“HAY UN LUGAR QUE SIEMPRE TE ESPERA”
CASA DEL LIBRO
From brand to community through storytelling.
Casa del Libro faced the challenge of evolving from a transactional retail space into a brand capable of creating emotional connection and community across every touchpoint.
INSIGHT
A universal feeling: loneliness at Christmas.
According to the 2024 Barometer on Unwanted Loneliness, approximately 20% of the population in Spain experiences unwanted loneliness, that is, 1 in 5 people report feeling lonely at present. In addition, Christmas has a greater potential to intensify this feeling compared to other times of the year. In fact, more than 80% of Spaniards miss someone during the holiday season, and over 80% associate this time of year with being with family.
Casa del Libro is not just a place for books; it is warmth, a welcoming atmosphere, a desire to learn, and a sense of family belonging. It is more than a bookstore, it’s a community.
Our goal is to make this community experience a point of connection across all channels, both physical and digital, providing a consistent, human-centered experience everywhere.
“There is a place that always awaits you” reflects the brand’s purpose as a cultural agent: improving people’s lives through reading. For this project, we aimed to convey a message of community and celebration during Christmas.
To bring this idea to life, we created Truman, a monster who experiences loneliness during the holidays but is eventually embraced by Casa del Libro’s reading community, becoming an expert bookseller. This story is told in a heartwarming video, showing Truman’s journey from solitude to belonging reinforcing the idea that Casa del Libro is a place where everyone is welcomed.
Truman comes to life beyond the screen, transforming into a virtual recommender. Through WhatsApp, he suggests books from over 600,000 titles, offering personalized, fluid conversations that replicate the experience of speaking with an expert bookseller in-store.
He also appears physically in stores, taking part in special events such as book signings and community gatherings with renowned authors.
By bridging digital and physical touchpoints, Truman ensures the human, expert-led book discovery experience is consistent, engaging, and truly community-driven across all channels.
PART I
PRINT AD
MAKING OF
Filmakers: AdiosAdios
Creative Direction and Brand Strategy: Natalia Arias A.
Copywriter: Ana Benitez
Creative Team:
Debora Hillert, Laura Forero, Jordi Portillo
Production Co: La Joya Producciones
Creative Direction and Brand Strategy: Natalia Arias A.
Copywriter: Ana Benitez
Creative Team: Debora Hillert, Laura Forero, Jordi Portillo
Production Co: La Joya Producciones
PART II
“TRUMAN, EL LIBRERO EXPERTO DE CASA DEL LIBRO”
“TRUMAN, EL LIBRERO EXPERTO DE CASA DEL LIBRO”
A character that humanizes the experience.
CHALLENGE
In a world dominated by algorithm-driven recommendations, book discovery has become automated, predictable, and impersonal.
How can Casa del Libro reclaim book recommendation as a human, cultural act, and become the most trusted voice in discovering what to read?
STRATEGY
Transform Casa del Libro’s catalog, expertise, and cultural authority into a living storytelling platform.
Instead of competing with algorithms, the brand would embody its own editorial voice, turning its knowledge, community, and literary heritage into a distinctive and human recommendation system.
IDEA
We created Truman, a unique brand character: a virtual recommender and expert bookseller.
Truman is not born from technology, but from brand strategy.
He is built from Casa del Libro’s DNA, its values, tone, and personality. That’s why he thinks, speaks, and recommends like the brand itself, ensuring coherence and consistency across every touchpoint.
Truman lives across the website, chat, content platforms, and physical stores, becoming a permanent brand asset that makes book discovery more human, accessible, and memorable.
To introduce Truman, we developed an original narrative universe around him: a prequel story, branded merchandising, and a transmedia Christmas campaign.
Truman stepped beyond screens, appearing in podcasts, street activations, and urban spaces, leaving curated book recommendations in metros, parks, and public benches.
The objective was clear:
to help people find the perfect book to gift during the most important commercial season of the year, strengthening emotional connection while reinforcing Casa del Libro’s authority as the human expert in book recommendation.
In a world dominated by algorithm-driven recommendations, book discovery has become automated, predictable, and impersonal.
How can Casa del Libro reclaim book recommendation as a human, cultural act, and become the most trusted voice in discovering what to read?
Transform Casa del Libro’s catalog, expertise, and cultural authority into a living storytelling platform.
Instead of competing with algorithms, the brand would embody its own editorial voice, turning its knowledge, community, and literary heritage into a distinctive and human recommendation system.
We created Truman, a unique brand character: a virtual recommender and expert bookseller.
Truman is not born from technology, but from brand strategy.
He is built from Casa del Libro’s DNA, its values, tone, and personality. That’s why he thinks, speaks, and recommends like the brand itself, ensuring coherence and consistency across every touchpoint.
Truman lives across the website, chat, content platforms, and physical stores, becoming a permanent brand asset that makes book discovery more human, accessible, and memorable.
To introduce Truman, we developed an original narrative universe around him: a prequel story, branded merchandising, and a transmedia Christmas campaign.
Truman stepped beyond screens, appearing in podcasts, street activations, and urban spaces, leaving curated book recommendations in metros, parks, and public benches.
The objective was clear:
to help people find the perfect book to gift during the most important commercial season of the year, strengthening emotional connection while reinforcing Casa del Libro’s authority as the human expert in book recommendation.
Creative Direction and Brand Strategy: Natalia Arias A. - Creative team: Ana Benitez, Debora Hillert, Laura Forero, Jordi Portillo - IA Filmaker: Mike Ramos - Creative Engineer: Diego Rey - Producer: Mariam Valencia
Creative Direction and Brand Strategy: Natalia Arias A. - Creative team: Ana Benitez, Debora Hillert, Laura Forero, Jordi Portillo - IA Filmaker: Mike Ramos - Creative Engineer: Diego Rey - Producer: Mariam Valencia
Creative Direction and Brand Strategy: Natalia Arias A.
Creativity Copywriter: Ana Benitez
Art Director: Laura Catalina Forero
Designer: Pablo del Valle
IA Filmaker: Mike Ramos
Creative Engineer: Diego Rey
Narrator: Asier Sola
Sound Technician: Andriy Volodarskyy
Digital Director: Julio Fernández -Sanguino
Digital Account Manager: Elena Sánchez
Account Executive: Jose Alberto Martin
@2026