As Taylor Swift embarks on the last leg of the Eras Tour, Quarto’s campaign team spent time reflecting on the year-long marketing campaign for their biggest Little People, BIG DREAMS to date.
At The Bookseller Children’s Conference on September 30th, Meg Fowler, children’s campaign manager, and Christopher Ransom, head of the company’s children’s campaigns, shared a year in the marketing life. They detailed the unique promotional process and how they marketed Little People, BIG DREAMS – Taylor Swift successfully, from beginning to end.
“Taylor Swift is the latest subject to take the spotlight.”
Lauren Burns
Written by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara and always accompanied by illustrations, the Little People, BIG DREAMS series exemplifies the best of children’s publishing at the moment. For a decade, it has selected famous or historical figures and introduced their life in a child-friendly and entertaining way. The books emphasise the importance of representation, inspiration, and aspiration. They show the positive impact stories have on young readers.
Taylor Swift is the latest subject to take the spotlight, and the book based on her life, which marks the 100th in the series, has remained a firm bestseller since its publication in June.
The book made the Sunday Times Bestseller List, where it remained for 17 consecutive weeks, and 98,732 copies have sold.
Marketing can, partially, be cited for this success. The year-long awareness campaign, helmed by Fowler and Ransom, generated 1000s of consumer pre-orders and turned the books into one of 2024’s most popular.
Although they lacked an author and illustrator due to distance, the team campaigned creatively. Ransom said, ‘We needed to ensure people took notice of our product’ (Ransom, 2024). To get noticed, they harnessed star power, using Swift’s name to gain attention. Timing, PR, events, social media, consumer-led, and community marketing also made a difference.
Guerilla copies were hidden in concert venues and tour cities, including Edinburgh. The team hosted makeshift concerts in Waterstones across the country, from Liverpool to London, so those who missed out on Taylor Swift tickets could still feel part of the experience.
This city focus extended regional PR and marketing, with mini-campaigns set up for London, Cardiff, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Bookshop concerts in various cities gained widespread, mainstream PR and coverage (ITV, BBC).
“We needed to ensure people took notice of our product.”
Christopher Ransom
The process was vastly consumer-led, with readers voting for the publication of Taylor Swift in the first place. There are creative ways to include your audience in publishing, and this reader-nominated status became an anchor for the campaign.
While intended for children, the team managed, using this consumer-led, community approach to make the book appeal to all ages, offering a gifting opportunity for older music fans.
The campaign shows the benefit of working with cleverness and creativity. And, with a book on Harry Styles slated to be released soon, it is a tried and tested process that will, at least in some form, repeat in the coming year.
MSc Publishing – Industry Accredited Postgraduate Degree 