'Books Make Us Better' – a fun campaign for book lovers from Penguin Random House and London studio Anyways

Launched just in time for Christmas, the campaign aims to promote the joy of reading by gifting books during the festive season. With humorous copy and a bold colour palette, it spans a dedicated book recommendation microsite, shareable social media gifs, and advertising throughout New York subway stations.

On the campaign's fun microsite, you can select whom the recipient of the book will be and pair the book recipient with a particular habit, interest, or personality type to generate playful book recommendations from a curated list of Penguin Random House titles. Think of someone who might be an "amateur sleuth" or a colleague who is "an outside-the-box thinker"? This campaign has got you covered.

The Anyways team worked with animator and illustrator Ben Ommundson to develop the visual language and bring the campaign to life. We especially like the website's unexpected graphic elements such as a hand cursor which taps its fingers impatiently or makes a penguin shadow puppet when left idle, enticing us to explore further.

To see the campaign in action and to find out which book it recommends for you or a loved one, visit booksmakeusbetter.penguinrandomhouse.com.