One creative way to promote your digital collection is to use the following advertising technique from marketing pioneer Berma-Shave: Post humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs.
Burma-Shave was a Minneapolis based shaving company famous for its advertising. Typically, they posted a series of six small signs along highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign would feature the Berma Shave logo. According to Advertising Age (2003), about 600 different Burma-Shave verses appeared in more than 7,000 locations in 45 states.
One example from 1929 read: Every shaver / Now can snore / Six more minutes / Than before / By using / Burma-Shave.
When the Digital Bookmobile visited Mauney Memorial Library in Kings Mountain, NC this September, we saw this great marketing idea! Library Assistant Trey Ross created the rhyming poem to promote their digital colleciton of eBooks and audiobooks.
Now it’s your turn. Create your own Berma-Shave jingle to promote your digital collection, your library, your school, anything! You’ll be sure to bring back memories and raise awareness in a lively way.