ETERNA CADENCIA | THE BOOK THAT CAN'T WAIT | 2012
If you don't read it, it disappears / ETERNA CADENCIA "THE BOOK THAT CAN'T WAIT"
There's a book that starts erasing itself the moment you open it. Printed with a special ink that fades after a few months of exposure to light and air, this is a book you simply have to read.
The problem
Books by new authors tend to get bought and then left unread on a shelf. ETERNA CADENCIA had just published an anthology featuring 23 young writers from Latin America, but if that first book went unread, there would be no next one. The challenge was how to break through the wall of books people buy but never actually open.
The insight
Creative Director Javier Campopiano said he wanted to turn the book from something "eternal, that you can read anytime," into something that "disappears if you don't read it now." Before these writers' stories vanished right in front of readers' eyes, the point was to get people to actually read them.
The idea
They developed an ink that fades away within two to four months once exposed to light and air, and sealed each book in an airtight pack. The moment you open it, the clock starts ticking. The title was "El Libro que No Puede Esperar" (The Book That Can't Wait). The book itself became a device built to make people read it.
What happened
The first print run sold out on its release day. The campaign won three Gold Lions at Cannes Lions 2012.
Afterthought
There's a nice paradox here: turning what should be the most permanent of media into something utterly fleeting. It's an idea that hands talented but overlooked writers both tenderness and urgency at the same time. Bold and clean.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2012
