Standaard Boekhandel is a Belgian book retailer. It wanted to make reading feel relevant again at a time when many people spend more time with other entertainment. The brand also wanted its bookstores to stay strong places for discovery, where people browse and find new titles, not only pick up a book they already decided to buy.

The campaign used a simple insight: when authors appear on television, the books they discuss can sell more. Research on TV-led book promotion supports that general link between TV exposure and sales for featured titles, especially when the setting makes the recommendation feel believable. The chosen setting was “De Tafel van Gert”, a daily talk show on Play/Play4, a Flemish commercial TV channel. Talk shows often include personal stories and cultural topics, so a book can enter the conversation naturally.

Ads & Data is the Belgian sales house that supported the project as both media partner and creative partner. It helped run the campaign as an ongoing partnership by keeping the same recognisable on screen cue each time, adding a steady weekly viewer feature, and linking the TV moment to in store retail activity.

Campaign objectives

The campaign put special weight on gifting, because a gifted book carries a message from one person to another. The aim was to make viewers think, “That is a book I want to give,” not only “That is a book I have seen.”

The campaign also needed to move from attention to sales. It connected what viewers saw on TV to what they could find in store and online. Stores featured the titles linked to the show, and a communication licence allowed the partnership to appear in wider retail communication. This reduced friction. Viewers did not have to remember a title and search later with uncertain spelling or incomplete details. Instead, Standaard Boekhandel presented the programme’s picks as an easy-to-find selection.

A further goal focused on viewer action during viewing time. The campaign ran “Play & Win” as a weekly contest linked to the show. People could enter via a QR code shown during the programme and via a pause-button option. Play also ran a public page for the weekly book giveaway connected to “De Tafel van Gert”, which reinforced the rhythm of “a book of the week” rather than a one-off competition.

Standaard Boekhandel, we believe books don’t just fill shelves, they spark imagination, feed knowledge, and bring people together. With “De Tafel van Gert”, we created a true partnership: every week, a new story and book was promoted, with our brand seamlessly integrated into the TV show. Inspiring conversations at the table, a fun contest to involve viewers, and activations in store and online made the experience complete. We saw not only more books being sold, but more people discovering the joy of stories. That’s the real success, and it’s why we’re thrilled to continue this journey together at the end of 2025. Karen Vanstaen; Marketing & Product Director, Standaard Boekhandel

Creative minds

Ads & Data’s in-house Brand Studio developed the concept and delivered the work across video, the on-air integration, and the Play & Win contest feature. Standaard Boekhandel, brought the partnership into stores and online channels and linked the weekly book selection to retail activity.

Play and the “De Tafel van Gert” team provided the daily programme stage and the space for the weekly giveaway, with Gert Verhulst as the on-air host who introduced the book moment.

Campaign video

On screen, the format repeated a clear cue: when a guest’s book came up, the host highlighted it with a Standaard Boekhandel–branded bookmark. The same viewing moment then directed viewers to Play & Win through the on-screen QR code and the pause-button option.

Results

The campaign delivered sales uplift for the promoted books across both in-store and online channels. The programme delivered a daily rating of 4 GRP and reached viewers with strong selectivity by age and social group. Half of the viewers fell within Social Groups 1–4, the higher end of the local socio-economic scale, defined by CIM (Centre d’Information sur les Médias, i.e. the Belgian audience measurement body.

Play & Win also achieved weekly participation through the QR code shown in the programme and the pause-button option. Outside the broadcast window, the partnership stayed visible through two public touchpoints: Play’s giveaway page and Standaard Boekhandel’s page that collects the titles “seen in De Tafel van Gert.” The partners plan to continue the approach in 2026, keeping the same repeatable structure: an on-air book moment, a weekly viewer hook, and a clear route to finding the featured titles in-store and online.

Source: egta.com

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