CAMPAIGN SUMMARY:

In the United Arab Emirates and the region, an average Arab child reads 6 minutes a year.

To reverse declining book sales, WHSmith decided to increase the love of reading, by entering the world Arab children love - mobile games. These games have forced pop-up ads that cannot be closed.

So, we hijacked that space, with Pop Up Books (as ads) that children needed to read in order to continue playing their game.

We selected the top games, redesigned a range of globally popular children’s books as short stories to match the theme of those games, fitting within the world of games. And after each story, the child needed to pick the right answer to close the ad, and get rewards for their game too like coins, extra lives, boosts and more.

Making the habit of reading, a rewarding one for today’s generation, WHSmith was rewarded with influencing culture as well as its business.

And because of its success in the UAE, the idea is travelling across the region in 2020, including across key events.

CAMPAIGN GOALS:

WHSmith tasked us with growing their book sales by 5% in the back-to-school period in the UAE, during a time when volumes were actually down 50%.

MARKETING CONTEXT.

IN THE UAE, HAVE BOOKS ENTERED THEIR FINAL CHAPTER?

All bookstores in the UAE have been seeing declining sales, year after year. It has led to the closure of big brand stores, leaving everyone wondering if books had entered their final chapter.

WHSMITH, IN THE UAE, WAS LOOKING TO REVERSE THE TREND.

WHSmith was facing its biggest decline in the children’s category.

For WHSmith the challenge was no less. Volumes were down 50% from an average of 15,360 books per month to 7,600 (a majority of this from the children's category).

To reverse this trend, they wanted to promote their new editions of children’s books that were introduced in their stores across the UAE.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH WAS NEEDED TO BREAK THE RUT.

The situation warranted an unorthodox approach to promote WHSmith and its book stores because promoting books and expecting kids to show up through the door was not working.

Also, competing bookstores like Kinokuniya and Borders had bigger budgets to run promotions and partnerships.

HOW COULD WHSMITH GET MORE CHILDREN TO READ?

Now, our real challenge wasn’t that obvious…

TARGET AUDIENCE:

UNCOVERING THE REAL CHALLENGE BASED ON AN ALARMING STATISTIC.

Reports and studies have shown significantly low reading levels in the Arab world. The average reading time for an Arab child is 6 minutes a year compared with 12,000 minutes in the West, according to the Arab Thought Foundation’s Arab Report for Cultural Development.

The reading rate of an Arab individual is a quarter of a page a year compared with 11 books in the US and seven books in the UK.

CAMPAIGN PLANNING:

UNCOVERING AN OPPORTUNITY BASED ON A RELEVANT INSIGHT.

Children didn’t have a love of reading. And the only way to inculcate the habit of reading was through repetition and reward.

So, from simply promoting books, we needed to promote the love of reading itself. And do so, through repetition and reward.

If we could get kids to love reading with WHSmith and feel like it’s a rewarding habit, we could get them (and their parents) to find the books they love with WHSmith.

UNCOVERING AN UNTAPPED CHANNEL TO SHARE CONTENT TO BUILD A LOVE FOR READING.

We didn’t want to simply promote new books or force kids to unlearn existing habits, as it just wouldn’t be effective.

So, in terms of how we engaged them with content from WHSmith, we had to go where they currently are.

Mobile games.

Up to two-thirds of children in the UAE (between the ages 7-11) spend hours playing games on their (or their parents’) mobile phones.

MARKETING & MEDIA STRATEGY:

THE STRATEGY WAS TO ENTER THE WORLD THEY LOVE TO SPEND TIME IN.

The content strategy to increase their love of reading, by entering the world of gaming they love to spend time in.

And to inculcate the new habit and love for reading - through repetition and reward.

We looked for the games where they spent most of their time in, so we could repeatedly engage them with the habit of reading stories. Through gamification, we wanted to make each interaction, a positive and rewarding one.

Now, these mobile games have frequent pop-up ads that cannot be closed until their run their course.

So, we hijacked that media space of pop up ads with content from WHSmith’s books; content they needed to read in order to close the ad and proceed with their favourite game.

And we launched ‘POP UP BOOKS’.

DEFINING THE CALL TO ACTION.

Since we were advertising to children, we couldn’t direct them to shop online or click through to websites or social media pages.

So, for the call-to-action we wanted to simply associate that positive interaction with WH Smith.

If they start to love reading with us, then let’s direct them to find their favourite books with us.

INFLUENCE OF THE CHANNEL DISTRIBUTING THE CONTENT.

It’s obvious, but it’s often forgotten. It’s not just about the most relevant channel. It’s about the most influential channel. We picked mobile games, where kids already were. Instead of getting them to change the habit of spending the few minutes they spend on their or their parents’ mobiles, we used that channel to dispense a new habit and through that new habit, aim to encourage them to get off their mobiles too.

CREATIVE STRATEGY AND EXECUTION.

We identified the most popular kids’ games in the UAE, and redesigned famous children’s books as short stories to appear in place of a typical pop up ad.

Instead of putting the books as is, we redesigned them to fit within their world of gaming to feel immersive. The stories were made shorter, with intriguing endings and the colours were playful and vibrant to suit that environment.

The digital drawings had simpler shapes and the animation was gently-paced, allowing the child to focus on reading the stories at their natural speed.

The stories were gamified with a quiz. Children could read the story and answer a follow-up question to close the ad.

Answering the question got them rewards in the game they were playing, like coins, extra lives, boosts, and more.

We released a range of stories across the most popular gaming apps over the year.

By selecting the games and linking each story to the theme of the games, we were able to target the content to children by age and interest to make the interaction as engaging as possible.

These gamified stories interested children and made the interaction feel rewarding.

And helped forge a positive association with the reading habit, as well as with WHSmith.

RESULT:

For WHSmith, through Pop Up Books, we didn’t ask what we needed to do in the UAE to be successful. We asked what we needed to do FOR the UAE to be successful.

By going beyond promoting books and promoting a habit instead, we achieved returns on culture, brand and business.

We engaged with 29% of children in the UAE (from ages 7-11).

In a medium where few ads are watched completely, 98% of our stories were interacted with till the end.

We received enquiries from parents at our stores across the UAE.

And local and international authors at the Emirates Literature Festival joined our efforts too.

From an average of 6 minutes a year, the reading time of children interacting with this was nearly 6 minutes a day, in a year.

Increased interest in our catalogue and footfall in our stores led to an increase in sales too, with a pickup of 11%. Remember, this was at a time when competing bookstores like Kinokuniya and Borders had bigger budgets running promotions and partnerships. While WHSmith grew, reports indicate competitors declined.

What ran as an experiment in the UAE, using a media space that book retailers had never used before to dispense content to children, will run as a campaign across the region.

“With screens, books have been fighting a losing battle when it comes to getting a kid’s attention. Until now.” Ahlam Bolooki, Director, Emirates Literature Festival.

Sources:

(1) Arab Thought Foundation survey

(2) AdColony Media report

(3) Unity/Promo-fix Performance report

(4) WHSmith Retail Report

WHSmith - Pop-Up Books

CREDITS

Gold partners