CEO DATELINE - Independent booksellers turn to edgy ad campaign to survive Amazon
CEO DATELINE - Independent booksellers turn to edgy ad campaign to survive Amazon
- October 14, 2020 |
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WILLIAM EHART
The American Booksellers Association has teamed up with an advertising agency to highlight the threat posed by Amazon to the survival of independent bookstores, the Associated Press reports.
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The new "Boxed Out" campaign unveiled Tuesday was created by DCX Growth Accelerator, a firm known for creating a fake luxury shoe store in 2018 stocked with items from Payless (which was forced to file for bankruptcy and close all its stores shortly thereafter anyway).
The new campaign coincides with Amazon Prime Day, when the online retailer offers deals to Prime members.
"We're hoping that people will understand the juxtaposition and support their local stores," booksellers association CEO Allison Hill told AP.
Independent booksellers enjoyed a resurgence after the last recession; the pandemic poses another existential threat.
An ABA survey this summer found that about 20% of members representing hundreds of stores could go out of business as federal stimulus funds run out. And the number of new independent stores opening has dropped sharply, to just 30 this year compared with 104 in 2019, ABA said.
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