Barnes & Noble Pushes Quamut.com site with Guerrilla, Sweeps

Barnes & Noble is promoting its how-to Web site, Quamut.com, with guerrilla marketing designed to capture people’s attention through intriguing displays.

The retailer, with the help of Lime Public Relations + Promotion, has set up quirky displays in high traffic areas in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle that prompt people to enter a sweepstakes.

Each display poses a question for people to ponder, along with a URL driving people to Quamut.com to enter the sweeps. One display features a dismantled bicycle chained to a bike rack with tags reading, “How can you ride this bike again?” Another shows signage at flower and plant stands that reads, “How can you keep us alive?” Locations include Union Square in New York City, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Pier 39 in San Francisco and West Lake Park in Seattle.

Visitors can visit http://www.Quamut.com or text QUAMUT to 23857for a chance to win $5,000 toward their own how-to dream through July 15.

Barnes & Noble is also driving two large branded trucks around Manhattan for two weeks to promote the campaign. The retailer will also spread the word via 2.1 million cup holders at Barnes & Noble Café locations, as well as in-store signage and weekly e-mails to customers.

The campaign is meant to draw people to the Web site and get people to sample Quamut.com’s offerings, Dan Weiss, the site’s publisher and managing director, a publishing unit of Barnes & Noble, Inc., said. New visitors can download a free Quamut to try out the service, he said.

The campaign is a bit of an unusual step for Barnes & Noble, said. The retailer typically doesn’t advertise, Weiss said.

“It’s a step in the digital direction,” he said. “It’s important Barnes and Noble takes this step. It’s a novel way to reach people in multiple formats.”

Launched in February, Quamut.com offers expert-driven or how-to guides, or “Quamuts,” and instructional videos that cover a range of topics, everything from how to build a deck to how to plan your next vacation. The site features about 1,000 Quamuts, guides, across five categories, including House & Home, Hobbies & Leisure, Money & Business, Computers & Technology, and Mind & Body.

Lime Public Relations + Promotion handles the sweepstakes and local market activity and Cliff Freeman + Partners is in charge of the advertising.

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