation
Research and brainstorming
Research of vintage Penguin book covers inspired mood boards that drove color and typography styles. Boards included vintage patterns, complementary typography choices, color samples, and texture ideas pulled from fabrics.
Creative strategy
Research showed the target audience was of all ages but engaged in cultural conversations, so books could easily become a topic if the right circumstances or community was created. Insights from the research eventually generated the ad slogan, "What are you reading?" in connection with the idea of an online book club hosted by Penguin Books.
Visual approach
Orange is such a prominent brand element for Penguin, so it was used as a base to create a bright complimentary color palette that included pink, green, and light blue. Using color blocking and a sans-serif font in multiple weights, graphics were created using photographs of people conversing in situations that might normally be unexpected.
Social media and animation
Animated GIFs were created to generate interest and clearly outlined the message and ad slogan. The creative ad campaign achieved recognizability through the use of simple, cohesive graphics, which were distinguished by unique colors and photography.
Cheers*
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