Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka Beautifully Describe Book Covers in New Radio Ads

FCB Cape Town was inspired by classic writers such as Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka to ‘put pen to paper’ in its latest campaign for Exclusive Books, one of South Africa's largest bookseller chains.

The campaign features three radio commercials, each intended to introduce listeners to the Penguin Classics collection.

This is comprised of the work of some of the world's most acclaimed authors. In addition to Woolf and Kafka there’s Leo Tolstoy, HG Wells, Vladimir Nabakov, Jean-Paul Satre and more.

The cover of each book is as simple as the writing within is complex. There are just two squares of flat colour (a different colour for each book) separated by a white ribbon in the middle carrying the Penguin Classics logo device.

Copywriters Mike Barnwell, also ECD of the agency, and Aaron Harris, one of its creative directors, wanted to stress that, when the writing is good enough, a plain cover is all you need.

They imagined how these famous authors might have described the colour of their own Penguin Classics book cover and, using some clever writing of their own, effectively made their point.