"Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who actually do." This was once a slogan for Apple and is also a quote printed on the opening page of the new book, "Steve Jobs" biography.
It seems that the breakthrough in all traditional ways of doing things, as seen in Steve Jobs' life, has influenced the global marketing strategy of "Steve Jobs". In terms of book release timing and channels, it broke traditions with unprecedented methods, creating an unparalleled marketing craze in the gradually declining book publishing industry.
According to the latest data from Nielsen BookScan, the US book market saw sales of 379,000 copies of "Steve Jobs" in its first week; meanwhile, according to official figures from CITIC Publishing House, combined bookstore and website sales statistics as well as monitoring data from Kaijuan Market Research showed that the simplified Chinese edition of Steve Jobs' only authorized biography, released on October 24th in China, sold 678,000 copies in its first week.
Industry insiders believe this is just the beginning. Currently, there is a severe shortage of stock in various small and medium-sized publishers and bookstores, as well as in second, third, and fourth-tier cities. Xu Zhiming, founder of KuaiShuBao, told the "China Business Daily": "According to traditional book sales rules, this book will continue to be a bestseller for another six months to a year." The book planning company Kaijuan predicted that the single volume sales of the Chinese version would reach 5 million copies, occupying the largest market share in the book sector next year.
Is this the last狂欢 of the publishing industry?
The Last Gift and the Fastest Marketing
Some people say that "Steve Jobs" is the greatest gift Steve Jobs left for the world.
Among the first Chinese to consider the marketing of "Steve Jobs" were Wang Bin, president of CITIC Publishing House, and Pan Yue, chief editor. After the news of Jobs' death was announced in early October, CITIC Publishing urgently requested staff to abandon their National Day holidays and rush back to work, gathering at the Beijing headquarters for meetings. Pan Yue described this marketing campaign on Weibo as an "unprecedented severe challenge" and "responding to the extreme publication cycle challenge."
At the same time, Wang Bin and other senior executives of CITIC Publishing mobilized all their efforts to frequently meet with various marketing channel "heroes," discussing how to outdo competitors. These included the head of Kaijuan Company, Chen Nian, founder of Vancl, and Xu Zhiming.
Chen Nian, originally a man of letters, had not been involved in the publishing and distribution industry for many years. Despite his success in clothing websites, he smelled a different business opportunity this time. According to internal staff at Vancl, CITIC initially hoped to cooperate with Vancl in developing T-shirts. Chen Nian believed this was a once-in-a-century marketing opportunity. Therefore, the exclusively apparel-focused Vancl specially opened a "Steve Jobs" sales section and collaborated with Dangdang, Taobao, and other websites to deliver T-shirts.
An unexpected channel that participated in this book's marketing earliest was Suning Appliances. According to informed sources, Suning Appliances had long planned to open a book channel. Regarding Suning.com's advance pre-sale of "Steve Jobs," relevant individuals stated that as a sales channel for Apple products, Suning.com is one of the "Apple fan" gathering places. They often visit Suning.com to understand the pre-sale dynamics of the latest Apple products, so pre-selling "Steve Jobs" was reasonable.
On October 24th, "Steve Jobs" was globally released simultaneously. It turned out that CITIC Publishing had made the right bet. During Jobs' lifetime, there were no shortages of scenes where people queued up to buy iPhones and iPads; after Jobs' departure, his biography still received the "honor" of being queued up for purchase. On October 25th, the American "Wall Street Journal" reported that Jobs' biography quickly disappeared from Chinese bookstores. A branch of Shanghai Book City revealed that the book went on sale at 10:05 am, but around 8:00 am, more than 100 fans of Jobs were already queuing outside the store... By afternoon, more than 300 copies of the book had been sold.
For KuaiShuBao, while seizing the sales opportunity, it was also a test. The explosive orders and the 1-hour express delivery business model put Xu Zhiming under unprecedented pressure. "In over a week, we sold about 10,000 copies, which was a huge challenge for delivery," Xu Zhiming told reporters. "From October 24th to 26th, we took down all other books sales on KuaiShuBao and focused solely on marketing this one. And each hour, we only accepted 100 orders."
It turned out that it was precisely these channels working together that pushed the sales of "Steve Jobs" to a peak in traditional books.
A Series of Purchase Inducements
Zhu Hong (a pseudonym), who works in Beijing, seemed to feel the purchasing temptation brought by "Steve Jobs" every day. Although Zhu Hong herself is not what is called an "Apple fan," Jobs-style marketing appeared in every corner of her life. From home to the office, prominent advertisements for Jobs' biography could be seen at bus stops. Opening various shopping websites and Weibo, Jobs' biography was one of the hottest topics. Recently, China Mobile also joined the new round of "Steve Jobs" marketing activities. Within limited websites and timeframes, spending 51 yuan to purchase the book could earn 50 yuan worth of mobile recharge credit.
"Anything related to Jobs seems to have magic," Zhu Hong remarked. In fact, the channels involved in this marketing campaign were far more numerous than those imaginable in any previous book marketing effort.
An unnamed marketing professional disclosed that before the new book's release, CITIC Bank sent advertisements to all VIP credit card customers' phones and invested in advertisements at airports in Beijing, Shenzhen, etc. Suning Appliances utilized the influence of its 1440 stores nationwide to fully prepare for the pre-sale; during the design of derivative products requiring T-shirt production, Vancl ultimately participated in the project through substantial advertising investment. JD.com invested in advertisements in Beijing subways, and even traditional retail bookstores self-funded advertisements and created gifts. Adding China Mobile, Dangdang, Excellent, Amazon, Taobao, and Apple's original online store, they ultimately achieved the publishing industry's "carnival feast," starting to change China's publishing industry's long-standing flat marketing model.
In the "biography of Jobs battle," besides CITIC Publishing, which cut the largest slice of the pie, there were some other publishers who, relying on their connections and sharp business acumen, played a time difference with the authorized version. For example, publisher Motie published "Jobs Biography - A Legendary Godlike Story" written by Wang Yonggang and "A Global Journey of an iPhone" about the industrial chain behind Apple.
Pirate book vendors didn't break old habits either, pulling out all the stops to produce pirated versions of "Steve Jobs" at the fastest speed possible.
However, regardless of how it turned out, the marketing and release of this biography remain a historical miracle. It was precisely the joint efforts of various channels that pushed "Steve Jobs" to a new height. CITIC Publishing provided Youku CEO Gary Wu with early access to the English content, leading him to write a 7,000-word review. Subsequently, Youku used 16 videos to recall Jobs' life. Jumbo Music Network provided music stored in Jobs' iPod and iPad. On Douban and various book review sites, although people were dissatisfied with the translation of the new book, they were still engrossed in Jobs' life story.
During the interviews conducted by journalists, almost all channels attributed their participation in the marketing of "Steve Jobs" to Jobs' own charm and influence. Thus, this was a marketing journey difficult to replicate or imitate again. As the promotional phrase for "Steve Jobs" says, "Let us remember, this world that Jobs came to, changed." Customer service 360 can enhance and optimize all stages of marketing and after-sales services. This allows you to track more sales opportunities with less time, make more accurate marketing strategies, provide better after-sales services, and achieve continuous growth in sales performance.