Ballroom Icons, the definitive biographical history of ballroom dancing put together with a dedication to excellence by Canadian author, ballroom champion and Adwiz client Brigitt Mayer-Karakis, has won a Gold medal in the prestigious 2011 Independent Publisher Awards. Winning in the “Performing Arts” category, the book was among 4,000 total entries in the competition, judged by a distinguished panel reviewing these works on the basis of content, originality, design, and production quality, with emphasis on innovation and social relevance.

Adwiz has been proud to be involved with Ballroom Icons, having developed the website and marketing materials for the book. Congratulations Brigitt, on a job well done!

• Read more about the award
• View Ballroom Icons site
• Read case study of Ballroom Icons marketing effort

The book was already a powerhouse. When first approached to help promote this amazing book, which I had purchased months earlier and read a couple of times, I was thrilled because I considered it the finest book of its subject and one of the most impressive biographical efforts ever. Ballroom Icons outlines the history of the great figures who built ballroom dancing into the phenomenon it is today. Beautifully designed, printed on heavy archival paper and lovingly bound in a hardshell slipcase, this is one of those products you are thrilled to be part of. Here’s how the effort developed.

Strategy

The previous website

The marketing which had previously been done for this book fell short of its ability to reflect the power of the book to a potential buyer. The book was elegant and beautiful, rich with biographical text, designed to be read and studied. The existing advertising hadn’t done enough to highlight these qualities. The existing website (shown at right) didn’t make it clear that this was a site about a book. In the entire site, only one reference was even made to the book unless you read the blog entries. People coming to it would have little idea what the site was all about. If they wanted to order the book, they would have to figure out how (you had to write an Email to the author). Clearly the sales process had to be made clear and intuitive.

Branding wasn’t much of an issue, because the book was already elegantly designed. We only needed to have the promotional materials reflect what was already apparent in the book itself.

The first step was to find a marketing and promotional position that the book would take. An analysis of the market suggested that the marketing should be oriented towards dance studios and top professionals, primarily because of the high cost of this initial limited-edition volume. Teachers, studios and coaches are especially interested in the stories that demonstrate the history of ballroom dancing. Knowing this information makes them more informed and more valuable to their students. This was a suitable place to start.

Scattered throughout the text are remarkable stories about ballroom dancing that dancers and teachers would find intriguing. Dance coaches are always telling stories about the legends, and having this book in their library would provide plenty of new information. So the strategy hinged on highlighting those unique stories as a series of questions.

Postcards

Six of the most dramatic statements were pulled out for a series of postcards. These consist of a different question on the front of each card, with identical sales information about the book on the reverse side. Questions included the following:

• Which former world champion was once told a horse could dance better than he could?
• What simple technique did a legendary dance coach use to set nervous students at ease in a lesson?
• Who brought the Blackpool morning practice to a complete standstill?
• What was the joke that inspired Arthur Murray to start his dance school?
• Who saved the Viennese Waltz from elimination as a competitive dance?

The postcard campaign allows vendors at major dance community events (Blackpool, for example) to create contests and other marketing efforts based on customers answering the questions or collecting all the postcards to win a free book or get their book signed or approaches of that nature.

Advertising

A series of advertisements were designed to appeal to people who like to read. After all, the product is a book, so simply showing pictures of the book would not be enough to inspire someone to place an order. Words were important in this campaign. The ads also needed to appeal to coaches, dance teachers and serious competitors who have an interest in knowing more about the great figures who created the traditions of ballroom dancing.

The ads were designed to work as either a two-page spread or a single page, depending on the media. They run in event programs for major competitions, and in some of the more prestigious dance publications.

The ads use the same question approach to create interest, and are designed with a visual styling that matches the treatment of the book itself, creating a strong relationship to widen the brand. Ads could run as a single page, or a two-page spread. Shown here is one of the ads, designed to run in the Blackpool event program. Click on the image to view a larger version.

Website design

A new website also reflected a professional image, designed to match the visual styling of the book. The site makes it clear that this is about a book, with information such as the complete table of contents, a “Look Inside!” section with actual excerpts from the book, testimonials, the ability to order online from anywhere in the world, and a blog that the author can update herself with the latest news.

Social media also plays a key role. The website includes “Facebook Like” links throughout, and has icons for bookmarking or posting key pages to social media environments like Twitter, Facebook, or Delicious. A Facebook fan page was created and is updated regularly with information about the history of ballroom dancing to keep fans motivated to think about the book and its impact.

View the website

The new website for Ballroom Icons matches the elegant visual styling of the book. This creates an expectation of excellence and value, which is further enhanced when the book arrives looking just as people expected.

Some people might think of it as a book for advertising professionals, because John comes from an agency background. But it’s really just a book for anyone who ever makes any kind of presentation — business or otherwise. This common-sense view of the art of presentations focuses on how every presentation is essentially a conversation. It doesn’t matter whether your audience consists of one person or a thousand. Whether you’re presenting an idea, proposal, or your potential as a great employee, you’ll benefit from this viewpoint.

John gives the example of a meeting with Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, contrasting a briefing by Steve with an earlier one by two senior Apple marketing executives. The account is humorous and insightful. After the two executives attempted to bore the agency team to death with a bad, rambling Powerpoint presentation, Steve used a marker pen on a whiteboard to give an unforgettable, highly focused presentation that cut to the heart of the problem. He was transparent, clear and passionate. This is the essence of a great presentation!

Think of every ad, every brochure, and every website you create as a presentation. Then take it further and think of them as part of a conversation you’re creating with potential customers. What are the questions they’re asking when they begin to engage with the content? What do they need to know? What are their dreams? What’s their vision? What does a successful outcome look like?

Imagine yourself face to face with each one of them. How would the conversation flow? How would you make the same pitch if sitting across from them in your local coffee shop?

I’ve enjoyed a pretty good track record in new business presentations, with more than 80% of all my presentations leading to a business relationship. This success rate has been the result of having great mentors when I was first getting started, people who were honest and firm in forcing me to evaluate what I was doing from the customer’s perspective. It has also been the result, in many cases, of having a great team around me who did the rest of the work, from researching information I needed to building relationships with the prospective client. But I’ve noticed that one element has been consistently important: caring about the other party. You have to listen, really listen, to what the other person is saying. If you don’t, then nothing you say will be relevant.

I recall one presentation made after I started my young ad agency when I was just 24 years of age. The prospective client had already been pitched by four large agencies who wanted the account. Here I was, young and inexperienced, though passionate about what I could do with my small but talented team. I asked the company’s marketing team what they wanted to achieve, what their goals were and how they saw their business five years down the road. I mostly just listened, yet it was a conversation. A few minutes into the pitch, the company president stopped me and said something I’ll never forget. He explained that every other agency had come in and shown a bunch of work and talked and talked endlessly about what they could do. They were pitching without understanding. I was the first person who had even asked any of these questions. He awarded me the account on the spot.

Perfect Pitch is an excellent book and a worthwhile read for anyone, especially people who have to pitch new business. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. The heart of the message is to think of your presentation as a conversation.