Harlequin celebrates 75 years of romance novels

Harlequin is honouring the many stories it’s told in its history, as it celebrates 75 years of beach reading this summer.

Cossette, which won the Harlequin account last year, oversaw a brand overhaul as its first order of business in the partnership, giving the publisher a new colour scheme, fonts, platform and architecture. Now, the newest Harlequin marketing campaign, “The People’s Romance,” pays tribute to fans of the romance genre and the HarperCollins-owned brand.

Sarah Rutherford, Cossette’s group creative director,  says that Harlequin is looking to boost its fandom after having previously been more of a “shy” retiring brand. The effort has come as Gen Z audiences are coming into the fold, reading Harlequin-published books.

As Rutherford tells strategy, new readers are really proud and want to “own” their enthusiasm for its books.

“People love romance and are proud of what they read,” Rutherford says, this as younger readers increasingly turn to the world’s most popular fiction genre, according to 2023 data from BookNetCanada.

Dani Gaede, group creative director at Cossette, says the campaign is about “taking the brand out of the shadows” and celebrating it, as previous generations were more discreet about enjoying romance fiction.

 

As Gaede explains, with so many books, so many stories and so many tropes, Cossette really wanted to lean into those numbers and position Harlequin as “the romance experts.” Through using data science, Harlequin analyzed the plots across thousands of titles, as referenced in the hero spot, finding numbers including that approximately 6,500 plot points involved a couple on a mountain, or the thousands of plots focused on a desert oasis.

“It actually came from that insight, what if we could tabulate how many times these things have happened in novels over the years?” Gaede notes.

“The People’s Romance” officially kicks off in summer 2024 with content being rolled out on Harlequin’s TikTok and YouTube platforms. For those seeking an immersive experience, the campaign also includes coffee shop takeovers in Phoenix, Arizona, which has non-traditional ad placements and an influencer component.

Gaede explains that the digital-first approach stems from the popularity of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube hashtags like “#booktok,” “#booktube” and “#bookstagram,” and talking to a book-loving audience in those spaces. And again according to BookNetCanada, #RomanceRecs has over 390 million views on TikTok, as the platform becomes increasingly influential.

If someone watches a recipe video, Gaede says, there will be Harlequin bumpers and titles that are contextual, like the paperback or eBook, “A Chef’s Kiss,” and being cognizant about where different moments can happen.

Cossette Media is behind the buy for the campaign.

As Harlequin applies more effort to building its TikTok audience, Gaede says it will seek out more opportunities to come to life in other seasons beyond beach reading and summer entertainment.