“C’è vita, in un libro. La tua” (There’s life in a book, yours) is the claim of a new book promotion campaign by Mondadori Store, the Mondadori Group’s chain of bookshops, and the fruit of an idea by the artist Mr. SaveTheWall with the creative contribution from the Action & Branding agency.

The initiative, which launches on 15 November, aims to enhance the reading experience through the voices and faces of readers: in other words real people who have taken part in an experimental artistic operation called Bookshot and who are the protagonists of the campaign by offering an unmediated account of their feelings and bring books to life in their own words.

“The result of this creative project is a form of communication that comes from and goes to the heart, because sharing a book is to share a part of your life,” declared Francesco Riganti, marketing director of Mondadori Retail. “Mondadori Store is making itself a spokesman and promoter of a message of social interest: an invitation to read, because we believe that more readers can lead to a more solid society that is focused on development and change.”

During two shooting sessions at the Mondadori Megastore in Via Marghera in Milan, Mr. SaveTheWall, aka Pierpaolo Perretta, the artist known for his situationist work that interprets issues and habits of contemporary society, met one hundred people. Each participant was asked to bring their favourite book with them and what emerged were  profound stories and feelings provoked by reading. Each of which was captured on video and fixed in a photographic portrait.

“An adage that I have made my own is ‘art is in the eye of the beholder’. And in Bookshot, as a work of art, I was able to note that the participants made the books the had read their own and created a  unique reading experience. The authenticity of the feelings of the participants is in itself something quite extraordinary especially if we consider that from a dialogue based on a single object – their favourite book – they were able to draw out a more profound and real synthesis of their life. This is why, for me, Bookshot is such an authentic, powerful and engaging project,” commented the artist Mr. SaveTheWall.

So readers are the exceptional witnesses to an initiative that will take place in the coming months on the web on a site dedicated to the project www.condividiunlibro.it, which will host he videos and photos produced by the artist. Users will be invited to take part by posting on Facebook or Instagram Stories their favourite book and a phrase the briefly explains why it is their favourite and using the hashtag #condividiunlibro. Alls of this content will be added to the platform, multiplying the sharing of experiences and will be rewarded by Mr. SaveTheWall who will choose the best shots.

“This is an ambitious and extremely valuable project that we are very proud of. A sort of perfect alchemy has been created among the people involved and this has enabled the idea to gather enthusiasm day by day and reach out to all of the touchpoints. The genesis itself of the creative idea was the result of collective intelligence working in harmony, a relationship model that can be taken as an example and that will increasingly find a place in the future.” concluded Alessandro Pedrazzini, CEO of Action & Branding.

The campaign will also benefit form articulated planning across different media and managed by MediaClub: press, with four subjects, on leading weekly and monthly titles and the Mondadori Store Christmas Gift Guide; the web and the social networks Facebook, Instagram and Youtube with di 30’’ and 60’’ videos; leading influencer networks; outdoor metropolitan digital posts, at metro, bus and train stations; and all of the shops on the Mondadori Store network and on Mondadoristore.it.