‘La iniciativa municipal ‘Siéntate a Leer 2024′ gana oro en medios tradicionales’

Imágenes de various book benches scattered throughout the capital, including the book «100 iconic recipes from Madrid with a stop at its markets», edited by the City Council, which offered passersby the opportunity to download the work via QR code.

The City Council’s campaign to promote reading and support local bookstores, municipal libraries, and the main shopping streets of the city, «Sit Down and Read 2024», won gold at the prestigious M&M Global Awards in the category of Best Campaign in Traditional Media worldwide for its creativity, innovation, and extensive coverage.

Driven by the Madrid City Council, through the Zone of Economy, Innovation, and Finance, and JCDecaux, in collaboration with Random House and Carat, the initiative filled the capital with book-shaped benches between May 21 and June 22 of this year as a prelude to the 83rd Madrid Book Fair.

The objective of the campaign, part of the municipal program Everything is in Madrid, is to, in the words of the economic delegate, Engracia Hidalgo, «invite citizens to take a break and stop to enjoy a book and a moment of silence on the street, promoting reading through fun and inspiring urban furniture’, as well as ‘encourage Madrid residents and visitors to use the city’s streets differently’, taking advantage of ‘everything Madrid has to offer’.

Twenty book benches in nine districts

With this dual objective, various streets and squares in the neighborhoods of Centro, Chamartín, Chamberí, Fuencarral-El Pardo, Moncloa-Aravaca, Retiro, Salamanca, Tetuán, and Villaverde highlight 26 bookstores for a month inspired by national current events and international authors from various literary genres such as Gabriel García Márquez, Arturo Pérez Reverte, or Reyes Monforte, and iconic literary characters like Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, or Mafalda by Quino.

In its second edition, the giant «Sit Down and Read» has transformed the landscape of iconic places in the capital such as Gran Vía, Calle Alcalá, Cuesta de Moyano, Puerta del Moro, entrances to El Retiro, or squares like Callao. , Cuzco, Colón, or Felipe II, among many others, surprising residents and visitors.

Each bench featured a QR code with access to the Everything is in Madrid website where users could consult an interactive map with the location of the city’s bookstores and libraries, as well as each bench, the work, and the author. One of the book benches was «100 iconic recipes from Madrid with a stop at its markets» published by the City Council, which offered pedestrians the opportunity to download the work via QR code.

«Sit Down and Read», a multi-award-winning campaign

In addition to the gold at the prestigious M&M Global Awards, the campaign also won other important awards such as silver for Best OOH Use at the Festival of Media Global Awards (FAO) 2024 and was a finalist at the AEVEA 2024 Awards in the Highest Profitability and Efficiency category. «Sit Down and Read 2023» also received a silver award at the Impacte 2023 Awards in the Impact to Media Strategy category and a bronze at the JCDecaux Awards for Best Brand Experience, as well as being a finalist in the Efficacy Awards 2023.

The «Sit Down and Read» campaign is one of the actions of the Everything is in Madrid program, the national winner of the 2024 European Enterprise Promotion Awards for the best initiatives to support digital transition and one of the six finalists in the European phase to be decided in Budapest on November 19. /