We've all seen news in recent weeks of some of our favorite businesses closing for good amid the crushing financial burdens of extended lockdowns. So fans of beloved Dallas bookstore The Wild Detectives were understandably heartbroken to see it would be shifting to a new business model.
But after reading the shop's Facebook announcement, they quickly found themselves asking the same question: Wait, why are you pivoting to being a...travel agency?
Those who clicked through soon realized that "Book a Trip," the shop's new travel-booking identity, isn't really a travel agency. Instead, searching for cities around the world reveals books that The Wild Detectives was selling online about those locations.
It's an absolutely brilliant idea, especially for a business that thrived on walk-in traffic and suddenly found itself forced to shift to ecommerce. "Book a Trip" was an instant success, boosting online sales 200%.
The project is also a pristine example of how an agency can support a client, even a small local business, in this incredibly difficult time.
In this case, the agency was Dallas-based Dieste, which has been working with The Wild Detectives for about four years. Like a few other campaigns we've seen recently, the project also leveraged an existing idea—advertising books as affordable "travel" to exotic destinations—and built on earlier assets to make something perfectly suited to the quarantine era.
You'll definitely want to read how this one came together and check out the site yourself.
I know some people still frown on the idea of pandemic-related campaigns potentially winning awards someday, but I'd love to see this one honored for its quick turnaround, lovely insight and clear results.
That's what awards are meant to do—teach us how to do our jobs better. And when it comes to supporting a small business with a big idea, this is about as well as I've seen it done.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
