According to research, Brazilians read only 2 books per year on average. People are always running from one place to another. It's hard to find the time to read., unless they read on their way. So, to celebrate World Book Day, L&PM, Brazil's biggest pocket books publisher, created and gave away a collection of pocket books designed to promote reading. They were Ticket Books. Books that had a bult-in RFID card that made them readable by the subway turnstile’s scanners, working as “tickets” to the subway… and to the habit of reading.

10,000 books were distributed. 100,000 trips were transformed into time for reading. More than 2,300 books were recharged on our website. Because of their unique cover designs, and for being limited editions, the books became a must-have for collectors, being traded by people on the Brazilian equivalent to eBay. L&PM, in partnership with São Paulo's Subway Company, is planning to expand the project to different cities launching new volumes of the Ticket Books collection.

In partnership with Via Quatro, company that manages São Paulo’s Subways, we used subway stations as our point of distribution, right before the turnstiles, so that people could immediately start using their Ticket Books. We also used the stations’ walls to promote our campaign with posters that invited people to look for the Ticket Books. To complete the integrated effort, we had a website displaying the whole collection, talking about the project and allowing people to share the idea online and also recharge their books with a single click.

People on the subways are always in a hurry. But, when they’re inside the subway trains, there’s not much to do. Cell phones don’t work, and they are bored most of the time. Time that we thought could be put to better use. To promote reading on World Book Day, we gave away pocket books charged with 10 subway trips. That way, people could transform that wasted travel time into time for discovering how great and entertaining reading is. To reach even more people, we created a website where books could be recharged and passed on to friends.