TV Ad Spotlights America’s Favorite Bookstore, Now Available Anywhere with NOOK; Marks Company’s Return to TV in a Decade
NEW YORK – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, introduced a major new advertising campaign for its popular NOOK eBook Reader, which explores the personal, transportive nature of books and Barnes & Noble’s longstanding connection to readers – both enhanced by the company’s digital device and content. The multi-faceted campaign, developed by Barnes & Noble with Merkley + Partners, an Omnicom company (NYSE: OMC), includes Barnes & Noble’s first television spots in more than a decade, complemented by radio, print and online ads.
At the center of the campaign is “My Story,” a 30-second television spot which portrays a Barnes & Noble customer from childhood to adulthood and the stories that nourished her love of books from physical to now digital format. To spotlight NOOK as “the only eBook Reader from the bookstore you’ve grown up with,” the spot features a young child, then teen, college student, then mom-to-be, rapt in wonderful books among the Barnes & Noble bookshelves. The closing images reinforce the ability to “take your story wherever you want it to go” as the woman in the spot sits on the beach reading on NOOK’s crisp and clear E Ink® screen after using the device’s fast, wireless access to find her next great read from more than a million digital titles.
“Many of our customers have practically grown up in Barnes & Noble bookstores, browsing, buying and reading the books that have enriched their lives,” said Sasha Norkin, Vice President, Acquisition Marketing of Barnes & Noble.com. “This campaign celebrates those moments, and offers the additional choice and convenience of a device that puts more than one million titles at your fingertips from that same trusted bookstore.”
Added Ms. Norkin, “We’re excited to launch this campaign to showcase NOOK and its benefits, and welcome customers to visit their local Barnes & Noble store to experience the best dedicated eBook Reader with the help of one of our trained booksellers.”
The spots close encouraging viewers to find NOOK at “your local Barnes & Noble,” online at www.nook.com, and at Best Buy, America’s leading consumer electronics retailer, where NOOK is displayed and became available this week. The award-winning NOOK eBook Reader continues to be the best-selling product at Barnes & Noble.
The national campaign starts to roll out today with spots airing in major markets during top-rated network shows in multiple day parts including American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Good Morning America, House, The Today Show, 30 Rock, and more, and on cable networks including A&E, Bravo, E!, and others. The spot can be viewed at www.nook.com/tvad.
Radio spots will air nationally and print and online ads will run in major outlets that reach the Barnes & Noble book lover audience.
About NOOK™, by Barnes & Noble
NOOK marries innovative technology and sleek minimalist design with access to the Barnes & Noble’s digital store of over one million eBooks, newspapers and magazines. NOOK’s color touch screen for navigation along with a best-in-class E Ink display offer an immersive, enjoyable eReading experience. It offers both 3G wireless and Wi-Fi® access, is the first to offer digital lending for a wide selection of eBooks through its LendMe™ technology. In Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK customers can access free Wi-Fi connectivity and enjoy free, exclusive content and special promotions through the More In Store™ program. NOOK is available for $259 in Barnes & Noble stores, www.nook.com and at Best Buy stores and www.bestbuy.com.
To learn more and experience NOOK, visit www.nook.com. Follow our eBooks and other updates on www.twitter.com/NOOKBN and www.facebook.com/NOOKBN for information on NOOK updates, new eBook releases, Free Friday eBooks and more. To learn more about the free BN eReader software, visit www.bn.com/ebooks.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 723 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 639 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than one million titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks). Barnes & Noble customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOKTM by Barnes & Noble, eBook readers from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free BN eReader software.
