Hamnet summer campaign employs 'living billboard'

The marketing and publicity team behind Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet (Tinder Press) have unfurled a living billboard in south London, as part of their summer reading campaign.

Headline's installation features the title spelled out in a medley of white carnations, chrysanthemums, roses and hydrangeas, adorned with foliage that will be watered and tended during its two week stint on Blackfriars Road.

Its unveiling was accompanied by a flower giveaway, where passers-by were given Hamnet-branded bunches of flowers and encouraged to pick up a copy in the local Foyles South Bank shop. The activity, mirrored with a similar floral Hamnet display in The Edinburgh Bookshop, was designed by Sam Habib at Ascetic Studios in collaboration with Jack Arts agency.

The billboard is the latest project in the novel's 18-month long campaign. When lockdown hit, the team focused their content online, cancelling a 37-event tour and securing more print and broadcast media, in addition to a significant word-of-mouth campaign to gain traction.

Speaking to The Bookseller, Headline marketing director Fergus Edmonson said the descriptive quote used for the book, "The story that will live with you forever", was inspired by the public's response to the novel.

"Hamnet is a novel that occupies a special place in the hearts of readers," he said. "As such, we wanted our summer reading campaign, which has been running since June across digital, social media and press advertising, to culminate in something beautiful, eye-catching and original. We’re delighted with the response to our Hamnet ‘living’ billboard, with so many people interacting with it, taking photos and saying it’s next on their reading list. It has been amazing to witness the joy this book continues to bring to readers."

The novel, O'Farrell's eighth, is set in 1596 and tells the story of Shakespeare's wife Agnes Hathaway, of his lost son, of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief, and of the power of creativity. The book, which was optioned for TV and film by Hera Pictures earlier this year, has picked up a host of awards, including the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and topped the Official UK Top 50 chart through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, shifting 22,912 copies in its first week on sale.