REBRANDED: “Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow“ by Gabrielle Zevin - MY LAUNCH CAMPAIGN
It’s no secret I’ve been obsessing over Gabrielle Zevin’s joy of a novel Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow. As I was diving deeper into it, I couldn’t help but start drafting ideas how to bring Sam and Sadie’s story to an even greater audience. In this episode of BOOK REBRANDING, I will look at the novel’s original launch campaign, and then I will reimagine it in a way that celebrates its themes of creativity, collaboration, and gaming culture.
Original Marketing Strategy
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has one of the most immersive, original book campaigns I’ve ever seen. Pitched by Gabrielle Zevin herself as “not a romance but a story about love,” the novel was published by Chatto & Windus, Vintage (Penguin imprint) on July 19, 2022.
The publicity and marketing teams worked hard to position the book as something that could appeal to both gamers and non-gamers and their efforts to capture a sense of childhood nostalgia without making the narrative feel outdated totally paid off.
Advance proof copies arrived in a striking slipcase design that resembled PC/DVD game packaging. From boxes detailing the number of players instead of age ratings to having the actual cover of the proof look like a disc that can be popped off and plugged into a computer, the attention to detail on these ARCs is truly unmatched.
Proof copy example. For more information, check out Katrina Northern, Head of Marketing (Vintage), and her LinkedIn post.
Penguin also created a short, video game–style book trailer that introduced the main characters alongside key quotes from the novel, making the story feel cinematic and dynamic before you’d even flipped through the first page.
Ahead of the official publication date, Vintage built an interactive website where fans could actually play EmilyBlaster (one of the games Sadie Green designs in the book). Another section let readers create their own custom avatars - choosing outfits, face expressions, and accessories - and share them online using #Tomorrowx3. Gabrielle Zevin went on to create avatars with short bios for the main protagonists in the story - Sam, Sadie, and Marx.
My avatar from the Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow promotional website. Click here to create your own avatar, learn more about the main characters of the novel, or give it a go at a round of EmilyBlaster.
And in a particularly fun and memorable launch, a Donkey Kong arcade machine, rebranded with the novel’s logo, was installed at Waterstones Piccadilly, turning a flagship bookstore into part of the game world.
Gabrielle Zevin next to a Donkey Kong machine at Waterstones Piccadilly. Check out full post here.
The cover design itself draws from Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a motif that appears in the story when Sam and Sadie take inspiration from the artist’s depiction of a storm at sea while developing their very first blockbuster, Ichigo. It’s a perfect example of a cover that rewards readers who know the reference, while still standing out to anyone browsing the shelves.
My Reimagined Campaign
While the campaign for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is already impeccable, I came with a couple of original ideas that will hopefully boost readership and blur the lines between the game’s fictional reality and the world as we know it even further.
🎮 Video Game Adverts
As part of the promotions for the book launch, I would create and place ads on billboards, social media and inside mobile games that are deliberately meta. They will show short gameplays from well-loved titles like Super Mario or Pac-Man that glitch mid-play and get washed over by a giant tsunami wave, similar to Hokusai’s painting. Ads will then cut to the book’s tagline and the publication date, sparking interest and presenting Zevin’s work in a unique way.
📚 Waterstones Takeover
Big store takeovers are nothing new, but what if each participating Waterstones became one of Sadie and Sam’s games? One branch transforms into Ichigo, another into Counterpart High, another into Mapleworld. Each offers a range of photo opportunities and collectible trading cards/bookmarks with tailored designs based on the worlds of the games. This turns the book hunt into a multi-location event, encouraging fans to visit or follow along online, and making the fictional feel tangible.
🍕 Pizzeria Endorsement
The social side of gaming pairs perfectly with pizza. To pay tribute to Sam’s grandparents’ family business, I would partner with a pizzeria chain and create limited edition menu items that are inspired by characters or games from the novel. There will be book installations, as well as arcades placed around the restaurants and those who purchase an “Ichigo & Cheese” menu can compete to win pizza discount vouchers or exclusive merch (such as Jersey #15). This reinforces the book’s themes of collaboration and shared play, while giving the campaign a wider cultural reach.
💌 Blind Date with a Game
“Blind Date with a Book” is a go-to when you want to get out of your reading comfort zone or simply surprise yourself/a friend. Here, I am thinking of collaborating with a video game company, let’s say Nintendo, and package the novel with a mystery console game. Each bundle will have the same copy of the book, but the games will differ based on a brief description on the packaging, outlining a specific game that Sadie and Sam have produced inside the world of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. This will transform the purchase into an experience that extends the world of the novel beyond the page.
Why This Matters
Great campaigns don’t just market books to sell copies. They create worlds readers want to live in. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter to friendship and the magic of shared imagination. My version of its launch would invite readers to not just read Sadie and Sam’s story, but to experience it first-hand.
