Reading Is Fundamental and Macy’s team up on #BookSmartSummer

Reading is a great summer pastime for both adults and kids. So our clients at Reading Is Fundamental have teamed up with Macy’s to kick off the 11th Annual Be Book Smart campaign to help spark kids’ imaginations this summer with books.

A survey of more than 1,000 parents was conducted by Harris Poll back in April and found that children ages 5-11 spend nearly three times as many hours weekly watching TV or playing video games as they do reading in the summer. Only 17% of these parents say reading is a top summer priority.

This year’s Be Book Smart campaign started on June 18 and runs till the end of this week, July 13. Part of the campaign includes the “Book Smart Summer Photo” Sweepstakes which invites people to submit their #BookSmartSummer photos for a chance to win a $500 Macy’s gift card each week. The photo must includes these three components: 1) The cover of the book 2) A favorite summer spot to read the book, 3) A summer style. The photo can be expressed through a composite image or a single photo with all components.

Participants can submit as many photos as they wish during the sweepstakes period and use these three different methods of entry. First is via Facebook from a Sweepstakes promotion tab off the Reading is Fundamental  Facebook page.  Participants must first “Like” the page in order to access the submission form. Or they have the option of submitting their photos on Twitter and Instagram and including the hashtag, #BookSmartSummer. Upon posting the photo, the participant will receive a notification with a link to the Sweepstakes submission form.

One winner has been randomly selected each week to receive the $500 Macy’s gift card. Only one more weekly drawing is left in the campaign. Here is a photo that was submitted by week #2 winner, Lynn S., from Morristown, NJ. All the entries can be viewed here on the RIF Facebook Sweepstakes page. Currently it looks like over a hundred great photos have been submitted.

The Be Book Smart campaign also is inviting customers nationwide to give $3 at any Macy’s register in-store to help provide a book for a child and in return get $10 off a purchase of $30 or more. Macy’s will donate 100 percent of every $3 to RIF.

“We are committed to RIF’s mission of empowering children through literacy and inspiring them to embrace the joy of reading during the summer,” said Martine Reardon, chief marketing officer, Macy’s. “Be Book Smart offers our customers the opportunity to give back to their local community, and thanks to the collective generosity of our customers and associates, we’ve given 10 million books to kids since 2004.”

So only 5 days left! The more people that get involved, the more books that can be given to kids all over the country. So start snapping and shopping!

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