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
OTHER CASE STUDIES
A BIG-SCREEN STUDY FINDS STRONGER ATTENTION ON TV4 PLAY THAN ON YOUTUBE
24. 4. 2026TV4 just launched its third attention study, comparing the viewing experience on its streaming service (TV4 Play) with YouTube’s big screen experience at home. It confirms once again the assumption that the streaming environment provided by a qualitative TV network (BVOD) delivers a much bigger attention than UGC platforms, such as YouTube. An at-home test… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
THE TV ADVERTISING PARADOX, A THINKTV NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY (1/2)
24. 4. 2026In late 2024, ThinkTV New Zealand, under the leadership of Jacqueline Freeman, GM Communications, undertook a full market review to understand how television was being perceived, valued, and used across the New Zealand marketing ecosystem. This was a broad diagnostic rather than a simple pulse check. It drew on perspectives from CMOs, CFOs, insights people,… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
AD EMISSIONS MEASUREMENT: LESSONS FROM THE FINNISH MARKET
31. 3. 2026Finland’s commercial TV broadcasters spent the past year developing a carbon emissions measurement framework for linear TV advertising, starting with no local methodology and ending with a validated model owned by an industry body. For markets facing the same challenge, the experience offers a useful reference point. Start narrow, then scale The project focused exclusively… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
A NEW WAY FOR FRANCETV PUBLICITÉ TO SELL CONTEXTUAL VIDEO ADVERTISING
27. 3. 2026FranceTV Publicité (FTP), the advertising sales house for French public television, has introduced Context.IA into its digital video offer. The solution uses programme context to decide when an ad should appear, instead of relying only on fixed scheduling. That makes Context.IA a new commercial tool inside FranceTV Publicité’s own video inventory. Context.IA links programme cues… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
BUILDING A SHOPPABLE, ATTENTION-READY CTV OFFER: THE BIG BROTHER CONTEXTUAL CASE
26. 3. 2026In 2025, Paramount Australia, in partnership with FreeWheel and egta, hosted a webinar outlining a forward-looking view of the evolving advertising market. One key topic explored the industry’s shift to pull-based discovery, experience-driven engagement, and frictionless content-commerce integration. Paramount Australia’s Contextual Advertising Suite directly responds to these trends, reinforcing the company’s leadership in premium CTV… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
GLOBO CREATES HOME SCREEN PROMINENCE FOR FREE-TO-AIR TV ON SMART TVS
26. 2. 2026Globo, Brazil’s largest commercial TV group, is rolling out DTV+, a next-generation free-to-air TV standard designed for connected TVs. It brings broadcast channels into the TV operating system, with app-like navigation, login and interactive layers placed directly on top of live programming. The move fits Brazil’s viewing reality. Linear TV accounts for 57.9% of total… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
THE VISUAL TRANSFER EFFECT: HOW SOUND BUILDS BRANDS
24. 2. 2026In collaboration with neuro-marketing agency Unravel, Talpa Media has produced the scientific proof that audio does not just complement TV. It actively reactivates it, reconstructing visual brand memories in the consumer’s mind through sound. The findings carry significant implications for how audio is planned, sold, and valued within the wider media mix. Context Talpa Media… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
RMB TURNS QR CODE VOTING INTO A SHARED VIEWING MOMENT THAT STRENGTHS BRAND IMAGE FOR SPRITE AND DELI CHOC
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives The chocolate snack Deli Choc and soft drink Sprite brands worked with RMB to reach younger audiences by becoming part of Belgian hip-hop show “PLAYGROUND”, supporting new rap talent through a live QR vote and cross-platform content. This helps the brands appear as enablers of the format rather than separate ads. For RMB… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
CANADIAN SUPERSTAR ANDREW PHUNG HELPS VIA RAIL CHALLENGE CAR CONVENIENCE ASSUMPTIONS WITH LONG-FORM STORYTELLING ACROSS CBC’S TV ECOSYSTEM
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives VIA Rail, the company operating Canada’s national passenger rail service, combined a new product launch with brand building, using long-form content to tackle misconceptions that tend to block conversion in travel: comfort, ease, and whether rail feels like a realistic alternative to driving for intercity trips. The objectives behind this campaign were to… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
HOW L’ORÉAL PARIS AND RTL MADE STREET HARASSMENT HARD TO IGNORE
24. 2. 2026Context Sexual harassment in public spaces is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence in the world. Two figures frame the issue: 80% of women have experienced street harassment, but 85% of people say they lack training on how to intervene. Ad Alliance and L’Oréal created a campaign to respond to this problem… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
HOW AD ALLIANCE USED VIRTUAL SET GRAPHICS TO RESKIN THE LET’S DANCE STAGE FOR UNIVERSAL PICTURES
24. 2. 2026Context This campaign promotes a film by changing the look of a well-known TV studio during the ad break, so the show setting becomes part of the idea. Universal Pictures International Germany supported the live-action version (made with real actors) of How to Train Your Dragon, based on a well-known animated franchise. The ad special… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY
CHANNEL 4 SHOWS HOW PUTTING ACCESSIBILITY FIRST BENEFITS BOTH CUSTOMERS AND COMMERCIAL WITH CURRYS’
24. 2. 2026Context Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award 2025 set its brief under the theme “Inclusive by Design”. It asked brands to embed inclusive practices into the creative, rather than at the end of production. The initiative linked that ambition to airtime: £1m of advertising space across Channel 4’s portfolio sat behind the winning campaign. The… Continue reading TURNING TRUSTED TV MOMENTS INTO BOOK SALES BY LINKING ATTENTION TO CLEAR PLACES TO BUY