Barnes & Noble campaign for Nook tablet to be company's largest

Barnes & Noble will launch a campaign on Nov. 14 to promote the Nook tablet that will be the “largest campaign in Barnes & Noble history,” Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said on Nov. 7 during a company event in New York.

The campaign will include TV, print and online components. Ads will feature best-selling authors and celebrities such as Jane Lynch, James Patterson and Danielle Steel.

Via the Nook tablet, consumers will be able to access digital media content such as e-books, interactive magazines, streaming video from Netflix and Hulu Plus and streaming audio from Pandora.

The 7-inch Nook Tablet will hit stores at “the end of next week” for $249, said Lynch. He said members of Barnes & Noble's loyalty program will receive a $25 discount for the Nook Tablet and Nook Color and a $10 discount for the Nook Simple Touch.

“This year the Nook business will be $1.8 billion in revenue,” he said.

Barnes & Noble is positioning the Nook tablet as a competitor to Amazon.com's Kindle Fire tablet device, which is slated to be available on Nov. 15 for $199. Asked to address the $50 price difference between the two devices, Lynch said that the Nook tablet's added storage and memory, low-reflection and low-glare display and free in-store customer service cover the gap.

The Nook tablet will be available for purchase through Barnes & Noble as well as retailers such as Target Corp., Best Buy, Wal-Mart Stores, Staples and RadioShack Corp.