Scholastic Casts $1 Million Spell for Harry Potter

In celebration of the release of the paperback edition of J.K. Rowling's fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Scholastic is putting a $1 million marketing push behind the book.

A marketing campaign supports the Aug. 10 book launch, including national online, print and broadcast advertising, billboard promotion, aerial advertising and retail promotions.

Leading up to the launch, Scholastic has been running radio promotions in the top 30 markets. Each station is running a Harry Potter trivia contest, in which 25 winners will receive a copy of a Harry Potter paperback. In each market, a grand-prize package will be awarded, including a box set of the first four Harry Potter hardcover, a copy of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix newly released paperback and a special collectors' edition Harry Potter hat.

Planes also have been flying over Cape Cod, Long Island, Lake Michigan, the New Jersey Shore and Los Angeles beaches carrying the message 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Now in Paperback.'

Scholastic partnered with Internet search engine Google to promote Harry Potter online throughout the summer, in a banner program reaching millions of Google users. Additionally, billboard advertising en route to summer destinations, including the New Jersey shore, Chicago's Lake Michigan, Walt Disney World in Orlando and Universal Studios in Los Angeles, began Aug. 1.

Continuing into fall, seven of Scholastic's magazines with a combined circulation of 2 million will promote the new book with ads carrying the message "Expecto Paperback-um," a spell recognizable to true Harry fans.