NZ Book Council: The Book Trailer

The brief:

NZ child literacy rates are declining, with books struggling to compete against popular blockbuster movies. So the New Zealand Book Council came to Colenso BBDO, looking for a way to rekindle children’s love of reading.

The solution:

Some of the world’s biggest blockbuster movies were originally based on books. So we hatched a plan to encourage kids to make their favourite movies even better – by reading the books that inspired them, first.

We created a book trailer for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” – the inspiration behind the film, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” Wherever the movie went, the book followed, with our trailer playing before the film trailer in cinemas and on YouTube.

We designed posters for the book, which sat alongside the film posters in cinema lobbies – along with a reading nook, where kids could read “Fantastic Beasts” while they waited to see the film.

The idea even became part of the school curriculum, with South Auckland classes creating and writing descriptions of their own Fantastic Beasts, for the chance to win a class trip to see the movie.

Credits:

Agency: Colenso BBDO
Creative Director: Maria Devereux
Art Director: Charlie Godinet
Copywriter: Elo Jack
Animation: Assembly

Awards:

1 x Bronze, Axis 2019
6 x Finalists, Axis 2019