NAME:
Rosanna Boscawen
JOB TITLE:
Marketing Director (parental leave cover)
COMPANY:
Vintage at Penguin Random House
BIO:
Rosanna is an award-winning book marketer working at Vintage, part of Penguin Random House. As well as running campaigns to launch the careers of emerging writers and new books by established writers such as Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami, plus managing their brands, she has led the team’s online strategy for the last 18 months. She is currently on secondment as Marketing Director for the team.
PG Tips, strong, with a splash of milk.
I’ve been lucky to work on some fantastic projects in the last few years, from Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, where we hosted a midnight opening at which Atwood gave her first public reading from the novel anywhere in the world, to Haruki Murakami’s Novelist As a Vocation, where EDNAEDNA helped us recreate the master storyteller’s desk inside Waterstones Deansgate in Manchester.
But I think the highlight so far has to be for the launch of Ai Weiwei’s memoir, 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows. Presenting him with our creative ideas was somewhat intimidating but he was incredibly enthusiastic and supported us to make them even bigger.
There were two central elements: working with Weiwei and art collective CIRCA, we showed an original piece of video art by him featuring his book on the Piccadilly Lights billboard. Seeing him watch the film as it was shown in public for the first time was an amazing moment - all the more so because it came together in just 10 days.
A couple of days later and just down Piccadilly at Waterstones’ flagship store, we installed his piece ‘Taifeng’ in the atrium, to coincide with his book signing in the shop. Bringing his art world fans as close to his memoir as possible was a central aim of the campaign and I couldn’t have asked for a better realisation of that goal. Plus it was fascinating to learn a little about how the art world works - Weiwei’s team at Lisson Gallery were hugely collaborative and helpful in making it happen.
They are interactive, they entertain and they’re memorable
Working with a creative product and having the chance to bring writers’ creations to life off the page makes for such a rich experience, and it’s also a privilege to be trusted with that responsibility. I find the intersection of art and commerce really satisfying - and always surprising.
I don’t have a set process when coming up with creative ideas, but it always starts with the book and the author at hand, and two questions: What will be true to the essential qualities of the work and to the values and personality of its writer? And how can I translate that in a way that will entertain and engage the target audience and meet objectives? From there I’ll go down wormholes of research to get inspiration - talking to colleagues and partners is a key part of that too.
I’m still thinking about BBC Creative’s ‘Trust is Earned’ campaign some 6 months after it launched. It’s such a powerful creative, whether you see the film or hear the audio, taking the audience behind the story to show how BBC journalists approach their work and the Editorial Guidelines that underpin everything they do. With a running narrative of their highest profile reporters gathering news on the ground in Ukraine, it is an important statement about integrity that both perfectly captures their brand values and meets the needs of current consumer sentiment.
And there you have it! We can't thank Rosanna enough for answering our questions, and we can't wait to work on more fantastic book campaigns with her and her team this year!
Keep your eyes peeled for next months instalment, and if you'd like to put yourself or someone you know forward to feature on a future Brews & Qs, get in touch!
NAME:
Rosanna Boscawen
JOB TITLE:
Marketing Director (parental leave cover)
COMPANY:
Vintage at Penguin Random House
BIO:
Rosanna is an award-winning book marketer working at Vintage, part of Penguin Random House. As well as running campaigns to launch the careers of emerging writers and new books by established writers such as Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami, plus managing their brands, she has led the team’s online strategy for the last 18 months. She is currently on secondment as Marketing Director for the team.
PG Tips, strong, with a splash of milk.
I’ve been lucky to work on some fantastic projects in the last few years, from Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, where we hosted a midnight opening at which Atwood gave her first public reading from the novel anywhere in the world, to Haruki Murakami’s Novelist As a Vocation, where EDNAEDNA helped us recreate the master storyteller’s desk inside Waterstones Deansgate in Manchester.
But I think the highlight so far has to be for the launch of Ai Weiwei’s memoir, 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows. Presenting him with our creative ideas was somewhat intimidating but he was incredibly enthusiastic and supported us to make them even bigger.
There were two central elements: working with Weiwei and art collective CIRCA, we showed an original piece of video art by him featuring his book on the Piccadilly Lights billboard. Seeing him watch the film as it was shown in public for the first time was an amazing moment - all the more so because it came together in just 10 days.
A couple of days later and just down Piccadilly at Waterstones’ flagship store, we installed his piece ‘Taifeng’ in the atrium, to coincide with his book signing in the shop. Bringing his art world fans as close to his memoir as possible was a central aim of the campaign and I couldn’t have asked for a better realisation of that goal. Plus it was fascinating to learn a little about how the art world works - Weiwei’s team at Lisson Gallery were hugely collaborative and helpful in making it happen.
They are interactive, they entertain and they’re memorable
Working with a creative product and having the chance to bring writers’ creations to life off the page makes for such a rich experience, and it’s also a privilege to be trusted with that responsibility. I find the intersection of art and commerce really satisfying - and always surprising.
I don’t have a set process when coming up with creative ideas, but it always starts with the book and the author at hand, and two questions: What will be true to the essential qualities of the work and to the values and personality of its writer? And how can I translate that in a way that will entertain and engage the target audience and meet objectives? From there I’ll go down wormholes of research to get inspiration - talking to colleagues and partners is a key part of that too.
I’m still thinking about BBC Creative’s ‘Trust is Earned’ campaign some 6 months after it launched. It’s such a powerful creative, whether you see the film or hear the audio, taking the audience behind the story to show how BBC journalists approach their work and the Editorial Guidelines that underpin everything they do. With a running narrative of their highest profile reporters gathering news on the ground in Ukraine, it is an important statement about integrity that both perfectly captures their brand values and meets the needs of current consumer sentiment.
And there you have it! We can't thank Rosanna enough for answering our questions, and we can't wait to work on more fantastic book campaigns with her and her team this year!
Keep your eyes peeled for next months instalment, and if you'd like to put yourself or someone you know forward to feature on a future Brews & Qs, get in touch!
