BOOK COVER DISGUISES

TitleBOOK COVER DISGUISES
BrandFOUR DIRECTIONS
Product / ServiceE-BOOK
CategoryA01. Posters
EntrantCHEIL HONG KONG, HONG KONG
Entrant Company CHEIL HONG KONG, HONG KONG
Advertising Agency CHEIL HONG KONG, HONG KONG

Credits

Name Company Position
Paul Chan Cheil HK Executive Creative Director
Shi Ping Ong Cheil HK Executive Creative Director
Paul Chan Cheil HK Writer
Tony Chan Cheil HK Writer
Shi Ping Ong Cheil HK Art Director
Ivan Au Cheil HK Art Director
Charmian Liang Cheil HK Designer
Jay Jeong Cheil HK Account Service
Kristie Chen Cheil HK Account Service

Brief Explanation

There had to be an interesting angle. Apart from finding a unique benefit of reading an e-book instead of a physical book, we had to design something fresh, memorable and convincing.

The Brief

Competition in the e-book industry is getting fierce. So our brief was to convert a tough new audience for growth: old-school lovers of physical books.

How the final design was conceived

Let’s face it, we’ve all read books that we’re too embarrassed to admit, let alone show in public. This is a problem you simply don’t have with e-books. So we designed a series of fake book covers as peel-able posters. Placed next to embarrassing book titles in bookstores (e.g. Fifty Shades of Grey, Mills & Boon), customers could disguise any book and read it in public—without any shame or risk of being ridiculed. Even the call-to-action was cleverly disguised as the back cover synopsis—reminding readers that the other way, of course, is to simply download an e-book instead.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Hundreds of readers picked up these innocuous book cover disguises. The humour travelled well too, appearing on dozens of sites around the world. New e-books were even downloaded in countries outside of Hong Kong. The campaign led to a 17% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.