How do you market books that have been around for 50 to 300 years? Put their famous quotes into a web based, literary “guess the book”, spin the bottle (most likely drinking) game. Maybe that’s not the full intent of Penguin Books’ Little Black Classics site, they say it’s a book recommendation site – but I’m wondering if that’s how it started in the first place. I’m being cheeky with it – but this is smart marketing and cool design in order to bring attention to your product. They all have links to Amazon and other online retailers which is perfect, so they can concentrate on having a fun experience on this site, without being tied down to an e-commerce site that everything has to sit on top of. It also has an interactive mobile experience (see below). Fun.

From the Designer: The website was designed as discovery tool with a focus on serendipity to promote the new Penguin Little Black Classics, a series of 80 short books for 80p each released for Penguin’s 80th anniversary. The website makes the selection approachable and fun to play with. The interface provides a way to browse through books, but also get a random recommendation, whilst displaying titles and authors as well as a quote from the book.  The website has a clicking wheel which reacts to the user’s touch and actions. Firstly, the user can shake his mobile device (or clicking on the Penguin logo), which will make the Penguin logo spin and land on a random title. Clicking on the cover will reveal the quote. Best viewed on mobile.

Submitted by: Claudia Toia
Twitter: @claudiatoia
Role: Marketing