Waterstones / United KingdomFilm · Digital & Tech
Read Better.
Waterstones reframed screen time as reading time, showing people how many words they already read online and turning that into book recommendations.
- Brand
- Waterstones
- Agency
- FP7McCann
- Market
- United Kingdom
- Region
- Global
The challenge
Many adults read thousands of words a day on screens yet say they have no time for books. Waterstones wanted to close the gap between how much people read online and how little they read in print.
The idea
Short films showed how much text people take in each day on their phones. A browser plug-in counted a user's daily digital word total and recommended books that matched what they were reading online. FP7McCann made the work with McCann Bristol and UM Central.
Results
- WARC's Cannes case summary reports a 38.7% rise in online traffic
- According to the WARC summary of the entry, book sales rose 17%
- The entry, as summarised by WARC, says youth readership doubled to 58.6%
Case study source: WARC Source ↗
Awards
- Cannes Lions 2025Digital Craft – C01 DATA STORYTELLINGBronze
- Cannes Lions 2025Film – F04 SOCIAL BEHAVIOURBronze
Credits
- Creative agency
- FP7McCann
- Creative agency
- McCann Bristol
- Media agency
- UM Central
