Stationery Icons, the 304-page illustrated hardback by Christopher Leonard-Morgan, has launched its first Christmas campaign, positioning the book as a distinctive gift for stationery enthusiasts, collectors and design lovers.
The campaign runs through to Christmas and combines advertising on StationeryNews.net and PGBuzz.net with promotional activity on Instagram and LinkedIn. Its focus is the brands, personalities and stories that the book credits with making stationery an enduring fascination, rather than product specifications or buying advice.
Two London events tested the gifting pitch
The push follows what the publisher describes as encouraging sales at two recent London events: Open House at Stationers' Hall on 20 September and the London Pen Show in Hammersmith on 10–11 October. According to the announcement, both gatherings underlined the book's appeal as a present, with customers buying copies for friends, family and fellow stationery enthusiasts rather than solely for themselves.
Leonard-Morgan said the most encouraging signal was how many buyers saw the book as a gift for someone else. He noted that most people know someone who keeps a favourite fountain pen, treasures a particular notebook or cannot walk past a stationery shop, and said Stationery Icons gathers the stories behind the brands those readers already care about into a volume they can enjoy and return to over the years.
Featured brands invited to take part
The campaign also invites the 100 brands featured in the book to mark their inclusion through their own social media channels and customer communications. The publisher expects that arrangement to widen awareness of the title among stationery enthusiasts internationally, extending its reach beyond the campaign's own advertising and social posts.
Richard Webb, Publisher at Narrative Media, said stationery inspires a remarkable degree of affection and loyalty. He argued that what makes the book special is the breadth of stories it draws together, spanning six centuries of ingenuity, entrepreneurship and design, and said the publisher was pleased to give featured brands an opportunity to share their own stories with customers and followers on the back of the wider interest the campaign has generated.
The first edition has an initial print run of just 1,000 copies and is priced at £80, available to order directly from the book's own website.