Kobo unveils colour e-readers through animation

Kobo is bringing its first colour e-readers to life through animated hues and references to renowned works.

The 30-second hero spot depicts colour iconography from famous books like “The Colour Purple,” and “The Great Gatsby” in a swirling, animated landscape, with a voiceover intoning that “books bring colour into our lives.”

“Colour for us, as we were thinking about it, was one of the biggest changes in digital reading,” says Tracy Nesdoly, vice president, communications at Rakuten Kobo. Nesdoly tells strategy moving from grayscale to colour was tough to convey, and that the brand needed to anchor the technology change “in the world of reading,” to emphasize how this will benefit the digital reading experience.

Developed by The Garden, the global campaign highlights the first colour eReaders in the new Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour, turning the page on the exclusively black-and-white digital reading experience.

Nesdoly says digital readers have been waiting for this for a long time, adding that colour has put digital reading even closer to the paper reading experience. She says already paying dividends in terms of response.

Digital reading still faces some challenges in the market, such as the nostalgia that Nesdoly says a lot of people have for the printed page. Broader competition also exists with entertainment that e-readers can otherwise spend their time with, such as streaming platforms and gaming.

The campaign video, which features animation and music by the Portuguese studio AIM Creative Studios, is being featured in Canadian, American, Australian and UK markets.

The campaign is largely digital first, with OLV and CTV, supported by a robust social campaign. It showcases a breadth of genres, authors and titles, both old, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and new, like David Yoon’s 2022 apocalyptic novel, City of Orange. There is some creative with retail partners, but there is no traditional OOH, and Rakuten Kobo is “anchoring the campaign in the medium we sell.”

Additional online ads will appear in Canada, the United States, Australia, the UK, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland and Portugal. Media for the campaign was handled by Cairns Oneil.

The target is fans of reading, book clubbers, journalers and those who discuss books on social media. Nesdoly says the campaign is Kobo’s widest yet