The best publishing house is not the biggest one. De Kring is fairly new, and not nearly as big as their direct competitors. But they sell amazing books. We were asked to come up with a cool campaign to celebrate the 5th anniversary of their true-crime title, Koud Bloed. How to celebrate this book and reach both existing fans and introduce the series to a new audience, all at the same time?

We combined the core values of this magazine, investigative journalism, true crime, and exciting stories, with a new approach that would attract new fans and also celebrate the writers and readers. We built crime scenes on street corners that once were the set for the real shootings and other criminal transactions, and we used props that referred to the criminals featured in the book. People were able to walk around the crime scene, or through it, and all around they were able to find ‘evidence’, in an evidence bag, with the 5 year anniversary publication in it. 

Many people stole crucial pieces of evidence that day. De Kring increased its on-line reach dramatically, because the street scenes attracted people who tweeted the pictures. We also ‘tipped-off’ some crime journalists so that they would show up and take a picture of the crime scene. The scenes generated PR and buzz on social media.