Saks Fifth Avenue, Book Underwriter
A few years ago, author Fay Weldon struck what many saw as a deal with the devil, agreeing to include references to the luxury retailer Bulgari in a work of fiction. Weldon gleefully included Bulgari in the plot and the book's title. The publishing industry created a small uproar; some authors demanded that the book be treated as advertising and the book was released under heavy suspicion.
Attitudes have apparently softened in the four years since "The Bulgari Connection" was published. Today's news is Saks Fifth Avenue's involvement in "Cashmere If You Can," a children's book about goats who live on the roof of Saks' flagship Manhattan store. As the New York Times report states, "A Saks Fifth Avenue marketing executive came up with the idea, and the department store chain owns the text copyright. It is as if the Plaza Hotel had underwritten 'Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown-ups.'" And indeed, Saks Senior VP of Marketing Terron Schaefer readily admits that Eloise was the inspiration for the project (bottom box in link).
What's most fascinating, however, is not just that the book was made--on a fundamental level, buying a book about Saks in Saks is not all that different from buying an Old Navy t-shirt that says "Old Navy" on it--but where it's going next: HarperCollins is going to publish the book this fall and sell it in mass retail outlets. And while it is being printed with Saks' full marketing glory, it is being handled as if it were an ordinary children's book, further blurring the lines between art and commerce. Publishing companies are excited for this development.
So: a retailer has a marketing concept, which begets a book that merrily references the retailer behind the project, which the retailer sells as part of an intergrated marketing campaign, which is then discovered and distributed by an outside publisher and outside retail outlets, which are in turn (however unwittingly) promoting the retailer to a completely different audience.
It's a fabulous example of retail media convergence, and a signal to other retailers that the landscape is continuing to evolve.
Attitudes have apparently softened in the four years since "The Bulgari Connection" was published. Today's news is Saks Fifth Avenue's involvement in "Cashmere If You Can," a children's book about goats who live on the roof of Saks' flagship Manhattan store. As the New York Times report states, "A Saks Fifth Avenue marketing executive came up with the idea, and the department store chain owns the text copyright. It is as if the Plaza Hotel had underwritten 'Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown-ups.'" And indeed, Saks Senior VP of Marketing Terron Schaefer readily admits that Eloise was the inspiration for the project (bottom box in link).
What's most fascinating, however, is not just that the book was made--on a fundamental level, buying a book about Saks in Saks is not all that different from buying an Old Navy t-shirt that says "Old Navy" on it--but where it's going next: HarperCollins is going to publish the book this fall and sell it in mass retail outlets. And while it is being printed with Saks' full marketing glory, it is being handled as if it were an ordinary children's book, further blurring the lines between art and commerce. Publishing companies are excited for this development.
So: a retailer has a marketing concept, which begets a book that merrily references the retailer behind the project, which the retailer sells as part of an intergrated marketing campaign, which is then discovered and distributed by an outside publisher and outside retail outlets, which are in turn (however unwittingly) promoting the retailer to a completely different audience.
It's a fabulous example of retail media convergence, and a signal to other retailers that the landscape is continuing to evolve.
posted by David Wertheimer at
9:06 AM
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