The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
Kinokuniya turned scroll time into books read and lifted sales 28%
84% of UAE customers said no time to read yet scroll eight hours a week — Kinokuniya computed the books that equals and ran the math as platform-specific ads.
Kinokuniya (UAE)
The solution
Kinokuniya, the UAE's largest book retailer, was suffering declining sales year after year. Only 22% of UAE residents consider themselves regular readers, and 84% of surveyed customers named 'lack of time' as the top barrier — yet the same people average eight hours a week on social media.
Saatchi & Saatchi took the objection literally and turned it into the media buy. Survey data was converted into books-per-year per platform: 35 on Facebook, 43 on Instagram, 22 on Twitter, 42 on TikTok, 42 on YouTube. Ads on each platform told users exactly how many books they could read in the time they spend on that very platform; stores and Dubai got installations built from real books, and customers visiting during peak social hours (6–10pm) got in-store discounts.
The results: a 16% increase in footfall against a 4% target, a 28% increase in sales volume versus the previous year against a 12% target, a 50% increase in reach and engagement, and a rise in search volume and awareness for 'Kinokuniya' and 'Arabic books'. The campaign won Grands Prix in Creative Strategy and Media at Dubai Lynx 2023.
Why it worked
- The message is computed from the viewer's own behavior, so the 'no time' rationalization is refuted by the very channel the reader is using.
- Buying media on the competitor — social platforms — makes the competitor's product the proof, not just the venue.
- The time-based in-store discount mechanically shifts footfall into the store's dead hours (6–10pm), aligning traffic with idle capacity.
- Positive guilt converts without shaming: the audience concludes the argument itself rather than being lectured.
What can be applied
When the objection is universal, compute the proof from each person's own behavior: the channel they are reading the message on becomes the evidence that defeats the excuse.
Aftermath
The campaign ran from May 2022 in the UAE and collected Grands Prix in Creative Strategy and Media at the 2023 Dubai Lynx Awards. Kinokuniya continued the reader-building push as the region's largest book retailer.
Sources
- Campaign of the Week: Bookshop boosts sales by visualising time wasted on social media
- 2023 Dubai Lynx Winners Announced
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.