How Do In-Person Events Tell the PRH Story? Ask Lindsey Elias, Direct of Brand Events, PRH
Lindsey and Freya, her year-and-half-old puppy.
In 2024, Penguin Random House attended three comic-cons nationwide, spent a weekend at Brooklyn’s Afropunk, clinked glasses at the California Wine Festival, and hit the road yet again with the Banned Book Wagon. Our brand events support Penguin Random House in telling our story and we are proud to amplify voices far and wide. Behind these events, you’ll often find Lindsey Elias, Director of Brand Events on the Communications team. Whether it’s coordinating book giveaways, handselling at shows, or staging an author-studded murder mystery, Lindsey is eager to create engaging, authentic moments that drive growth for Penguin Random House.
Meet Lindsey and learn how leading the charge on consumer-facing shows strengthens the brand and why it’s important in today’s digital world to initiate face-to-face interaction.
Meet Lindsey!
This year you celebrated 15 years with PRH! Tell us about a career highlight that you’re particularly proud of.
Lindsey Elias, Director of Brand Events, Penguin Random House.
With nearly 20 years of publishing experience, I’m passionate about fighting censorship and protecting the right to read. I’ve been lucky to sit on the Intellectual Freedom Taskforce for the past two years. I’m proud of the work PRH is doing around this issue and I am grateful to be included in that work. Whether it’s handling book giveaway logistics for the Banned Wagon tour or coordinating the creation of Book Resumes (a useful tool for parents and educators who are looking to defend banned titles), it feels important to do something tangible.
As Director of Brand Events, you lead the charge on many of the Cons PRH attends! Why has it been a priority to be at consumer-facing shows such as San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic-Con?
Delilah S. Dawson, Rob Hart, Kara Thomas
In today’s digital world, especially post-pandemic, people are seeking face-to-face interaction more and more. There were fears that people would never go back to in-person events, but we’ve seen record attendance at multiple shows in the past few years. When people come together and are bound by a common interest, they are excited to hear about our books and they seek out personal recommendations.
Readers are everywhere and they are actively looking for our expertise. With anywhere between 90K and 150K attendees at the three major Cons we attend each year, these shows are one of the few times we can sell books, spotlight our amazing authors, and interact with consumers directly at this scale.
This year, your team staged a Murder Mystery Party where authors (Delilah S. Dawson, Rob hart, Jane Pek, Kara Thomas, and Tri Vuong) and Con attendees assumed the roles of various characters who all had the goal of figuring out who amongst them was a murderer. Tell us a little about how you plan events that feel both fresh and authentic?
The Murder!
The Décor!
I’m a big believer in not reinventing the wheel. Murder mystery parties have become very popular, similar to escape rooms, so we purchased a package that provided us with all of the materials we needed. That may sound easy, and in some ways it was, but we expected up to 70 people to attend and needed to print and distribute materials which included a folder for each attendee, decorate the space, ensure our authors were comfortable and prepared, and somehow make sure the game moved along smoothly and within the time we had allotted. Materials in each folder included three rounds of unique instructions for each character, a map, an inspection sheet to take notes, and a character bib.
The host, Knopf DD’s Abby Endler.
We had the fabulous Abby Endler, Manager, Marketing, Knopf Doubleday, as our host for the evening. She did a great job of leading the game! In addition to the help of the entire team, Madison Furr, Publicity Manager, Random House Children’s Books, brought her personal experience with murder mystery parties to the evening, ultimately making us all feel better about the endeavor!
There’s always a balance to be struck between an event being fun and engaging, but also delivering brand, marketing, sales, and/or publicity benefits. Our promise is to bring consumers the best authors and the best books, and we deliver on that promise. However, we also want to build buzz and have them talking about the event and our company.
Events require that we consider current trends, new technologies, alongside tried and true tactics. We never settle for keeping things the same year-over-year but rather are always exploring new ideas and ways to engage.
What’s your favorite element of your job? And which is the most challenging?
I personally love handselling at shows. It’s very satisfying especially when I pitch a book that I personally love and am genuinely excited for that new reader. Also, I love my colleagues from each division that I’ve worked with for years. When you travel and spend 8+ hours a day together for four to five days it’s important to get to know one another and help each other out whenever possible.
As for its challenges, it’s often underestimated how complex events are to plan, even when seemingly straightforward. Every event I direct requires an incredible amount of planning, coordination, and knowledge of our divisions, systems, and processes. Also, events require a significant time and monetary commitment if you aim to execute them right, which means it’s important to put a lot of thought into which audiences we want to connect with and where we want to engage with them to have the biggest impact.
How do you imagine our Brand Events might evolve in the next few years? What’s your biggest ambition?
I believe brands overall will continue to become more important as people are more tuned into who they are buying from, not just the product itself. I don’t think anyone will argue that we can get to a place where brand sells books. Consumers already know Penguin Random House and know they can trust us to have the best titles and authors.
As far as ambitions go, I want people to come back to our booth year after year. I’d love for books to be treated in the same way as other forms of entertainment like movies, tv, and video games. And I’d love to get the booth branding buttoned up so we can take full advantage of the new global logo with the Penguin icon.
Handmade weaving, hangs over Lindsay’s desk.
When you’re not planning events, how are you enjoying your time?
I’m usually engaged in something creative whether it’s weaving, painting, cross-stitching, or another craft or art form. I also love walking, playing tennis (mixed feelings about pickleball), listening to music, my dog Freya, and of course reading.
I’ve had an Etsy shop for many years which also keeps me busy!