When I think of a book publisher, I think of a dusty little room where bespectacled people sit around and slowly yet efficiently read multiple books in a day. My little imagination has them all wearing patterned knitted vests while sipping on hot black coffee, furrowing their brows as they go. While it’s a lovely image, this isn’t what goes down in 2023 publishing houses. These days it’s more about how publishers can attract the eyes of the powerful BookTok community than it is about reading everything on the slush pile.
If you’re even remotely interested in books and are on TikTok, chances are you would have come across the wonderfully creative account of book publishers Penguin Random House.
But if you haven’t, let me give you a taste.
With over 2.1 million likes and almost 73,000 followers, the publisher’s TikTok consists of gorgeously choreographed dances with book cameos, book recommendations and honestly anything else the creative team can think of.
For months, my FYP was filled with the Penguin Random House team serving more cunt than I’d ever expect from a club at 2am, let alone a book publisher.
So, naturally, I had questions.
How did the Gen Z team pitch dance content to their boss? How are the team finding the time to put these performances together? And is dance a fkn pre-requisite to get a job in this fkn office?
To find out, I had a chat to Penguin Random House’s digital media producer Will Bennett, whose creative direction has seen the account gain 50K followers. And — as a fun little bonus — it’s also found him his own slice of online notoriety too.
In fact, Will was even asked to dance at the TikTok Australia Awards in November. And boy, oh boy, did he slay the stage.
But where did the book-tok boogies all begin? It turns out it’s all thanks to a giant plush penguin and K-pop.
“When I first started at PRH, the Penguinbooksaus page was already up and running with a decent amount of followers,” Will tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“TikTok was mentioned as something I could get involved with on the side, so a few weeks in, I shared my idea with some coworkers. We posted a little DanceTok of me dancing to a K-pop song I liked with our giant plush penguin. Bing, bang, boom – it went really well, so we just kept going!”
Although the choreography and videography looks complicated, Will says that it honestly doesn’t take the team that long to whip up one of their iconic vids.
“There isn’t a formal ‘pitch’ or sit-down meeting to get these TikToks across the line. Everyone in the office loves to rally behind it – and thankfully, the general vibe is super chill, nice and open to new ideas!” Will explained.
“We try to avoid as much fluffing about as possible, so it’s a very quick process from ideation to posting. I think the fast pace and collaboration lets us be our authentic selves which absolutely shines on TikTok.”
Despite often being front and centre in the videos, Will says that it’s overwhelmingly a team effort.
Usually, the process starts with a TikTok dance or song that he’s interested in, and then they weave in the books from there. It is a publishing account, after all.
“We gather up some new releases or books we want to promote, and I rechoreograph the scene with my amazing colleagues who learn the dance ON THE SPOT. We have a few former dancers, I will admit,” he laughs.
“It only takes about fifteen minutes to set the scene up and teach everyone the moves. If the first take isn’t perfect, we probably spend another five to ten minutes filming until we get it just right.”
Over the last year, their videos have reached the eyeballs of a bunch of huge names including Troye Sivan and Sabrina Carpenter. As you’d expect, their comments sent the team absolutely bonkers.
“It’s always an incredible shock to most of us – even now – when a video goes viral or gets noticed by someone huge, like when Troye Sivan or more recently Sabrina Carpenter commented,” Will says.
“It’s really special yet surreal at the same time. It shows us that we’re obviously doing something right, though, so we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
According to marketing and trend expert CoCo Mocoe, they’re absolutely doing something right. She says that the marketing campaign employed by Will and the Penguin Random House team is “marketing gold” because they follow the 80-20 rule, which means that 80% of their content is fun and not asking anything of the consumer, and only 20% is a call to action.
“This brand isn’t making this video to try and force a community, but rather acknowledging that they’re also part of a bigger community which is this trend on TikTok,” says Coco Mocoe.
And, in case you were wondering whether the consistent and thinly-veiled Troye Sivan thirst traps were working, Will has remained quiet about whether Troye has ever slid into his DMs or vice-versa.
“Maybe if Troye visited the office . . . totally kidding!”
The post Meet The 23-Year-Old Who Turned Penguin Random House’s TikTok Into The Best Thing On BookTok appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
