Hotell Gyllene Knorren Goes Multi-Media

On Dec. 1 Swedish Television's public channel started airing its annual Julakalender Christmas Calendar show – Hotell Gyllene Knorren (Hotel Golden Pigtail). The series is an annual TV advent calendar for kids with one 15-minute episode per day until Christmas. This year the program is based on the Bonnier Carlsen book series by Måns Gahrton and Johan Unenge about a wacky family that takes  over an old hotel. In conjunction with the TV program Bonnier Carlsen together with Bonnier Utbildning have a campaign focused both on readers the country's elementary and middle schools. Bonnierförlagen has also launched a Gyllene Knorren site. And in the beginning of 2011 Gyllene Knorren will be a  feature film, produced by SF.

"The Christmas Calendar usually is watched by 1-5 million viewers every day, and that's without SVT Play," says Karin Schyffert, marketing manager at Bonnier Carlsen. "We're working hard with shops and with Bonnier Utbildning, and this is the biggest display campaign we've ever done."

Bonnierförlagen's sales manager Bernt Meissner says that the campaign is something quite out of the ordinary for the publisher.

"This is the first time we've had such a broad book campaign," Meissner says. "We have 1,200 displays with books throughout the whole of Sweden, and not just in book stores and department stores but even in supermarkets and smaller food shops. It's pretty hard to miss Gyllene Knorren, and we hope to sell around 100,000 books."

The website gylleneknorren.se that Bonnierförlagen built with Rekyl was also launched on Dec. 1. It's based completely on the book series and the idea is that the content will be added to and updated as the series grows. At gylleneknorren.se you can do puzzles, play games and read more about the characters.

"With a playful design that includes plenty of interactivity, we think we'll get kids wishing for more Hotell Gyllene Knorren," says Anna-Karin Stockhaus, web manager at Bonnierförlagen. "We're also building the 'Gyllene Knorren' brand with it."

Bonnier Utbildning has invited some 15,000 teachers throughout Sweden to a contest where classes should find a new guest to move into Hotell Gyllene Knorren. The first prize will be a special preview screening of the feature film for the class members and their friends. The classes can also win a shelf of Hotell Knorren books and a visit by the authors.

The Gyllene Knorren campaign is also a way for Bonnier Utbildning to promote the new beginning reader teaching aid  Zick-Zack. "Authors Anna Modigh and Pernilla Lundenmark have created 15 special exercises based on Gyllene Knorren, one for each school day left until Christmas," says Lena Rydorff, marketing manager at Bonnier Utbildning. "We are extremely happy with this cooperation and look forward to more in the future."