Feature: Incentive products: Bought to book

With 2008 named the National Year of Reading, it is no surprise that books are proving more popular as ever as an incentive. Last year was a record-breaker for the British book trade with more than £1.8 billion spent on books through all retail channels – 6.2 per cent up on 2006.

This month saw Nestlé start promoting sales of its Nescafé Half Caff Gold Blend and Original through giving away a bespoke edition of A Girl For All Seasons, a women’s self-help book by best-selling author Camilla Morton. The 93-page paperback was put together by agency Billington Cartmell and The Bookshop Partnership and contains key chapters judged to be particularly relevant to the brand’s core consumer base. But, rather than fuss around with sending off proofs of purchase, this book is banded to 310,000 jars.

The promotion is based on the insight that the brand’s consumer base are women who would enjoy the advice on health and lifestyle found in Morton’s books. The offer also drives sales of Hodder & Stoughton’s hardback version with a £5-off coupon.

Nestlé has pioneered the concept of giving away books with packs through the successful series of Cereal Partners UK promotions over the past four years providing bespoke children’s titles inside packs of cereals in partnership with publisher Puffin. Its latest activity was launched last month with another publisher, Simon & Schuster, which created versions of the Spiderwick Chronicles books to give away with packs, tying in with the new movie adaptation.

Simon & Schuster has been active in the promotions industry for some years through its Martin Books business. Last month, it worked with publisher NatMag on a covermount for She magazine, giving away a copy of Lynda La Plante’s novel, Red Dahlia, to coincide with her new series of Trial and Retribution on TV.

Martin Books has worked with brands such as Le Creuset and Yeo Valley on producing special-edition cookbooks for promotional activity. Last month, it ran an offer with Associated Newspapers to give away The Zilli Cookbook, worth £14.99, to readers of the Mail on Sunday alongside an offer featuring chef Aldo Zilli’s new roasting pan. As Katie Walsh, business development manager at Martin Books, says: “The popularity of books in promotions remains undiminished.”

Cookbooks are one of the most common types of publishing incentive because they fit neatly with food brands. The Dutch Produce Association, as part of its promotional activity to raise the profile of its native chicory as a cooking ingredient, last month launched a recipe book, Chicory Challenge. As well as highlighting last year’s prize competition to find the best recipes using the vegetable, the title is raising money for charity BDF Newlife.

Publisher Faber & Faber made a rare foray into promotional partnerships through this month’s giveaways in the Guardian and the Observer. Guardian News & Media produced a series of high-quality booklets of up to 26 pages containing a selection of works from the “great poets of the 20th century”. This followed on from last year’s booklets of The Greek Myths, Great Speeches of the 20th Century and Great Interviews of the 20th Century, which, as with the latest poetry collections, was enhanced with an accompanying CD giveaway.

Apart from Faber & Faber’s involvement through its poetry backlist, these booklets are designed and produced in-house, explains the Guardian’s head of consumer and commercial marketing, Mark Tierney. “We also source the content so that we can ensure it is of an appropriate quality. We have chosen some serious and thought-provoking material.

“The high standards of production and content mean that the booklets feel valuable and collectable. Running the promotions over periods of a week or a fortnight enables us to bring new readers into the paper and to build real momentum and interest, pulling these new readers through the week and into the weekend. Each such promotion has added thousands of sales every day.”