DK
DK US
DK Titles Recognized by 2009 Parent's Choice Awards
The Parents Choice Award has been called the oldest non-profit consumer guide to quality children's media. Fewer than 20% of the products submitted for the 2009 awards received any commendation. It's an honour for DK to have three titles recognized:
Evolution Revolution — Silver Medal
Take Me Back — Recommended
The Most Explosive Science Book in the World... by the Brainwaves — Recommended
X-Men and Wolverine Authors Draw SRO Crowd
DK held a standing room only event at Museum of Comic and Cartoon with X-Men author Chris Claremont and Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon author Matthew K. Manning. The book was heralded by numerous reviews appearing in Washington Times, Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat, Marvel.com, and Maxium.com.
The Vatican Draws High Profile Media Coverage
The Vatican continues to receive great press with author Father Michael Collins contributing to Entertainment Weekly in a "Fact vs. Fiction" breakdown of the Angels & Demons film, a Sirius XM Radio's "The Catholic Channel" (nationally broadcast) and the Houston Chronicle.
Annabel Karmel's US Book Tour is Great Success
DK author Annabel Karmel was in the US this summer for a publicity extravaganza, including a 15-city radio tour and a 20-city TV tour to promote her latest children's books, I Can Eat a Rainbow, First Meals and More: Your Questions Answered, and Cook It Together. Karmel has had great success contributing to Gather.com forums, and received national press coverage in Working Mothe r, NPR and Martha Stewart Radio. Martha Stewart Living Radio's "Morning Living" has featured a number of DK titles including Birds of North America, Where to Go When, and Book of Weeds.
DK's Year of Star Wars Continues
2009 is proving to be DK's "Year of Star Wars." In May, DK sent members of the Empire City Garrison, 501st Legion to the Children's Book Council's opening of "Children's Book Week". Stormtroopers delighted Star Wars fans old and new by securing the perimeter around Bryant Park, and reading from The Story of Darth Vader. For the first time ever, DK participated in Disney World's Star Wars Weekends. Four DK authors/illustrators — Matt Busch, Chris Reiff, Chris Trevas and Ryder Wyndham — attended this event. Read more about the Star Wars Weekends here. Pictures from the event are available here.
Stormtroopers were also present in DK's booth for Book Expo America in New York in anticipation of DK's mega publicity campaign-which features more than 60 concurrent events all being held on October 10th across the US-for the launch of The LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary.
On Saturday, October 10th, DK Publishing will launch the publication of LEGO® STAR WARS: The Visual Dictionary with 70 in-store events scheduled across the US. Fans will enjoy meeting and taking pictures with the StormTroopers of the 501st Legion and other STAR WARS characters and each event will include giveaways and in-store activities. The LEGO brand and STAR WARS are two of the world's most well-recognized and successful franchises, and have been collaborating since the 1999 release of the first LEGO STAR WARS minifigures. LEGO® STAR WARS: The Visual Dictionary features an exclusive minifigure that is only available in DK's book. For more information about the book and events, visit http://us.dk.com/101009.
DK UK
The RHS Encyclopaedia of Garden Design Sparks Events, Media and Public Attention
DK's integrated Marketing, Publicity & Online campaign for the RHS Encyclopaedia of Garden Design made a big impact on the gardening market in the Spring. The first phase of the campaign featured publicity generated by press competitions to win amazing garden make-overs in the Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph; the second phase was The Great London Garden Trail in May where the winning gardens were open to the public, alongside many never-seen-before Society of Garden Designers gardens across London. Pre-trail publicity included a major feature in the Evening Standard, Gardener's World (BBC2), GMTV, Sunday Times and Critics Choice in Time Out, and ITV London News covered the trail on the day itself. 4,000 visitors travelled around London, visiting the 10 gardens on show. It was so popular that DK plans to run the same trail and brand campaign in 2010.
Pregnancy Book Campaign Reaches Thousands of Expectant Mothers
In July, DK UK launched The Day-by-Day Pregnancy Book, a ground-breaking title devoting a whole page to each of the 280 days of pregnancy. A direct email campaign reached 24,000 expectant mothers, with a full page advertorial in Bumps n' Babies (the official magazine of the National Childbirth Trust). The press campaign included extracts, competitions and reviews in The Sun, The Independent, Practical Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth, Prima Baby and on all major pregnancy and parenting websites. Due to the success of the campaign Editor-in-Chief Dr Maggie Blott is now set to be the new resident pregnancy expert on Breakfast (BBC1).
DK Partners with UK Retailers for Autumn LEGO Promos and Events
Looking forward to the Autumn, DK UK will be mirroring the LEGO activity in the US with LEGO events nationwide during October. DK is partnering with retailers including Waterstones, Borders and WHS on a programme of in-store promotions and events to feature a LEGO 'Builder', a LEGO expert who will create amazing 4ft LEGO structures in-store with goody bags and certificates given away at each event. LEGO models will be displayed, and the in-store campaign will be supported by extensive publicity and Facebook advertising.
ROUGH GUIDES
Two Rough Guides titles are finalists for the ForeWord Book of the Year Awards: Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide to Adventure Travel in the Adventure/Recreation Category and The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget in the Travel Guide Category.
TRAVEL
An Associated Press article reported how the DK Eyewitness Moscow guidebook bested smart phones in a Conde Nast Traveler comparison. Three journalists were sent to Moscow and given different tasks to accomplish. The guidebook user performed better overall than both the iPhone and Blackberry users. Total circulation of the article was over 5 million readers.
Twenty DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide Apps are now available on iTunes for the iPhone, with a further thirty to launch in coming months. Watch a video showcasing the apps at www.traveldk.com/iphone.