So yesterday I bought a copy of Netherland by Joseph O'Neill at Borders. On it was a big red sticker proclaiming President Obama's adoration for the novel. (For the record, I'm not reading it because he did--but Jacob, if you're reading this, I think we should use this as an opportunity to invite Mr. Obama to join the book club. B&J&K book club has a nice ring to it.)
Anyway, I found the sticker interesting, because this is an issue we've been discussing lately at work. How do you take public, glowing praise from the president and use it to sell the heck out of your product? It's a fairly exclusive marketing opportunity--and the rewards can be great. Just ask J. Crew and any Portuguese Water Dog.
But at the same time, you can't just slap a sitting president's name on something as an endorsement. Random House ducks this neatly by blurbing an Obama soundbite from Newsweek about the book. The only thing missing is, "But you don't have to take my word for it!" Way to use the liberal media to do your dirty work, Random House. The system works.
No comments:
Post a Comment