For Immediate Release
Contact: Jana Muntsinger, MMPR
804-754-2118
WestBow Creates Monster Marketing Plan
Healthy Six-Figure Budget Tagged For First Year Alone
Nashville, TN – WestBow Press, the fiction imprint of Thomas Nelson, Inc., announces a multi-phase, unprecedented marketing plan for Frank Peretti’s latest book, Monster (Hardcover, April 12, 2005). WestBow has taken a page from Hollywood in creating its marketing plan for Monster – using movie trailers and exclusive online games—to herald Peretti’s first novel this decade.
“The cornerstone of our marketing plan for Monster is a pre-sell campaign to Frank’s loyal fans,” says Allen Arnold, Senior Vice President and Publisher of WestBow Press. “Pent up demand for a new Peretti novel is real, so we will appeal to his fans first, with early incentives such as contests, advance ordering, and freebies.” Pre-sell campaigns have been tailored for some Christian retailers, and a general pre-sell merchandising kit is available for all retailers.
Monster will be featured on the cover of Family Christian Stores’ consumer catalog in January, reaching more than 2.5 million households. Family, representing 320 stores in 39 states, will use the catalog to announce its unique pre-sell campaign for Monster. For only $17.97, Family customers can pre-order:
· Exclusive signature edition of Monster
· The Monster DVD (featuring a new Peretti interview and live reading from Monster)
· Video trailer for Monster (which will be shown in select theaters in April)
· Introduction to www.TheMonsterHunt.com online game
· Audio CD of Peretti classic, The Visitation
Berean Christian Stores also boasts a custom pre-sell promotion for Monster. All who pre-order the book will be entered in a contest to win a dinner with Frank Peretti at the CBA International Convention (Denver, July 2005). All 19 Berean stores in 8 states will participate.
Other retailers will participate in the Monster pre-sell campaign via WestBow’s merchandising kit. The kit includes signage for a Monster end-cap and tear-off pads for advance orders. End-cap shelves will be stocked with earlier Peretti bestsellers such as The Oath and The Visitation. The pre-sell campaign serves as the anchor for Monster’s marketing campaign, but other unique elements are in full swing as well. Advertising on big screen and in print is being planned, as is a massive publicity campaign with appearances by Frank at both Book Expo America and Christian Booksellers Association trade shows. Online elements include a custom website and pre-release internet game. Together, these elements constitute a marketing strategy of unprecedented breadth.
“We already have a first print run of 400,000 copies,” says Arnold. “And we know that our marketing efforts will catapult this book onto the major national bestseller lists. Are we confident? Yes. But does Frank deliver with Monster? Absolutely.”
Beginning the second week of April 2005, Monster will be advertised on-screen in top-selling Regal Cinemas markets. In eight major markets (Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Oakland, Denver, and Seattle), Regal Cinemas will show the dramatic trailer on all screens for four weeks. WestBow will also have Monster promotional items on display in the lobbies of these theaters. According to WestBow, no other publisher in the industry has used movie tie-ins to promote novels.
Another unique element to the Monster marketing campaign is an interactive online game. Www.TheMonsterHunt.com will launch March 1, 2005 and will foreshadow much of the story line of Monster, without giving away any of the plot’s many turns and twists. The game website is being marketing to the millions of Peretti fans.
Print and radio advertising will also be heavy for Monster. Ads will appear prior to release in Publishers Weekly, Christian Retailing, CBA Marketplace and Relevant magazine. In April and May, ads will run in Relevant magazine, BookPage and Pages. A Monster prize pack (consisting of a copy of Monster and the advance promo DVD) will be offered for on air giveaway via the Salem Radio Network from April 24 to May 13, 2005. And more than 70 Christian music stations will reach over two million listeners with the Monster radio advertising.
A major publicity campaign, including television and print interviews and a radio interview tour, has been outlined to support Monster. Additionally, the reclusive Peretti will make special appearances at key bookselling conventions such as BookExpo America (June 2005) and CBA International (July 2005). Although the manuscript has been embargoed (except for small excerpts) until release date, media interest in Peretti and the novel is expected to be strong.
Often called the Master of Suspense, Frank Peretti is the first sales superstar in spiritually-themed thrillers. Combined sales of his books total more than 12 million copies. He burst onto the fiction scene in 1988 with the release of This Present Darkness. Almost overnight, Frank Peretti went from working in a ski factory to appearing in the pages of People, TIME and Newsweek. Despite his sales success and notoriety, Peretti and his high school sweetheart Barb still live simply in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
From one of the world’s largest publishers comes WestBow Press, the fresh new voice of fiction. Focusing on the Power of Story, WestBow produces engaging fiction told from a Christian worldview for the culture at large. WestBow Press - Enjoy the story. For more information, visit www.WestBowPress.com.
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February 15, 2005
Monster
By Frank Peretti
Available April 12, 2005, from WestBow Press Websites: www.TheMonsterHunt.com
Hardcover: ISBN: 0-8499-1180-X, $24.99, 464 pages www.Perettionline.com
Audio: CD, 270 minutes, $26.00, ISBN: 1-5955-4020-2 For interviews, review copies, contact Jana @ MMPR,
jana@mmpublicrelations.com or 804.754.2118