Let’s Talk About The Marketing Behind Philip Pullman’s Latest Book Release…

I'm just a girl who works in marketing, who loves to read...

So when there's a book release announced in a particularly creative way, you know I'm going to talk about it!

And I’ve got particularly excited about this bookish PR stunt from the team behind Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust series.

I’ve seen all of two posts on this within the last 12 hours, but the one that particularly caught my attention wasn't the TikTok with the suspenseful music, writing across the screen with an animated image of a compass in the middle.

No, it was the projection of the alethiometer (Golden Compass) onto the perimeter wall of an Oxford College.

A simple trick that worked so well...

But why did this marketing campaign work so well?

• The Alethiometer is such an iconic symbol of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust, that those who have read the books knew exactly what this was referring to. They then knew that a release date was imminent, or it had been released already. Queue an instant Google search for answers.

• Oxford is the home town of Lyra, the main protagonist, and the setting for a large part of the books. So the setting for this marketing activation was perfectly aligned.

• Whilst simple, it grabs attention and is something that isn't often seen, resulting in people snapping a photo and sharing with friends (or in this case posting on TikTok).

• It'll grab enough attention that those who haven't read the books/aren't in the know are likely to research what it means. Suddenly you have a bunch of new eyes on the series, and people intrigued enough to read His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust prior to book 3 being released in October 2025.

And the result was this:

They got both the fans attention, and potentially creates the opportunity to bring new readers in, driving excitement and people talking about the books pre the October release date.

Not only that, sales of his previous books are likely to increase, as new people buy them as they’re wanting to be “in the know”. It creates a huge sense of FOMO. Which we know works wonders within any marketing campaign.

The takeaways?

• A marketing campaign doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.

• Creating a campaign that will excite current fans, and intrigue new viewers, is the key to creating sharable content. The more shares = the more eyes on your product.

• Symbolism is key.

Did you like this marketing campaign? Let me know in the comments!