Barnes & Noble couldn’t decide on a name for their new eBook. But I quickly realized they didn’t have a naming problem they had a decision problem.
Amazon had targeted the kindle at businessmen. Nook was last to market, but we proposed that Barnes and Noble focus on creating a product for everyone, especially women. Barnes and Nobles’s customers were mostly female and there was a wonderful piece of research which hypothesized that women read more than men because of a neurological difference – maybe Amazon chose the wrong audience.
We developed the name nook, based on the insight that nook was a place to read rather than a device. Once Barnes & Noble felt comfortable with a name, we developed a marque, representing a place, not a device.
From this we developed an entire brand system and expressions. But it’s always more powerful if the new brand and product are connected. The product design was advanced and the features were locked. But by adapting the in-store trial we were able to create LendMe, a social tool where readers could share books with each other. LendMe become the number one selling feature of the product.
Last to Market, nook launched to compete with Kindle. Sales for Q2 of 2011 were US$920 million, gaining 13.4% global market share for E-paper readers. nook sold more units than anything else Barnes and Noble has ever sold before in its 40 year history. In 2013 Microsoft offered to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLCNook also won the Jay Chiat Award at the 4A’s and a Bronze Lion at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
The Team
Marc Shillum – R/GA Brand Development Group, Naming, Creative Direction
Virgilio Santos – R/GA Brand Development Group, Design
Pete Golibersuch – R/GA Brand Development Group, Brand Standards
Jay Zasa – R/GA Brand Development Group, Copy