Let’s be honest: Hardly anyone voluntarily opens an operating manual – this also applies to car manuals. It is in the interest of vehicle manufacturers that customers know the most important functions. Audi Spain found a creative solution to this dilemma in collaboration with an advertising agency and the book publisher Penguin Random House. For Book Day, the company linked the online instruction manual for its cars to one Collection of seven short stories
, “Novelas de Manual”, written by renowned Spanish authors.
Key terms from the on-board book are linked in the stories – such as “tires”, “temperature” or “accelerator pedal”. If you click on it, you will be taken to the instructions for use of this specific function – according to Audi, “the first car manual you really want to read”. This means the reader can switch from “the most boring book in the world” to seven exciting stories with just one click.
Apart from the key terms, the authors had complete creative freedom. This is how stories emerged, some of which have no connection to the subject of automobiles. “I put myself in the reader’s shoes and asked myself: What would I like to read if I received a message from Audi on Book Day?” explains writer Emma Lira, whose adventure story takes place in ancient Palmyra
. “Then I would like to believe that I don’t read anything about cars, but still notice that I am learning something about cars.” © HBm 2024