| Ring tones will promote new Stephen King novel |
| Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | |
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Ring tones and wallpaper are finally coming to the oldest of old media: book publishing. “The minute I read [the book] I said, ‘This calls for a unique mobile marketing campaign,’” said Scribner Publisher Susan Moldow. “Inasmuch as I dimly grasped what a mobile marketing campaign was.” The campaign begins today with text messages to 100,000 cell phone users that have already opted in to a mobile marketing plan. They’ll be invited to join the “Stephen King VIP Club,” and receive a voice message from the author on January 24, when the book appears in bookstores. Weekly text messages will follow, along with a monologue by Mr. King that will later be part of a Cell podcast available to the general public. According to executives at Scribner, the campaign marks the first time a major book publisher has employed a mobile marketing campaign for an adult title. HarperCollins has been using the same technology and marketing services provider, Flytxt, for some of its children’s titles, including the Princess Diaries series. The Cell campaign also marks the first time that a book publisher has included a revenue generating component as part of the mobile marketing mix. Mr. King has been in the technological forefront before. In 2000, his novella Riding the Bullet became the first electronic book sensation when Simon & Schuster sold 500,000 copies online. “For Annie Proulx or Don DeLillo, this might not be a good fit,” said Ms. Moldow, citing two Scribner authors with a more purely literary and less tech-oriented following than Mr. King. “For an author that has the kind of fan base Steve has, there’s a lot of potential.” © Copyright Flytxt Ltd 2006. Unauthorized use of any content constitutes a material breach. |
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