Egmont plans Winnie-the-Pooh push
02.09.09 Caroline Horn in The Bookseller

Egmont is launching a six-figure marketing campaign to support the publication of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood on 5th October. It is the first authorised Winnie-the-Pooh sequel to be published in over 80 years.A A Milne’s The House At Pooh Corner was originally published in 1928 and the new book by David Benedictus and Mark Burgess (illustrator) addresses the question of what became of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh after this story.

The campaign will include outdoor and online advertising, a micro-site, email blasts, PR, experiential marketing and POS activity.

Martyn Luke, head of marketing and brands for Egmont Publishing, said: "Bringing back the world’s best-loved bear is the culmination of months of careful planning and we’re supporting the publication with one of our biggest ever marketing campaigns."

Retail activity in the major chains including Waterstones, WH Smiths and Tesco will include window placements, book pre-orders and inclusion in loyalty schemes, charts and TV advertising.Outdoor advertising will be used in shopping malls across London and the South East, including Westfield, Bluewater and Brent Cross, as well as poster sites located at key train stations and on the London Underground network.

A bespoke Winnie-the-Pooh microsite, http://www.returntothehundredacrewood.co.uk/, themed on a map of the fictional Hundred Acre Wood, will carry competitions and options to sign up to newsletters and to pre-order the book.

David Riley, director of Egmont Publishing, said: "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood is set to be a huge hit this year with children and parents alike. We are delighted to be publishing the sequel to a wonderful children’s classic, making new Winnie-the-Pooh stories available to current and future generations around