Penguin India leaps into digital future - with 3D promos

Or there could be Hanuman and the monkey army trawling through Kishkindhya and Lanka in search of Sita in brilliant technicolour - again images taken from a children's activity book.
For, Penguin-Books India Friday officially became the first publisher in the country to launch 3D advertisements of its latest releases and bestsellers in digital formats as part of a new marketing initiative.
"Penguin's latest advertising initiative takes prospective customers straight into the digital future - where no publisher has gone before. The new technology has done away with the obsolete plastic spectacles and dark theatres that one associates with 3D movies," Hemali Sodhi, general manager, marketing, said.
Penguin India has begun advertising its books on 3D high-definition plasma screens at select locations in major metropolitan cities.
The advertisements are located in four major metros - IGI Airport, New Delhi; Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad; Select City Walk Mall, Saket, New Delhi; and Forum Mall, Bangalore.
The publishers have started to telecast advertisements for some of the biggest Penguin and Puffin books of the season, along with a Penguin brand footage. Each advertisement is 15 seconds long and repeats at regular intervals.
There are four plasma screens showing the advertisements at each location, and the promos will run initially for a period of two months at the airports and for a month at the malls.
"The brand new technology of lenticular screens converts two-dimensional images and graphics into 3D to give the viewer a real-life experience of images floating in front of, rather than in, the screen. The 3D images appear on 42" high definition plasma screens at strategic public places frequented by the maximum number of Penguin readers," said Sodhi.
Explaining the objective of the 3D campaign, Sodhi said: "We are constantly looking for new ways to reach out to customers. The digital format is interesting and new and innovation is the cornerstone of our marketing campaigns.
"We don't know how it will work at the malls, but it will be a hit at IGI and Bangalore airports since it is high traffic season.
"Some of the key titles that we are displaying on 3D are Gurcharan Das's 'The Difficulty of Being Good',  William Dalrymple's 'Nine Lives', 'Rediscovery of India' by Lord Meghnad Desai, 'Diary of an Unreasonable Man" by  Madav Mathur and 'Confessions of Sultana Daku by Sujit Saraf, the new Hamish Hamilton title."