The popular podcast ventures into the book world with HarperCollins!
With a wide and wild audience, the creators of the Welcome to Night Vale podcast approached HarperCollins with a novel (pun intended) approach to expanding their audience—new odd content and a slew of convention appearances. Throughout all advertising, promotions, and event requests, I directly managed the designer as well as coordinated everything from inventory for the conventions to all “swag” for all appearances.
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When Harper Perennial acquired the Welcome to Night Vale novel, our Advertising and Promotions team was tasked with taking the popular podcast to the next level, not only in digital and print advertising, but with in-person events.
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During this time, I managed the Advertising and Promotions team at HarperCollins, overseeing the designing, routing, and final delivery of all ads and promotional materials. It was clear at this time to include the novel in every upcoming comic con in addition to our usual marketing tactics.
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I oversaw all work from my direct reports who designed all digital advertising and a majority of print advertising for the upcoming novel and the comic con appearances. In addition, I worked with all conventions we were attending to design ads for their programs, coordinated with the PR and Marketing teams for materials and books for their appearances, and managed all aspects of our booths from inventory to staffing to events and sales.
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Not only did the original Welcome to Night Vale novel and its performance expand on the podcast audience, it was successful enough to now result in a number of sequels and episode volumes.
The Process
A primary goal throughout the process of the original novel’s promotion and later titles was to adhere closely to any timelines placed by the Night Vale team (performers and external promoters) as well as ensure my team had all assets needed to perform their jobs within the time constraints and budgets provided. This meant not only putting on my own designer hat for program ads and sales- or corporate-lead print ads but my Creative Director/Project Manager hats to lead our team through all aspects of the campaign with a supportive ear when any snags arose.
While providing design work and managerial support, I was also tasked with overseeing the shipment of all materials for all conventions—San Diego Comic Con and New York Comic Con, to name a couple—and provided any needed support (staffing, inventory, etc.) for all in-person events.
The success of the initial Welcome to Night Vale novel created opportunities for further novels and episode collections, catapulting the Night Vale team to further success and introducing many more to the strange world they brilliantly created.
As a huge fan of The Twilight Zone, it was natural I would love the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, so when I discovered the acquisition from Harper Perennial I was thrilled! At the time, my primary focus as a designer was on all requests from the William Morrow and Ecco imprints in addition to the Library and Academic sales team, the general sales team, and all corporate advertising which had me designing ads for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, to name a few. At the same time, I was overseeing our Advertising and Promotions department with several direct reports, two of whom worked on the Welcome to Night Vale properties (print books and audio books).