Archive for books

| May 4, 2012
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Marketing lessons from World Book Night

“Excuse me, ma’am, can I offer you a free copy of ‘Friday Night Lights’?”

The woman recoiled as if I were holding a baby rattler. “No!” she shouted, backing away. And then, by way of mumbled explanation, “I don’t read.”

She’s not alone. According to an Associated Press poll, one-quarter of all Americans read no books last year. Apparently they’re as scared of reading as the woman above. And that’s the point of World Book Night, an annual nonprofit event, now in its second year, designed to spread the joy of reading by giving away free books. On the evening of April 23, tens of thousands of folks just like me staked out positions in high-traffic areas all over the world with the goal of distributing millions of books, no strings attached. The event is sponsored by organizations like Barnes & Noble, UPS, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Ingram Book Distributors, the American Library Association and dozens of others.

I had signed up online weeks before and made my selection from an eclectic list of thirty that included “The Hunger Games,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Because of Winn Dixie,” “The Book Thief,” “Kite Runner,” “The Stand,” “The Things They Carried,” and “A Prayer for Owen Meany.” I chose “Friday Night Lights” thinking the movie and TV tie-ins might help me convince non-readers to give it a shot.

And so I set up shop with my box of 20 books at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas for two reasons: It’s a high-traffic area. And, with all the Madonna and Elvis impersonators, showgirls, street performers and assorted other hucksters, I wouldn’t be the weirdest guy on the block.

I may as well have been. I spent my first fruitless minutes giving away nary a copy. Some people thought I was passing out political or religious tracts. Others just couldn’t bring themselves to believe that the books were absolutely free. While I fine-tuned my pitch, I resigned myself to a long night.

I made my first “sale” to a hotel security guard who had been eyeing me suspiciously and wandered over to see what the heck I was up to. Instead of tossing me out, he left with his free gift and a tacit understanding that I wasn’t some sort of trouble-maker. At least not on this night.

That was just the crack in the dam I needed. Within seconds, I had distributed books to a man in a wheelchair, a husband and wife from Romania, a few young adults with multiple tattoos and piercings, and a man who rounded up his entire family and asked if they could each have a copy. Once passers-by decided the promotion was legit, I was down to an empty carton in less than 10 minutes. I probably could have given away 1,000.

For me, the whole thing amounted to a fascinating sociological and marketing experiment confirming that:

  • The public has learned not to trust free offers.
  • People are followers.
  • Transactions can be tricky even when no money exchanges hands.
  • You need a strong opening line (I finally settled on, “Did you know tonight is World Book Night? Thousands of people all over the world are giving away books like this one.”)
  • You want to quickly co-opt the authorities and get them on your side (or at least get them to leave you alone).
  • I want to do it again next year.

Maybe I’ll see you there.

Brian Rouff serves as managing partner for Imagine Communications. Contact Brian at brouff@weareimagine.com.

Category: books, Brian Rouff, business, communcation, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,
| April 11, 2012
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Art and commerce

We just finished designing a cover for the first book in a three-part series about vampires. We’ve worked on at least a dozen book covers over the last few years, and we always find these projects fun and challenging. Fun because we get to stretch our creative chops. Challenging because the main purpose of a cover is to sell books. So there’s always some give and take, which leads to intriguing internal discussions as we seek to find the most effective middle ground.

When you stop to think about it, the process is a microcosm of what we do around here every day. The push/pull of art and commerce is a constant in our business. And we’ve learned that the key, as in most things, is balance. If we veer off too far in one direction or the other, results suffer.

That’s where judgment and experience come into play. Balance is a vital concept, but it’s not always as self-evident as you’d think. But when we put our heads together, along with our various perspectives and histories, the pieces fall into place. We always say that six or eight brains are better than one. I think vampires say that too, but for different reasons.

Or maybe that’s zombies.

Brian Rouff serves as managing partner for Imagine Communications. Contact Brian at brouff@weareimagine.com.

Category: books, Brian Rouff, business, Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,
| May 23, 2011
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Hiring new employees is kind of like dating



At a recent meeting of the Henderson Libraries Business Book Club, we discussed a fascinating book called “SWAY, the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior,” by Ori and Rom Brafman. Writing in the breezy style of “Freakonomics,” the Brafman brothers shed light on the real reasons we humans often behave in ways that are counterproductive (and sometimes downright stupid).

I was particularly intrigued by the section on hiring new employees. As a partner here at Imagine, I’ve been involved in this process enough to know that it’s an iffy proposition at best. We’ve been extremely fortunate in bringing new folks into the fold but, as the book points out, there’s a large element of luck involved. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the 10 most common job interview questions:


· Why should I hire you?

· What do you see yourself doing five years from now?

· What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

· How would you describe yourself?

· What college subject did you like best? Least?

· What do you know about our company?

· Why did you decide to seek a job with our company?

· Why did you leave your last job?

· What do you want to earn five years from now?

· What do you really want to do in life?

If these sound familiar, you’re not alone. They sound familiar to your job candidates, too. Which makes it that much easier for them to game the system. In that respect, it’s kind of like dating.

In fact, according to the authors, only one of the above questions has any real value. Can you guess which one? (Cue “Jeopardy” theme.) Time’s up. It’s “What do you know about our company?” The reason is that it shows initiative on the part of the prospective employee.

Rather than relying on these essentially meaningless questions, the Brafmans recommend standardized tests as the best method for identifying the right people for your organization. Compatibility is a key component, another similarity to the world of dating. Eharmony, for example, emphasizes that element above all others.

At Imagine Marketing, we’ve used tests like “Strengths Finder” for some time now. But we’d still be hard pressed to completely abandon the interview process. (Actually, multiple interviews with multiple Imagine team members.) Maybe a combination of objective testing and gut instinct is the best approach. Now, if we could just find a way to quantify luck.

Brian Rouff serves as managing partner for Imagine Marketing.

Contact Brian at brouff@imnv.com.

Category: books, business, business book club, hiring, Ori Brafman, Rom Brafman, Strength Finders, Sway |