Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

National Book Tokens, the multi-retailer gift voucher/card scheme, is launching a cinema commercial as part of a multimedia campaign to promote their gift cards as an inspiring gift choice in the run-up to Christmas. The campaign features the children’s book character The Gruffalo, and was created by Kitcatt Nohr Digitas.

Kitcatt Nohr Digitas was briefed to create a campaign to inspire people to buy a National Book Token. The campaign targets book lovers and their relatives, and aims to infuse the National Book Tokens product with the emotion they feel for reading and make the brand front-of-mind as a gift choice.

The campaign fits into National Book Tokens’ overall brand positioning, “Inspiring choice”. The creative idea to bring this strategic positioning to life is the voyage of discovery – from browsing, to choosing, to reading – that is enabled by the gift of National Book Tokens.

Kitcatt Nohr Digitas has created a cinema ad which shows how a young girl in a bookshop is transported to a magical world when she opens a book, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. After opening the book and seeing The Gruffalo and a ‘deep dark wood’ appear from behind a bookshelf, she goes to the counter with her National Book Token and tells her mum she’d like to buy the book. It ends with the line: “Give someone a National Book Token, and who knows where they’ll end up”.

The ad uses both live action and animation, and features a voiceover by poet Roger McGough and music by Debussy.

Production for the cinema ad was by production agency Kream.

The cinema ad is part of a broader integrated campaign which includes press ads, an online tool, Bookshelves, which allows people to share book recommendations with their friends and loved ones, an eCRM programme called Bookends which delivers inspiring choice to customers throughout the year to drive ongoing frequency of purchase.

Jamie Tierney, Head of Film at Kitcatt Nohr Digitas explains: “Our creative challenge was to bring the magic of The Gruffalo to life on-screen, while being true to Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s book. The film is an enchanting combination of colour, movement and sound. Even the authors love it.”

Jenny Sheils, Marketing Manager at National Book Tokens, commenting on the new campaign said: “This new campaign really captures and brings to life the magical experience of visiting a bookshop and choosing a book to buy with a National Book Token. We’re excited to see the results from this high-profile national campaign.”