Mixed Signals: Where Books and Nooks Unite

Mixed Signals is Erin Straza’s weekly musing about marketing miscellany in advertising, branding, and messaging.

We humans have a knack for stereotyping. We divide by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and beliefs. Defined lines give us a sense of security because we know where everyone fits.

Product and brand preferences offer another mode of defining people. Whether we prefer Coke or Pepsi, PCs or Macs, Target or Wal-Mart—these choices say a little something about who we are . . . or who we want others to think we are.

One area in which I found a defining sense of self was in my preference for printed books over electronic readers. Silly? Perhaps. But reading is a great love of mine—and it’s in our tender places that we feel the need to raise up fences for protection.

When electronic readers were first released a few years ago, I wondered if I were the sort of gal who could switch from paper to metal—and not only could I be that sort of gal, but also do I want to be that sort of gal?

My love for reading is tied to the experience of it—the turn of a page, the slight scent of paper, the bookmark that’s holding my place. I wasn’t so sure I wanted any of that to change. A bit of scorn entered my heart against the e-reader crowd; I decided they weren’t “serious readers.” Whatever that means, it was a distinction I concocted which placed me on the “serious reader” side.

Then I saw the new Barnes & Noble (B&N) campaign for its Nook Color reader just a few weeks ago. The ads brilliantly highlight B&N’s core product offering: reading. The commercials show people of all ages and backgrounds reading by both books and Nooks. I was captivated because people were doing what I love to do. Just seeing them read made me want to go read. Whether metal or paper, the shared loved for a good book connected these very different people who were reading in very different settings.

And conviction fell on my heart. Isn’t it great how God convicted me of my elitist mentality using a TV spot?! B&N’s campaign message tells us that when it comes to reading, there is neither paper nor metal, for readers are readers. And if more people will read more often because of an e-reader, why wouldn’t I champion that?

I’ve decided it wouldn’t be so bad to be known as an e-reader gal, because I just want to be the sort of gal who reads. Period.