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Overview

Established in 1922 as a newsagency on Collins Street, Collins Booksellers has enjoyed a series of expansions and and acquisitions over the last century, boasting 60 stores across Australia in 2008 with plans to expand (Bookseller + Publisher Magazine, 2007-2008). Today, Collins Booksellers has 24 stores, showing that more than 45 stores have had to close in the last decade, being too unprofitable to run or unable to keep up with the competition. With physical bookstores such as Dymocks, Readings, and Robinsons Bookshop being more attractive and online sellers such as Book Depository and Booktopia offering cheaper alternatives, Collins Booksellers is lagging behind. 

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Our objective is to get people to venture into Collins Booksellers instead of looking for cheaper options online, positioning it as an enriching experience rather than just a clinical purchase, so that we can increase sales and keep the brand’s remaining stores running and offering a vital service to the community.

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SWOT Analysis Findings

• A long established Australian brand with an existing loyal customer-base may serve as a barrier in achieving communication objectives and introducing a new face to the brand. It is therefore important to retain existing customers whilst simultaneously attracting new ones by providing feedback avenues and incentives for existing customers to maintain their loyalty for the Collins’ brand. 

• The website requires improvement in order to simplify navigation and purchasing options for the increased site traffic the campaign intends to achieve. 

• It is necessary to focus on boosting Collins’ social media presence and engagement rates in order for the advertising to draw more traffic to the new website, maximise campaign reach and broaden customer-base.

• The growing market for the online bookstore industry indicates that Collins’ website launch and improved social media presence will be relevant for current consumer needs and behaviours. 

• Specifically targeting the campaign towards millennials is appropriate and likely to resonate given they are reading more than other generations. 

• The prominent digital presence of competitors requires Collins to create an ‘edge’ when updating their website and social media platforms in order to  increase visibility.

 

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Proposition

It is proposed that the overall creative concept draws on advertising the experience of visiting a Collins’ bookstore; the atmosphere, perusing the shelves, picking up books and reading the blurbs, asking the shop assistants which books they recommend, and finally, purchasing a book, either for yourself or someone you love. It is imperative that advertising this message serves to highlight the personal touch of visiting a bookstore over purchasing online or reading from an e-reader. 

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We have decided to launch an interactive engagement campaign based on the little book recommendation cards written by staff members in bookstores. These cards add a personal touch to the experience of buying a book, as well as an honest review by someone who enjoyed the book, forming a positive association with both the book and the bookstore.

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Our campaign will invite the consumer themselves to write their own recommendations on printed cards at Collins Booksellers locations. All the cards will have the slogan "find it at Collins Booksellers", implying that everyone's favourite books can be found at their local Collins. There will also be a bookmark version that can be placed within the book itself, so the customer has a community review when they pick up the book in store.

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Selected cards will be placed on shelves with the books themselves, as well as published in local magazines/newspapers and their content read out in radio ads. An online component of the campaign will run also; a redesigned website with a page where the consumer can submit their recommendations, as well as a Facebook campaign where users are encouraged to share what they like about their favourite books. This advertising component will be run with the slogan “From their bookshelf to yours”, evoking the time-old tradition of sharing books. 

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This will cause the consumer to consider what they like about books, as well as introduce a real sense of community in the sharing of book recommendations. The campaign will be localised to each Collins location and their surrounding areas, so the campaign will feel local and truly personal.

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This proposition was built from the formative research on Collins’ brand and their external environment. Research shows that reading and bookstores in general, predominantly exist in a digital space and the personal experience of visiting a bookstore is inevitably fading as a consequence of this. 

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Therefore, Collins already holds an advantage or ‘edge’ over its competitors; it is a well-established local Australian bookstore. Consumers associate the brand with the physical stores, not online shopping or Kindle readers. It is for this reason that the creative concept will focus on drawing consumers to the store and reminding them of the Collins’ bookstore experience. The creative concept ultimately aims to refine Collins’ existing brand, rather than completely reshape it, in order for it to stand out as the original bookstore in an overly-saturated market of impersonal online reading.

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My Role

As well as contributing to industry and market research, my primary role was in designing the creative solution to the SWOT analysis and creating the example mockups.

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*Student concept project for the completion of Intro to Advertising (Feb 2020)