Title	THE IMPOSSIBLE SIGNING SESSIONS
Brand	BOL.COM
Product/Service	ONLINE BOOKSTORE
Category	B13. Use of Technology
Entrant	DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Media Placement	MEC BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
PR	LEWIS Antwerp, BELGIUM
Production	DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Production 2	BEYOND.IO Antwerp, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Tom Meijer	DDB Brussels	Art Director
Silke Beurms	DDB Brussels	Copywriter
Peter Ampe	DDB Brussels	Creative Director
Odin Saille	DDB Brussels	Creative Director
Romy Vierhouten	DDB Brussels	Account Executive
Francis Lippens	DDB Brussels	Business Director
Jorian Vanvossel	DDB Brussels	Strategic Planner
Sven Verfaille	DDB Brussels	Designer
Wietse De Ridder	DDB Brussels	Designer
Danny Vissers	DDB Brussels	Concept provider
Benjamin Hiffe	DDB	DTP
Anner Tiete	Beyond.io	Developer
Kevin Verelst	Beyond.io	Developer
Elke Eriksson	LEWIS	Account Manager
Frederic Van de Meulebroucke	LEWIS	Account Executive
Morgane Lannoy	Mec Global	Communication Adviser

The Campaign

A book signing session always has something magical, as one stroke of the pen makes your copy a unique one. But what if the author of your favorite work has already passed away? With the importance of book signings in mind, we decided to link the innovative character of the bol.com to a tribute for Paul van Ostaijen - one of Belgium’s most influential but long gone authors, and celebrate the 100th birthday and re-issue of his masterpiece Music-Hall. With the help of technology, van Ostaijen was brought back to life for one last book signing session. We reproduced van Ostaijen’s handwriting and a robotic arm was adjusted and programmed until it could perfectly duplicate his handwriting and signature. And Van Ostaijen was not alone, as seven other world-renowned authors agreed to let their handwriting and autograph be digitalized.

Creative Execution

We carefully analyzed Paul’s manuscripts, transforming his handwriting into a font. The only robot arm which could imitate those delicate writing movements was a device normally used for medical purposes. That arm was then tuned for three months until it mastered four different aspects of writing: pen choice, writing angle, writing speed and pressure.  The software also allowed for people to write their own messages in the author’s handwriting, which gave the visitors an emotional souvenir and made every copy a one-of-a-kind bol.com souvenir. As such, the campaign became the medium. Seven living authors - inlcuding Nicci French, Paula Hawkins and Andy Griffiths - were put forward in a support campaign on audiovisual media to increase traffic to the bol.com stand and website.

The quality of the imitations was praised by experts and journalists and made the Impossible Signing Sessions spread like wildfire with 24,7 million media impressions. The robot arm signed non-stop for twelve days during the Antwerp Book Fair, resulting in 4119 autographs and 15791 words. As the star of the event, Paul Van Ostaijen even became the most signing author of the entire festival with 1076 autographs. Bol.com showed they know the passions of book fans. But most importantly: bol.com achieved 5% more brand awareness, and their turnover in book sales increased with 40%.

Bol.com created the Impossible Signing Sessions at Belgium's largest literary event. A clever media mix supported this campaign and enabled the digital book store to generate digital leads on a physical event: robot-imitated authors who were put forward in a support campaign to increase traffic to the bol.com stand and website. As a nice extra for a digital bookstore, every physical book that was signed by the robot became part of the media campaign - spreading the message amongst book lovers.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Antwerp Book Fair is one of the most popular and talked about events in Belgium. For many of the visitors, the literary event has gradually become a race to score signatures from authors who are present for book signings at the fair. Being the most popular online bookshop of Belgium, the main objective for Bol.com was to create buzz around their presence at an event that is dedicated to and aimed at traditional book retailers & publishers. 'The Impossible Signing Sessions' made bol.com extremely relevant in a rather unusual setting for an e-commerce giant. The main idea of the signing sessions was then supported by a campaign on multiple mass-media platforms (radio, outdoor, print and digital) to trigger more people to go visit the bol.com website and the stand at the Antwerp book fair.