Barnes and Noble is the largest bookselling chain in the United States and the Nook line of e-readers are enjoying tremendous visibility in over 600 different locations. The company has developed a ton of new imagery and signage that are spread throughout the store. The premise of the new campaign is to advertise the Nook as being a gateway to millions of ebook titles and to let people know they also have a new tablet and a line of reading apps.
There are over 12 different images that are spread throughout the store. Some are being employed as banners hanging from the ceiling, others are on the wall, and customers will even see them by the customer service area and checkout counter. They are all professionally done by graphic designers that are in-house.
Why is Barnes and Noble promoting the Nook again, when over the years there has been mixed messages about the product? Well, in the past 6 years the company went through around five different CEO’s, and when new management takes over they often handpick their own executives to run the company, all of which had vastly different philosophies about the Nook. Some thought that cost cutting would make it profitable and decided to outsource e-reader design and manufacturing to Taiwan, firing all of their staff in Santa Clara. Meanwhile, meanwhile decided that the Kindle was too entrenched in the US to compete against, so why even try.
Last year, Barnes and Noble went from a publicly traded company to a private one. James Daunt, who famously turned Waterstones from the brink of disaster and within a few years made it the most profitable chain in the United Kingdom. He wants to do the same thing with Barnes and Noble, as the new CEO. What does he intend on doing? Well, to run B&N stores like indie bookstores, giving branch managers more control over the titles that they advertise in the stores, catering to their local demographic. Hundreds of locations are being remodeled, while others are closing and moving into smaller locations.
Neil Strong has been the VP of e-commerce at Barnes and Noble for the past three years and recently started running the entire Nook division. He loves reading and uses a Nook e-reader on the daily, so it is refreshing to have someone in charge, that actually likes the product and wants to see it doing well. The first step on bringing the Nook back to the public consciousness is to change their branding messages both in-store and online. The next step might take longer, we might see demo areas again, where people can play around with the devices before they buy them. In the past, Nook used to be front and center at the front of the store, with a huge display area and trained staff that could answer questions. Eventually this was all dismantled and the e-readers and tablets were moved behind the customer service area with no signage and no demo area. Hopefully this will all change, and we can now expect the Nook to be a huge priority again.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
