Audible targets ‘real-life’ consumers who are too busy to read with campaign featuring Celeste Barber
Celeste Barber is the new face of Amazon’s audiobook service, Audible.
In the campaign, Barber shows how real-life, such as going to the gym, trying to unwind, and dealing with bickering children, doesn’t have to mean books completely disappear from consumers’ lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDl1Fg2n5ro
Leanne Cartwright-Bradford, managing director at Audible Australia, told Mumbrella people are often too busy to keep books in their lives, but need help joining the dots that there are actually alternatives available.
“Most people can relate to that [being too busy to read]. I remember the books I used to read before I had kids, I used to read a lot, and then I had my two boys, and now books just aren’t a thing unless they have a kid in them.So to be able to actually listen to a book while you’re doing something else is what can really bring that love of books back for people,” she said.
“So that’s what we’re really trying to bring out in our campaign, and really highlight the ways that Audible can fit into people’s live and bring books back into their lives. So I’m excited about it because I think it really talks to a real need and the real kind of value that customers see in our service. But I’m excited because we’ve got some amazing talent who really embody busy people and embody the [situations our customers find themselves in] – in the car with kids, cooking, at home doing chores, being out and about.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnqtdcjxfNI&feature=emb_title
The campaign also features chef Poh Ling Yeow and “busy stay at home dad” Clarke Gayford.
Cartwright-Bradford hopes having Barber and the other stars reflect the realities of everyday life in the campaign will capture people’s attention, and prompt them to go and see what Audible is all about.
“I want them to be entertained, and I want them to be inspired to get it into their real life, and I want them to learn about Audible a little bit more about how it can fit in. I think it’s a really good truth for us, because when you’re listening to Audible content, you’re doing one or two things usually – being entertained, you’re being inspired or you’re being educated. I think that’s what we want our creative to do. We really want it to show the shareable content, and show how we use it, but also leave people feeling more empowered to go out and get books back into their lives,” she said.
Success, she said, will be seeing more awareness of Audible in the market, with consumers being feeling sufficiently informed and inspired about the idea to go and give the 30-day trial a go.
Audible research shows 66% of Australians have one book on their ‘to read’ wishlist, but 62% don’t read at all because they feel they don’t have the time.
On her involvement with the campaign, Barber said: “I love a good book as much as the next person, but when you’re busy screaming at your children, staring at your shirtless hot husband and becoming an internationally renowned author, it can be hard to find the time. Rather than risk being crushed under the 200 unread books piled on my nightstand, I can take matters into my own hands with Audible and I’m almost half as well read as I pretend to be.”
The full Q&A with Leanne Cartwright-Bradford can be read below the campaign credits.
CAMPAIGN CREDITS
Audible
Brand & Content Communications Director – Holly Dowie-Ballard
Senior Brand Manager – Melissa O’Leary
Brand & Communications Specialist – Nikki Harris
Emotive
CEO – Simon Joyce
Senior Strategist – Anthony Lockhart
Business Director – Marshall Campbell
Director / Group Creative Director – Zane Pearson
Second Unit Director – Rory Pearson
Copywriter – Michael Dawson
Group Creative Director – Ben Clare
Executive Producer – Hayley-Ritz Pelling
Senior Producer – Petra Valent
Production Manager – Cate Hartmann
DOP – James Brown
Editor – Sam Gadsden
Colorist – Scott Maclean
VFX – Blockhead
Hearts & Science: Media
Business Director – Stephen Fuller
Digital Director – Aurelien Simon
Account Manager – Heath Le Fevre
Account Manager – Caroline Collins
INTERVIEW:
Leanne Cartwright-Bradford, managing director, Audible Australia (LCB)
Vivienne Kelly, editor, Mumbrella (VK)
Cartwright-Bradford thinks the campaign will resonate with busy consumers
VK: Tell me about this campaign and why you’re excited by it?
LCB: This campaign really talks to our Australian audience and how Audible can help them get books back into their lives, how we can help with reading more books [as they deal with real life]. And it kind of talks to the fact that everyone wants to read lots of books, we all have a stack of books by our bed that we wish we had time to read, but we just don’t get a chance to.
And so, most people can relate to that. I remember the books I used to read before I had kids, I used to read a lot, and then I had my two boys, and books just aren’t a thing unless they have a kid in them. So to be able to actually listen to a book while you’re doing something else is what can really bring that love of books back for people.
So that’s what we’re really trying to bring out in our campaign, and really highlight the ways that Audible can fit into people’s live and bring books back into their lives. So I’m excited about it because I think it really talks to a real need and the real kind of value that customers see in our service. But I’m excited because we’ve got some amazing talent who really embody busy people and embody the [situations our customers find themselves in] – in the car with kids, cooking, at home doing chores, being out and about…
So that’s why I’m excited about it.
VK: We often hear it’s difficult to cut through and capture consumers’ attention. Is it the talent that you have in the ad which you think will help you capture and hold their eye?
LCB: Yea, look, I think thats definitely part of it – choosing really strong, relatable talent that really works, talk about bringing books back into your life. But I think its also that consumer truth, that real honest truth, about the fact that we’re all busier than ever. Australians are busier than ever. We see it time and time again, and that real truth is what people will connect with. And the humour and the fantastic talent and the little video clips that we feature in there are amazing and are going to grab people’s attention.
It’s the truth that I think will connect here, that they don’t have time to read, and Audible can bring books back into their lives.
VK: How do you want people to feel after they see this campaign? What do you want the takeaway message for consumers to be?
LCB: I want them to be entertained, and I want them to be inspired to get it into their real life, and I want them to learn about Audible a little bit more about how it can fit in. I think it’s a really good truth for us, because when you’re listening to Audible content, you’re doing one or two things usually, being entertained, you’re being inspired or you’re being educated. I think that’s what we want our creative to do. We really want it to show the shareable content, and show how we use it, but also leave people feeling more empowered to go out and get books back into their lives.
It’s a campaign thats really trying to push awareness, and there’s a lot of customers out there, or prospective customers out there who have heard of Audible and they might listen to podcasts or listen to other things, and they want to read books, but they haven’t connected the two , they haven’t gone ‘Oh, actually I could listen to it’. And that’s what we’re really trying to let them know. All those books that you want to read, you can actually do that….
Our campaign really allows us to show that, and show that experience. The longer-form video, there’s a scene of Celeste sitting in the car with kids that are being a bit chaotic, as it always is in the car with kids, and then she puts an audiobook on and it creates a moment where they’re all listening together, rather than two or three separate screens in the back and arguments and stuff like that.
It creates a moment for people to be together. And that’s what we’re seeing in terms of listening behaviour. We’re seeing audio is for families and kids, but also audio is being used at times when people couldn’t have read before.
VK: You alluded to it before with awareness and helping consumers join the dots, but what will success look like for you with this campaign?
LCB: I think it’s first and foremost driving that awareness, but also driving people to go and take that next step and explore bit more about Audible, take the trial – we offer a free 30-day trial so people can get audiobooks for free in that time, so they can listen to our audiobooks and really understand the experience before moving into a paid membership.
There’s a lot of other things we offer at Audible too. We have a bit more of a built-out program. Each month we choose one title that we know is a great listen and that’s a got great story, it’s got a great case, it’s got great production values, a great narrator, and these are all things that we know will make a great experience. So we highlight one title a month and we give it away it all our customers for free. So if they do take the trial, they’ll get that as well. They’ll also get access to all our original podcasts that we create.
So what we want is for people to see this, to understand how they can actually join the dots as you say, and then go and take the trial and go and try Audible in the trial and really try Audible for themselves and use some of those different [features] and really experience it. Because that’s when you have that ‘ah-ha’ moment . You get it. You’re like ‘Oh that’s the experience of listening to a boo’k, versus someone just telling you about it.
For us, we’re really focused, I think the key part of it for us is the piece about real life, and trying to show people that this is something they can easily use.
topics
Amazon Australia
Audible Australia
Celeste Barber
Clarke Gayford
Leanne Cartwright-Bradford
Poh Ling Yeow
Showing lots of ways you can double task and listen to books is a very rational approach to 2 mins 10” of content. Surely, this could have been an opportunity to show me (not tell me) the power of the audible book. There is a lot of telling me not showing me in this overly long “stratecution”. But more fundamentally, the focus on multi tasking is so rational you lose out on the exciting transformational thing an amazing audible book can be. Decent comms planning could have done the heavy lifting with the rational reasons to choose – freeing up the creative to do some emotional storytelling. It’s good casting though.
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Hello, thanks for this interesting interview!
When was the launch date of the campaign?
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Hi Andi,
The campaign launched on 6 March this year.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella