Store Creates Marketing Campaign Featuring Famous Unknowns

When Roger and Margy Layton, the owners of The Read Leaf Bookshop in Springville, Utah, were looking for a new marketing campaign, they thought of the uniqueness of their customers and staff, as well as the diversity of their inventory. And that was almost all they needed.

What remained was to develop a presentation that could convey those special qualities to others. That was the hard part. "Chain stores use repeated images of famous authors to market their books," Roger Layton told BTW. "We decided to use images of our staff and customers posed with some of their favorite books. That way we could highlight our wide ranging inventory -- not just children's books, not just Agatha Christie."

Fortuitously, both Laytons were involved in graphic design before opening the bookstore seven years ago, and they were able to set up a photo studio in the store. With the help of various staff members and friends of the store, they created four posters, each with two people and two books. Two phrases link the two subjects and their books.

The posters measure four feet by four feet and hang in the store's large front windows. "They're large enough for people to see them from their cars as they pass by," Roger Layton said. When traffic slows, as it inevitably does due to construction and congestion, people have even more time to enjoy them, Layton noted.

"We have gotten really positive responses," he said. "It's the most talked about display we're ever done. People recognize the staff and the customers and really enjoy it. We're working on expanding the campaign into the store -- with banners and new photos and more sayings. It'll take some time before we'll think of some more really good ones." --Nomi Schwartz