By Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct, 19 May 2009, 10:00am

Penguin hire Figtree to relaunch its Classics range

LONDON - Book giant Penguin has appointed creative shop Figtree to promote their Classic book titles and to help build the Penguin Classics brand.

Figtree's work begins with a campaign for Peter Ackroyd's retelling of Chaucer's epic, The Canterbury Tales to run in a range of national press this month including The Times, Guardian and Telegraph.

Natalie Ramm, marketing manager at Penguin Press, said; "We were looking for an agency to refresh our communications approach and jolt people in to re-thinking what Classics are, simply the best stories ever written, for people who love reading," she said. "We wanted consumers to feel inspired and excited about reading classic books rather than intimidated or worthy."

The Canterbury Tales ads will aim to present the book in a fresh, accessible and surprising manner and to persuade people to reconsider the topicality and relevance of reading books written in the past.

The campaign's concept focuses on the idea of a road-trip, describing The Canterbury Tales as a sixty mile pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. The ad copy says: "28 people, 25 stories, 60 miles, lots and lots of banter, booze and bawdiness. The Canterbury Tales, retold for a modern generation."

"The ads created by Figtree for the retelling of The Canterbury Tales are stylish and inventive and are a great showcase of how we continually seek innovative ways to publish our Classic titles," Ramm said.