P-O-P by the Book

The book publishing industry has gone through some dramatic changes over the past 10 years. The spread of book superstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, and the growth of book-based Web sites such as Amazon.com, have changed the way consumers shop for books.Through all the changes, DK Publishing, with U.S. operations based in New York, has steadily grown into a publishing empire built on a commitment to producing quality titles. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1974, DK Publishing (named for founders Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley) now has additional operations in Orlando, Fla., as well as in several other countries. Its lines include illustrated books, CD-ROMs and videos, all focused on education and designed to make an impact.The latter is why the company emphasizes P-O-P. In DK's view, P-O-P is a prime communicator of the company's image and the founding principles by which it still operates."We started very small, but our approach was always to do something dramatic," says Chuck Lang, senior vice president of marketing. "Through the years, we've continued to strive for that. We feel our books are better than anyone else's out there, and we think that our marketing approach needs to be that way as well. We try not to approach it as simply saying, 'Here's something functional.' Rather, our P-O-P is something that the customer will walk by and hopefully say, 'That's cool.' We see it very much as a reflection of the company."This approach is not limited to DK's internal operations; it also applies to the company's vendors, who are chosen as much for their eye for quality as for their manufacturing expertise. According to DK, that continual search to find ways to stand out is increasingly important in the changing book industry."Ten years ago, everyone did P-O-P and every retailer took P-O-P," says Lang. "Now it's a much harder fight to get in there because the big chains don't want to disturb their environment --they have their own merchandising vehicles. It puts the onus on the publishers to come up with something that's really earth-shattering."Lang notes that retailers are becoming more selective about the P-O-P they accept, and are adopting a less-is-more approach. "They have dedicated areas where they want books to go," he says. "So they're not necessarily desperate for publishers to come in and say 'You must take this rack.' Also, the choices for the ultimate consumer these days are becoming more scattered. Years ago, the consumer's main point-of-entry to see products was the bookstore. Now they're seeing books online, through direct mail -- they're picking and choosing the ways that they want to purchase a book."Team SpiritThe P-O-P process at DK Publishing functions within a loose organizational structure. There are specific assigned roles among the art, marketing and creative services departments, but everyone's input regarding a particular display gets equal consideration."All our groups work together," says Lesleigh Irish-Underwood, DK's director of promotions and advertising. "For example, my group works with publicity to find out when an author is going to be on tour, or with operations to know when the books are coming in. It's a very open environment. People are not overly impressed with themselves because they have a specific title. The whole idea is to create the sense that we're all a team. In the end, that's what makes our P-O-P really great. We have the design department dreaming it up, and we have my team giving suggestions on how to refine it. Everyone contributes."Such a flat structure comes in handy considering the scope of DK's P-O-P production. Each year, the company produces 75 to 100 different pieces of P-O-P from floorstands to shelf talkers. And the displays don't promote only DK products. The company is involved in several licensing agreements with leading consumer brand names, such as the National Football League (NFL) and Mattel, and with Lucasfilm to promote books related to the new "Star Wars" prequel movies.The P-O-P process begins once it's decided that a specific title is going to be published. Next, a marketing plan is developed, which will determine whether or not that title will be supported by P-O-P. The ideas are then communicated to the art department, which is also included up-front in the planning process. Once a project gets to the art department, the design process is underway, developing what the display will look like based on the initial input from the marketing plan."Each book is handled differently," Irish-Underwood says. "For some books, we know the marketing effort is going to be over the top, and the P-O-P plays into that. A book that is going to get that treatment is usually going to require strong store treatment as well. We try to make certain that there is a consistency in everything we create -- from public relations to P-O-P and advertising. The book itself drives that and everything supporting the book needs to have that sense of consistency."With any given DK title, quality illustrations are the goal. "Everything we publish is geared toward lifelong learning," says Irish-Underwood. "One of the missions of Peter Kindersley is that learning never ceases. It starts at an incredibly early age and doesn't cease until we stop. So, his goal was to communicate learning by using really gorgeous photographs and illustrations, as opposed to creating books that simply conveyed information in only a textual way." She notes as an example the tagline for the company's highly popular travel guide series: "We show you what other books tell you."All the art used in a DK title is stored digitally in the U.K., and having access to that art archive is what the company feels gives it an extra edge in being able to create a unique look for its products."Our P-O-P goes beyond the average point-of-purchase display," Irish-Underwood says. "We try to communicate the same sense of incredible illustration and beauty that the books communicate. The image is very important. We're always trying to make our P-O-P exciting. We believe our books are a step above what our competitors are doing, so our P-O-P has to communicate that. If it's going to house our books, it has to be as equally impressive as the books are."During the design process, the art department will create a number of sketches digitally, often going through three or four revisions. Along the way, the marketing and promotions staffs work with the specific designer for a project until everyone is satisfied with a display's look. If a project involves a licensing agreement, the participating company will also provide input and approvals on display materials during the process. "The co-brands usually provide us with their style guide, so we can try, from the initial design stages, to come up with something that we're fairly confident they will approve," Irish-Underwood says. "We try not to stray very far from the design parameters that they've established."Once a prototype is approved, its next stop is the creative services department, which handles the physical manufacturing of a display and coordinates the relationship between DK and its P-O-P vendors. The company has a base of vendors that it regularly uses for most of its displays, including Rand Display, Teaneck, N.J.; Taurus Display Corp., Cherry Hill, N.J.; Advanced Graphics One, Sherman Oaks, Calif.; Emjay Display, Lancaster, Pa.; and R. Wireworks, Elmira, N.Y.According to Mitchell Chiddick, DK's creative services manager, a good vendor is "someone who is there when we need them. If I get on the phone and say, 'I've got to talk to you,' they'll drop what they're doing and come right in." That's why most DK vendors are located in the New York metropolitan area. "We often need to have them come in and revise and rework these displays," Chiddick says.Chiddick works closely with Creative Services Coordinator Kate Wightman to research and find the right vendor for a particular job. To ensure that DK's strict quality standards are followed, vendors are given complete mechanical data as well as a DK catalog or marketing sheet. This way there is very little adjustment required to maintain the DK look during the manufacturing process.Not surprisingly, the company has very specific tastes when it comes to its displays' physical designs. For example, most are made of B-flute corrugate, but DK chooses to use a bleached white board, as opposed to pearl white or oyster white. "We make sure that our trays and bases have nice coverage, with no craft or brown box showing," says Chiddick."[With DK displays], when you take the last book out of the tray, no brown cardboard can be showing," Chiddick says. "Once the books sell out, the trays themselves, with our logo showing and our branding, are still fit for retail display. We've got great books -- that's obvious to anyone. So if we house them in beautiful P-O-P, it only enhances the attraction."At times, DK will use certain vendors specifically for wire or corrugated displays, according to the specific needs of each project or individual retail accounts. And there have been times when the vendors have been called upon to meet a unique set of challenges in making a particular display.One such challenge was the first display developed as part of DK's licensing agreement with Lucasfilm to support the new "Star Wars" movies -- a 3-D pod racer display."That was a challenge in terms of its construction, design and manufacturing," says Irish-Underwood. "Also, no other publisher had ever done anything like it. Initially, retailers were a little standoffish until they saw actual prototypes. It was difficult to tell what the display was going to look like from a flat sketch, but that was all our salesforce had to go out with at first. Once they actually had prototypes, the momentum among retailers picked up. It was pretty intense to put together, but we still got out almost 2,500 displays. That P-O-P was a slightly broader challenge to put together than other displays that come out of the box, pop open and that's it. But retailers thought it was impressive enough and would be effective enough at the store level that they were willing to support us in what we were trying to do."Another co-branding effort that came together as a result of free idea-sharing and collaboration among all links of the DK P-O-P chain was a floor display for an NFL book. Again, the goal was to create something that was dramatic and highly visible, which was accomplished by putting a motion sensor in the display that would simulate crowd noise when a customer passed by. DK's vendor also played a significant role in contributing input that ended up in the final design. The original designs had the piece drawn as a flat display. The vendor, Taurus Display, created it to match the image, but then also brought in wings with their initial prototype."They said to us, 'In a football stadium, there would be another tier,' " Irish-Underwood says. "We all agreed that they were right. Also, when we received the crowd shot from the NFL, it was just a crowd shot. When the designer got ready to put it together, he and Taurus said, 'There should be spaces in the crowd for steps.' So they digitally created steps. That was a total group effort: Our manufacturer worked closely with our designer and with creative services. Everyone tried to make it the best it could be."Irish-Underwood also notes that the sound sensor was the brainchild of DK's adult P-O-P designer. "We thought it would go with the whole feel. It wasn't inexpensive to do, but it was extremely effective as P-O-P."However, Lang adds that while the display did make a statement at retail, sometimes the sound of silence spoke even louder. "Some retailers thought, 'It can't make noise every time someone goes by,' " Lang says. "So we had to work with vendors to create something that would roar, but that could also be turned off. Those are examples of how the process works. You can sit here and do the marketing and come up with these great ideas, but then there's the reality of 3,000 stores out there possibly saying, 'I don't want this on my floor.' "That ability to customize and modify P-O-P allows the company to more effectively distribute materials to retail locations. The company's primary classes of trade are the large book chains, such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, as well as the independent bookstores. "We initially develop a prototype that we think would be the best communication of a book in a retail environment," Irish-Underwood says. "Then we have our national managers meet with their accounts, and if there is some amount of modification that needs to be made for them to take it in substantial quantities, we're more than happy to make those adjustments. Most of our displays can fit as is, but all can have some customizations easily made, such as the number of copies they hold or the book assortment. If one was configured to hold six copies of six different books, but the retailer wanted it to be 12 copies of three, it would be easy to reorganize that configuration in our warehouse."DK is also building strong presence in mass merchant locations. But while the overall goal is to create displays that are easily adaptable to all types of locations, mass merchants often present a need to do something differently. "Some of their display parameters are a little different. Usually their numbers are larger," Irish-Underwood says. "If we have a display that's a 48-copy piece, they may want a 96-copy display."In addition to its primary retail distribution, the company also targets specialty retail locations such as Toys "R" Us (for its Mattel Barbie books) or sporting goods stores (with its NFL titles). That expanded reach is assisted by the double impact of a powerful co-brand to go along with the DK product."Obviously there are a number of stores that might take a football book, but would definitely take an NFL football book," Irish-Underwood says. "There may be some outlets that would be more attracted to some of our publishing programs because of the co-branding with licensees that they hold in high esteem. It may also make a retailer who perhaps wasn't familiar with DK look further into our back list of titles."Once a display is manufactured, the vendors deliver it to DK's warehouse. From there, they are shipped directly to retailers. All are shipped as complete as possible so that "once they arrive, they're ready to pop open and put together," Irish-Underwood says. "Everything always ships with books as well as all components and pieces. If there are multiple titles, they are all put together into one master shipper." One exception to this practice was the "Star Wars" 3-D display, which had to be shipped in pieces due to its construction.To extend the reach of the DK brand outside of traditional book-selling channels, the company has formed the DK Family Learning (DKFL) line, which targets and markets products directly to homes and schools.The DKFL salesforce comprises independent contractors who sell books directly to consumers. "They work with teachers at local schools or with libraries, and they take DK products directly to consumers," Irish-Underwood says. "Very often a library or school won't take P-O-P displays, but if they want them, we'll create them. The salesforce has the same advantage in working directly with the consumer as in working directly with a chain or independent bookstore." She notes that the P-O-P for the DKFL lines might be smaller, such as bookmarks, shelf talkers or countertop displays.Judging a Book Display by its FeedbackMarket research and consumer feedback are key elements of DK's ongoing P-O-P evolution. The company market-tests its products with consumers approximately four times a year in different cities across the nation to capture the broadest cross-section of consumer opinions. "These are the ultimate consumers and to not get their input and use it to our advantage would be crazy," Irish-Underwood says. "We try to understand how we can do what we're doing even better and how to improve upon what we might not be doing so well."DK also relies heavily on feedback from its salesforce, which communicates regularly with the retailers. From the sales reps, DK is kept updated about how the displays are being used, which ones are most effective and which displays need to be changed or modified. "They'll say, 'This is great, but can you make it narrower?' or 'A store loves this, but can you make it a 12-copy instead of a 16-copy?' or 'Is there a way the 16-copy can work as a 12?'" Irish-Underwood notes.In the end, DK's success at retail comes back to putting the highest level of energy and commitment into the P-O-P supporting a title, a practice that the company believes will ultimately garner the desired results."P-O-P is a reflection of our company," Lang says. "If you've done it right, someone's going to stop and actually look at that particular title. Ideally, they're going to purchase the book. If not, they're still going to walk away saying, 'I liked that,' and start making a connection to the DK brand."

P-O-P by the Book

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Business Topic

Company

Market Segment