SDS Pushes Extras

After a test campaign with cook books at Swedish daily Sydsvenskan this past summer, the SDS Group is expanding its program. First out is the box collection Världens bästa Astrid Lindgren (world's best Astrid Lindgren) – nine tales read on nine CDs that will be sold for SEK 59 per CD. SDS has worked with Expressen, whose various collectible series have been hits with readers.

"Expressen helped by being a sounding board as well as sometimes as a partner, which we really appreciated," says Dimitra Kavakliotis, project manager for the drive at Sydsvenskan's marketing department. "The Astrid Lindgren box set we sold is the same one that Expressen sold. There is of course a difference in the distribution, since Expressen is sold over the counter in shops and is more of a spontaneous purchase, while we deliver the products directly to people's homes."

Later during the fall, the next campaign will feature 24 specially produced National Encyclopedia (NE) books. The entire set, which costs SEK 89 per book, focuses on the most common searched-for words at NE's website. Both campaigns will include all the newspapers within the SDS Group: Sydsvenskan, Kristianstadsbladet, Trelleborgs Allehanda, Ystads Allehanda and City Malmö Lund.

"It will be interesting to see how things go in the different channels," says Kavakliotis. "The ad campaign is exactly the same but they are different papers with different spreads."

The extras will be delivered free of charge to readers thanks to a cooperation with Tidningsbärarna, southern Sweden's distribution company for morning papers. For those living outside the company's address lists, the books and CDs will be delivered via regular mail.

"The campaign with cook books last summer was a test that we learned a lot from," says Kavakliotis. "The distribution worked great, and we hope that our cooperation with Tidningbärarna will continue to develop further."