Rowena’s Read

How to make a little go a long way when it comes to marketing?

Remember, back in February, I blogged about The BIG Read – the national program that tries to interest everybody in reading?

One marketing effort I particularly mentioned was the program being developed by White Light Advertising. The agency’s principal, Rowena White, promised to fill me in on what her team created for The BIG Read of Bridgeport and Shelton, CT – the featured book is The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

The agency created and produced a 13” x 19” double fold, four-color calendar brochure. White says: 11” x 17” was too small –we upgraded at no additional cost. The front cover (6.5” x 9.5”) opens into a book and author profile (13” x 9.5”). Then the second fold opens into a 13” x 19” Calendar of Events. The back cover (6.5” x 9.5”) lists locations to pick up free books, and sponsor support.

White Light created a 4-column x 7" newspaper ad to run in the hometown weekly papers for Bridgeport and Shelton for two weeks; then wrote the radio announcements and had them produced for the local full-service AM and NPR radio stations. White notes: The NPR radio cash schedule is 100% matched by a no-charge schedule, in exchange for which we included about 300 of their programming brochures in the BIG Read Goodie Bags.

All the media was negotiated “hard-core” at not-for-profit rates plus added value items. The brochure fee was strictly the hard cost paid to the print manufacturer. The newspaper was at a discounted combo rate of 20% off, plus additional 10% for being not-for-profit. (White is sure they’ll also include an editorial story based on press releases that went out and the Kick-Off Press Conference with Bridgeport’s Mayor Bill Finch.)

White’s final comment: I can say with confidence that we maximized the little total marketing dollars and are receiving far more than double the value.

So the BIG Read gets a big boost in Bridgeport (and Shelton). And White Light gets a tip of the blogger’s bonnet for demonstrating how to make passion work for a heartfelt campaign.