“She looked back and felt a shiver as she caught sight of him in the throng. Their gazes locked across the crowded room. His expression alone sent another shiver through her. There was both challenge and promise in his eyes. It left no doubt. He had recognized her.”
That excerpt appears on the back of a promotional package distributed to morning commuters at Union Station in Toronto on select days in September and October. As the publishing industry faces a shakedown brought on by the rise of digital media, it is likely that the winners in this contest, as in the music industry, will be those organizations which take risks and get creative in the promotion of their product. Could it be that Harlequin, which is owned by Torstar Corporation [subsequently sold to News Corp. for $455M], could be setting a new standard on both counts?
The promotional package is a slender box shaped like a paperback novel. The layout on the front looks like the cover of a book, with the title “A Taste of Mischief”, the chance to win a trip, and an invitation to visit peekfreans.ca for details. On the back is an excerpt from Harlequin’s Montana Royalty by B.J. Daniels (quoted above) which is available for download as a free ebook. Inside is a package of biscuits from the Peek Freans Lifestyle Selections.
It’s an impressive array of techniques to engage potential customers. There’s the cross-marketing with Peek Freans, a brand owned by Kraft Foods. There’s the contest: “You could WIN a trip fit for one of Harlequin’s Heroines.” The lost leader in the form of a free ebook. And when you check out the web site, you find other forms of engagement too: a schedule of “Meet the Heroes” events where you can feast your eyes on Harlequin hunks; utilization of social media through flickr and twitter accounts; there’s even a madlib feature that let’s you design a personalized romance story. I tried it out and the character it generated was a real bitch (Kari is my dog):
It was a dark and stormy night when he walked into the coffee shop. Kari had only been going there for a few months, but she had fast become familiar with all the regulars and knew right away that he wasn’t one of them. … He approached the counter to order and Kari nearly melted when she overheard his soft accent. “Hello. May I please have an order of Peek Freans Lifestyle Selections Vanilla Bean Latte cookies and a black coffee?”
I had no idea Peek Freans product is so full of corn.