From Jingles to Dreidels ... Fountain Bookstore Has Richmond Covered

Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, which is no stranger to innovative marketing campaigns, recently launched two new promotional tools -- one is possibly the first-ever independent bookstore jingle; the other, an IndieBound Hanukkah poster, is a collaborative effort between Fountain and its local Jewish Community Center.

Marketing creatively helps customers remember us, said Fountain owner Kelly Justice. "It works well to constantly remind people about us in an unusual way."

When Justice bought Fountain Bookstore in early 2008, her friend Chrissie Griffiths, a member of the Johnny Cash cover band Black Cash, offered to create a custom jingle for the store. "Chrissie wrote it for me as a present," Justice said of the Dixieland-sounding jingle, which spells out the name of the store. "It goes into any videos we produce."

In one video now on YouTube, the jingle introduces an appearance by renowned entomologist Art Evans [What's Bugging You?, University of Virginia], who shows off a very active praying mantis. The combination cements quirky, interesting entertainment with the bookstore. At the end, the band is credited as Chrissie and the Bug Bites. "The name of the band changes with each video," said Justice. "It's something we have fun with."

Justice also recently worked closely with the staff of her local Jewish Community Center to come up with the idea for an IndieBound "Eat Sleep Read Spin" poster, which was featured at the JCC's annual bookfair. Fountain Bookstore is the center's official offsite bookstore. "Doing the JCC bookfair is a large endeavor for us," said Justice. "We have a great, mutually beneficial relationship with them."

Justice worked with the JCC on the poster concept, and IndieBound Outreach Liaison Page Poe designed the poster, which along with a "Nap. Nosh. Read." poster, is now available for download in the Bookseller DIY and for purchase in the IndieBound Red Bubble shop. "They're really pretty, and Paige did an awesome job," said Justice. "We're posting one right next to our Christmas poster."

Justice said that the bookstore's ongoing community involvement reflects Fountain's mission and its wide-ranging connection to the city of Richmond. "I didn't think it was particularly inventive to grab the local entomologist and stand him in the bookstore and film him with some bugs," said Justice. "I thought it was funny, but he's also one of the foremost experts on beetles. That's the kind of message of this bookstore -- we're a lighthearted entity that concentrates on bringing joy to the community and sharing interesting and fun things. That's just our personality."

As an aside, Justice told BTW that it was thanks to a Fountain musical event for A Guide to the Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail by Joe Wilson (John F. Blair) that jingle-writer Griffiths met her now husband. So, in addition to matching the right book to the right customer, Justice can be credited with matching the right customer to the right customer. --Karen Schechner