Rebranding A Publishing House, With Questions

March 26th, 2007 · 4 Comments
by Kassia Krozser

As part of our regular contemplation of the bookselling process, we recently turned our attention to branding. Branding, we believe, is a big problem for publishers. It is also, not surprisingly, a big problem for other major media, but we think it’s a problem for publishers especially. As all the beauty that is Web 2.0* is being embraced by publishers, they still haven’t quite figured out a sad truth about consumers: the publisher is the least important part of the name recognition mix.

We especially like that the new publishing venture is focused beyond the traditional paper-and-cardboard book model.

We are reminded of this as Warner Books embarks on a rebranding exercise. They’re dumping the iconic “W” in favor of the more coffee chain-sounding “Grand Central Publishing”. We have to agree that the final name is much better than the proposed “Blue Heron”; maybe it’s our innate crankiness, but who in the world even thought that was a good idea?

Warners is embarking upon their renaming project with zeal and gusto — the two initial steps in any major project (for those who wonder, these phases are generally followed by frustration, lethargy, “who cares?”, and light at the end of the tunnel enthusiasm). In addition to the normal activities — new business cards for everyone! — the new brand will be feted at this year’s BookExpo America. We almost regret our decision to sit the conference out this time around.

Almost.

You’ll notice that the introduction of the brand is targeted toward an insider baseball event. No sane civilian would attend BEA, despite all the free books that can fit in a suitcase. Booksellers and other publishers and even the press who cover publishing will be given the Full Monty, as it were, but those poor souls who shop in the stores will remain as clueless as ever. We have a hard time imagining all the booksellers in the world going back to their customers with the exciting news that Warner Books is now Grand Central Publishing.

“You know,” the eager young shop assistant confides in the lady who browses the “N – No” shelf every Thursday, “in the future, that book will be released under the Grand Central Publishing name.”

“Oh really?” the browser (really an author checking the number of copies of her title that remain on the shelf) murmurs, “how interesting.”

“The book will look different,” our shop assistant notes, lowering his voice in case the customer in “J” is eavesdropping. “New logo, you know. Whole new marketing campaign. It’s gonna be great! We got free t-shirts and everything.”

Ah, the shopper/author thinks, that’s why my advance is always so low.

Somehow, we don’t see that scenario playing out. Which means, yes, that somehow we don’t expect the general public to have much in the way of awareness of this earth-shattering change. Which means, yes, that the consumer will continue to shop for books by title and author and color of the cover. Which means, yes, that the Warner/Grand Central will still face the challenge of figuring out how to build an online brand in a world where nobody knows their name.

We like the idea of a fresh name and fresh outlook. We especially like that the new publishing venture is focused beyond the traditional paper-and-cardboard book model. Smart thinking. We still wonder, however, how this whole thing translates to increased consumer awareness of the brand rather than the individual pieces.

* – That’s a joke. Sometimes with great innovation comes bad ideas.

File Under: The Future of Publishing

4 responses so far ↓

  • Laura Vivanco // Mar 26, 2007 at 11:25 am

    ““Blue Heron”; maybe it’s our innate crankiness, but who in the world even thought that was a good idea”

    Maybe they wanted to compete with birds that have already done well in publishing: Penguin, Puffin and Pelican?

    ‘Grand Central Publishing’ makes me think of railway stations.

  • Alison Kent // Mar 27, 2007 at 3:59 am

    ‘Grand Central Publishing’ makes me think of railway stations.

    According to the NYT article, that’s not suprising:

    “Grand Central Publishing, she said, conveyed the company’s wide range of readers and the many genres it publishes. (…) Perhaps most significant is the company’s plan to move its offices late in April from the Time & Life Building on Sixth Avenue to 237 Park Avenue, up the block from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.”

  • Times emit » Blog Archive » Links, March 2006 // Mar 29, 2007 at 2:17 am

    […] BookSquare continues to talk to publishers about building brands, this time in reference to Warner Books’ move to being called Grand Central. No great […]

  • Big Bad Book Blog » Blog Archive » Big Bad Book Blog Links 3-29-07 // Mar 29, 2007 at 8:31 am

    […] Booksquare: Rebranding A Publishing House, With Questions “As part of our regular contemplation of the bookselling process, we recently turned our attention to branding. Branding, we believe, is a big problem for publishers. It is also, not surprisingly, a big problem for other major media, but we think it’s a problem for publishers especially.” […]