Stationery Icons, a 304-page illustrated hardback by Christopher Leonard-Morgan, has launched its first Christmas campaign, positioning the book as a gift for stationery enthusiasts, collectors and design lovers.
Running through to Christmas, the campaign pairs advertising on StationeryNews.net and PGBuzz.net with promotional activity on Instagram and LinkedIn, focused on the brands, personalities and stories the book documents.
The push follows two London events: Open House at Stationers' Hall on 20 September and the London Pen Show in Hammersmith on 10-11 October. Both, according to the publisher, underlined the book's appeal as a present, with customers buying copies for friends, family and fellow stationery enthusiasts.
Leonard-Morgan said the encouraging sign was how many buyers saw the book as a gift for someone else, adding that most people know someone with a favourite fountain pen or a treasured notebook. The book, he said, gathers the stories behind the brands those readers love in a volume they can return to over the years.
The campaign also invites the 100 featured brands to mark their inclusion through their own social media channels and customer communications, widening awareness among stationery enthusiasts internationally.
Richard Webb, Publisher at Narrative Media, said stationery inspires a remarkable degree of affection and loyalty, and described the book's breadth of stories, spanning six centuries of ingenuity, entrepreneurship and design, as what makes it special. He added that featured brands would have the chance to share their own stories with customers and followers.
The first edition has an initial print run of just 1,000 copies, is priced at £80 and can be ordered directly from the book's website.