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| photo: WSJ.com | |
Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio, who "has been a relatively low-key presence in recent years," created the chain bookseller's upcoming holiday TV commercial, featuring Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, that will debut Monday during the national morning talk shows, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition to conceiving and writing the spot, Riggio recruited the talent, asking longtime friend Bennett if he would participate and "if he could bring in Lady Gaga," with whom the legendary singer recorded the 2014 hit album, Cheek to Cheek. In the commercial, the duo "separately walk the aisles of a fictitious Barnes & Noble store while looking for a gift for each other. As they browse, viewers hear them singing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside.' " Eventually they meet, exchange gifts, and "before the commercial ends, viewers hear the tagline Barnes & Noble is hoping will strike a chord with book buyers: You never know who you’ll meet at Barnes & Noble," the Journal wrote.
"I'd been thinking about physical books, digital books, future store concepts, and the essence of what is it about us that makes us who we are," said Riggio. "The idea of the meeting place, the piazza, is so much of what we've become across the country."