Barnes & Noble Launches UK Advertising Campaign for NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight

The World’s First E Ink® Reader Made for Bedtime Reading

LONDON – NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, introduced its first UK advertising campaign, showcasing its critically-acclaimed NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight, the world’s first eReader designed for bedtime reading, with a built-in reading light. The campaign comes as the NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight goes on sale in the UK, ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

The campaign is the first from Barnes & Noble since it announced the international expansion of NOOK into the UK market and comes at a time when the company, a household name in the US, is raising awareness of the brand in this market.

Advertisement

The “Read in Bed” advertising campaign highlights how NOOK GlowLight technology solves the number-one problem couples have in bed: lights on, to read – or off, to sleep? Research commissioned by Barnes & Noble showed that in the UK 75% of respondents read in bed, and 16% of those questioned would start an argument when annoyed by a partner’s reading in bed.

The commercial demonstrates this debate with a montage of couples in bed, one trying to read and the other unsuccessfully trying to sleep due to the intrusive reading light. The opening VO reads a rhyme that starts: “Do you read in bed? Do you read out loud or in your head? Do you need a lamp to see? And does it leave your bed-mate be?” The bedtime reading debate is resolved when a woman reading in bed turns the NOOK GlowLight on as her partner switches off the bedside light. The VO concludes: “Introducing NOOK GlowLight, the eReader perfectly designed for bedtime reading. Available in the UK for the first time.”

“This is a common clash between couples at bedtime” said Patrick Rouvillois, International MD, NOOK Media, LLC. “Our new campaign sheds light on this age-old issue and celebrates its resolution with NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight, the first device perfected for both bedtime and outdoor reading.”

The multi-faceted campaign, developed by Barnes & Noble with Mullen (www.mullen.com), includes a television commercial complemented by outdoor, print and online advertising. At the centre of the campaign is a 30-second television commercial directed by Joaquin Baca-Asay from MJZ, shot in a cinematic style and illustrating the benefits that GlowLight brings to bedtime readers.

The “Read in Bed” commercial will air starting today across key terrestrial and multi-channel TV stations, and will be seen during high-rating shows such as The X FactorDownton AbbeyThe Alan Titchmarsh ShowCoronation StreetThe Big Bang TheoryTrue Blood and The Only Way Is Essex.

The outdoor campaign will also include Barnes & Noble’s retail partners, which span some of the best known booksellers and retailers in UK, where customers can touch and try the device in shops.

Customers should visit www.NOOK.co.uk for more information, or to order NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The company operates 689 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). Its NOOK Media LLC subsidiary is a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK® products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 667 bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

NOOK®, NOOK Store, NOOK Video, NOOK Video Apps are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook (www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/bnstudio).

About NOOK Media LLC

NOOK reading and entertainment products make it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to the expansive NOOK Store of more than 3 million digital books, plus periodicals, comics, apps, movies and TV shows, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through free NOOK Reading Apps and NOOK Video apps, available at www.nook.com/freenookapps. NOOK owners receive Always Free NOOK Support in any of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 bookstores. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as leading retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, Target and many others. NOOK products are available in the United Kingdom through www.nook.co.uk and leading retailers.

For more information on NOOK, follow us on www.twitter.com/nookBN or www.twitter.com/nook_UK and www.facebook.com/nook.