KATHY DOYLE THOMAS, executive vice president of marketing and ...

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marketingnews 09.30.10
A Day With …
KATHY DOYLE THOMAS, executive vice president of marketing and
development, Half Price Books, Records, Magazines Inc.
BY PIET LEVY//STAFF WRITER
� plevy@ama.org
The book industry is at a crossroads, as
books as we know them are being
challenged by digital editions for e-readers and the
iPad, and online book retailers like Amazon remain
strong. Comparable same-store sales for Borders
locations, for example, fell 14.4% from 2008 to
2009. Yet Dallas-based Half Price Books,
Records, Magazines Inc., an old-fashioned used
and new books and music retail chain that sells
primarily though bricks-and-mortar locations,
continues to open new shops. Half Price Books
increased its comparable same-store sales by nearly
4% for fi scal year 2009-2010 and garnered $213.3
million for the period from 109 stores in 16 states.

Kathy Doyle Thomas of Half Price Books spent her workday going through o� ce documents, perusing the shelves in the fl agship store, and engaging in meetings with
Helen Pacione, director of real estate and development (pictured bottom left), and John Wilson, assistant vice president of media and PR (bottom right). Photos
courtesy of Julius Pickenpack.
As a discount retailer, the store’s very concept is recession-friendly; aside from
rare collectibles, out-of-print titles and special promotional items, all of the
books in store are sold for half the publisher’s price or less, according to the
company. But Half Price Books also has benefi ted from a distinguished brand identity
as a community-oriented retailer that donates books to charities and promotes causes
such as literacy, recycling and First Amendment rights.
On July 23, to get a sense of how this distinct business model functions,
Marketing News shadowed Kathy Doyle � omas, executive vice president of marketing
and development, at Half Price Books headquarters. � e following are highlights
from the experience.
9:30 a.m.
� e Half Price Books o� ce is a funky cut of warehouse chic. Located atop the company’s
� agship store, the receptionist’s desk pays homage to collector culture with an army
of knickknacks covering nearly every square inch of space. A ladder bolted onto the
wall nearby comes with the label “Corporate Ladder” and leads up to a door near the
ceiling, seemingly to nowhere, with a sign that reads “Complaint Department.” Around
the corner is a shrine to late co-founders Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson, mother to
current CEO Sharon Anderson Wright, complete with the store’s very � rst sign. Apparently,
there’s also an o� ce dog, but he has taken the day o� .
Tucked in the back of the o� ce is the boardroom; void of any trinkets, walls bare,
this appears to be the most businesslike room in the place. � omas, in casual attire,
and six members of her sta� are gathered here for a weekly meeting regarding public
and community relations, promotions and customer service. To � omas’ le� is John
Wilson, assistant vice president of media and public relations, whose voice you may
have heard as Jim Swayze, Half Price Books’ good ol’ boy customer spokesman from
the retailer’s radio campaign.
A lot is packed into an hour and the meeting runs over. � e discussion includes
plans for a book giveaway event for the charity Up2Us at the � agship store and the
opening of the new Brook� eld, Wis., location. � omas wants details from her team,
asking about what banners will be at Brook� eld, ensuring the branded podium is at the
giveaway event and inquiring about special branded stickers to be placed on donated
books. “We like those logos,” � omas says.
� e talk eventually turns to marketing related to the American Library Association’s
Banned Books Week, an event promoting First Amendment rights and highlighting
books that have been targeted for banning. � omas mentions scrapping customized
T-shirts (“� ere was not much signage. It wasn’t worth it. I’d rather save $20,000.”), and
she and Emily Bruce, the PR coordinator, talk about story angles to pitch to the media.
� e group also discusses spotlighting the popular Twilight books, recognized this year
during Banned Books Week, on Half Price Books’ advocacy site DeleteCensorship.
org. “We want to own freedom of expression from a marketing standpoint,” � omas
explains. “Barnes & Noble and Borders are not talking about it, so we can talk about
something they’re not talking about.”
It all wraps up with a chat about customer service inquiries in July and for the quarter,
and about what appears to be an increase in complaints regarding service in the
stores’ buy areas: the sections where clerks purchase used items from customers. Jessica
Waddell, customer service manager, says many of the complaints pertain to the level of
service, organization, wait times and the program’s confusing explanation. � omas cites
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marketingnews 09.30.10
a soon-to-be-open store in Oklahoma City as an example of a “visually
busy” location in need of more prevalent and concise signage explaining
the policy, and says the marketing team also should look into developing
better signage and collateral pieces chain-wide explaining the buying
process, in addition to orchestrating some additional training.
10:45 a.m.
Out goes everyone but � omas and Becky
Gomez, promotions manager, and in comes
the creative team for its weekly meeting. Today
the discussion’s on “DIMFest,” an annual
meeting with Half Price Books’ district inventory
managers slated for the next day. � e
team discusses the PowerPoint presentation
that addresses graphic treatments for in-store
messaging, promotional materials like an illustrated
literary pet calendar and a holiday tote
bag, and sales and material delivery schedules
for the rest of the year.
� ey also take the time to revise and � esh
out some strategies; � omas, for instance,
stresses that managers should tell employees
to direct customers to the company’s
DeleteCensorship website during Banned
Books Week and goes over possible hours for
Black Friday, which leads to some casual backand-forth
discussions with team members that
conclude with a call for research into Black
Friday sales hour by hour last year. � omas
also realizes that Christmas this year falls on a
Saturday, which means that the company will
lose what typically is a robust shopping day.
“We need to make sure we have something to
push in December or everyone will think we
had a bad Christmas,” she says.
11:51 a.m.
� omas leads an extensive tour through the
inventory warehouse below the store as well as
on the main � oor, passing by bohemian booksellers
to her favorite sections that carry archived issues of Life magazine,
early prints of children’s classics and a collection of books sold speci� -
cally for their spines’ intricate artwork. She also lights up over an ornate
replica of the � agship Half Price Books store, complete with the appropriate
signage, that Wright, the company’s CEO, and her son constructed
out of Legos.
A few minutes later, � omas meets Wright on the � oor, and the pair
go out the back door and across the street to Henk’s European Deli for
lunch. � omas tells Wright about Christmas landing on a Saturday and
describes a holiday campaign suggesting alternative ways to wrap gi� s,
by which Wright seems impressed. � is is more like a lunch between
friends than co-workers—having known each other for 21 years, they’ve
formed a genuine friendship. Wright even credits � omas for helping to
raise her children, and when the pair travel on business, they share
a hotel room.
“I trust her to know what she’s doing,” Wright says of � omas. “She
knows me well enough to know when I really don’t agree; she knows
when to redirect it.”
“For CEOs, when [the company is] your baby, it’s tough to give up
some of that authority,” � omas says. “But you have to spread it around
and trust your people. Maybe that’s why some [CMOs] only last two
years.” But, � omas adds, marketers also are responsible for forging a
strong relationship with the heads of their companies. “Because most
marketing people have pretty strong personalities … you really have to
understand the CEO’s personality,” she says, and try your best to mesh.
Beyond their productive working relationship, Wright credits marketingdriven
brand positioning for the company’s success. “[Marketing] has made
us much more than a bookstore,” Wright says. “We’re involved in all
the communities we’re located [in]. Plus, there’s our national literacy
campaigns. We donate to the community; we donate outside of the country.”
Going forward, Wright believes that the marketing team’s focus on
community involvement and customer service will keep Half Price Books
relevant in the era of e-books and online retail.
THREE OBSERVATIONS FROM A
DAY WITH KATHY DOYLE THOMAS
1. Don’t mistake casual for lazy. The corporate culture at
Half Price Books is laid-back and Thomas is a relaxed boss. As
a result, the employees seemingly are comfortable around her.
But everyone is still business-minded. Thomas does her part by
asking detailed questions and providing guidance to ensure that
the marketing team is functioning e� ectively.
2. Communicate candidly with your CEO. Thomas admits that her
friendly relationship with CEO Wright isn’t typical, but because the
two know each other well, respect each other’s perspectives and
welcome open communication, they work stronger as a team.
3. Make marketing top of mind for every job function.
Thomas is tasked with overseeing both marketing
and development, yet her mindset always is
marketing-oriented. She uses her marketing
knowledge to better inform real estate
expansion decisions and to ask pertinent
questions about possible markets.

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2:10 p.m.
� omas is in her colorful corner o� ce playing her other executive role—executive
vice president of development—with Helen Pacione, director of real estate and
development. Even though � omas is talking real estate, marketing is still on her
mind throughout the meeting.
Right o� the bat, Pacione briefs � omas about her recent trip to Denver, a
market that Half Price Books is considering expanding into. Pacione loves the area,
citing high education levels and the community’s green tendencies as indications
that the target demographic is in the area. But � omas is concerned that the average
income level is too low, the rent rates are too high and, since Colorado is distant
from Half Price Books’ other markets, brand awareness might be an issue.
Later, with marketing in mind, � omas checks in with Gomez, the promotions
manager, over the phone to ensure that she knows about a relocation in Maplewood,
Minn., that Pacione had mentioned. � omas also expresses interest to Pacione in
opening a car charging station in advance of the new Chevrolet Volt electric car
at an Austin, Texas, store to reinforce Half Price Books’ green identity and garner
press mentions. � en near the meeting’s end, a� er pressing matters are addressed,
� omas talks about a conversation she had with a CMO for military retail stores
and dreams about the possibility of exploring the chance to open Half Price Books
stores on military bases. If the concept ever came to be, the women agree, that could
be the brand’s ticket to overseas growth. m
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