Truman,
expert bookseller
Expanding a brand character into
a functional retail experience
ART DIRECTION - WORLDBUILDING - CHARACTER DESIGN - BRAND ACTIVATION - RETAIL EXPERIENCE - AI-ASSISTED DESIGN
Client
Casa del Libro
Creative Director
Natalia Arias
Copywriter
Ana Benitez
Art Director
Laura Forero
Designer
Pablo del Valle
AI Filmmaker
Mike Ramos
Creative Engineer
Diego Rey
Narrator
Asier Sola
Sound Technician
Andriy Volodarskyy
Digital Director
Julio Fernández-Sanguino
Account Executive
José Alberto Martín
Tools
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Nano Banana
In 2024, Casa del Libro introduced Truman, a small dragon who found his place inside a bookstore. The campaign created strong emotional connection and high engagement with audiences.
For Christmas 2025, the objective was to consolidate Truman as a long term brand asset and expand him into a complete omnichannel experience. The campaign needed to reinforce Casa del Libro’s values: expert recommendation, community, care and emotional connection during a key commercial season.
This project transformed Truman from a character into a living universe across digital platforms, physical stores, public space and media.
The campaign was based on a clear strategic idea defined from the proposal stage.
Truman builds on brand attributes already linked to Casa del Libro, such as expertise, warmth, guidance and community. By bringing the character back, the campaign increased brand recognition and helped maintain emotional continuity. The Christmas story continued from the previous year and focused on belonging, sharing and helping people find the right gift.
“Hay un lugar que siempre te espera”.
(There’s a place that always waits for you)
The word “place” worked as a symbolic idea. It did not refer to a single store, but to the entire Casa del Libro network and its community of expert booksellers.
The central piece of the campaign was a Christmas master video that explored Truman’s origin story.
The spot showed his past, his loneliness, and the moment he found his place inside Casa del Libro. The story connected with people who experience mixed emotions during the holiday season. It reinforced the idea that everyone can find a place where they belong.
Visually, Truman was originally developed through sketches and illustrated references for the 2024 Christmas campaign. For 2025, the character was refined and adapted to reach a more defined final version. The execution combined AI-generated imagery, photomontage and real store environments.
My role included adapting Truman’s digital design, ensuring emotional coherence, and defining how he would visually exist inside real Casa del Libro universe.
Character development and evolution
Unlike the 2024 campaign, this version did not use filming with the physical costume. In 2025, Truman was developed through generative AI, while staying faithful to the original suit and the official plush toy.
Part of the work focused on creating a clear visual connection between the real costume from 2024, the plush toy, and the new AI-generated digital version. Proportions, eye expression, textures and materials were carefully adjusted to keep the character soft and easy to recognize.
The goal was to keep the character recognizable and consistent across all formats.
Key visual development
The main campaign graphic focused on expert booksellers and presented them as a diverse and welcoming community. The design highlighted the brand colors, the aprons and the physical books as key visual elements, making them clearly recognizable.
At the beginning, we explored proposals inspired by stop-motion aesthetics. As the project developed, we moved towards a photomontage system that combined real bookstore spaces, real booksellers and the digital version of Truman. This allowed us to keep a strong connection with reality while integrating the character in a natural way.
The objective was to create a clear and warm visual system that worked consistently across outdoor formats, print pieces and digital placements, while maintaining strong brand recognition.
Omnichannel experience
The campaign was organized in different phases, moving from teaser to reveal and then activation.
In the first phase, we created intrigue through unbranded podcast interventions and small guerrilla actions in public spaces. Truman appeared as sound interferences and through book recommendations placed around the city. The intention was to generate curiosity before showing the brand.
In the second phase, Truman was officially introduced through the master video and the main campaign graphics, giving a clear identity to the character and the concept.
The third phase focused on direct interaction with the audience under the message “¿No sabes qué libro regalar? Habla con Truman.” This invited people to engage with the character in a simple and accessible way.
The Truman Telephone
One of the main experiential pieces of the campaign was the Truman Telephone.
The concept was simple. Inside the store, visitors could pick up a physical phone and listen to personalized book recommendations recorded by Truman. The idea was to make the character feel present in a direct and playful way.
I designed the telephone object, using the character’s visual identity as the starting point. I worked on the overall scale, colors, eye proportions, and the integration of details such as the glasses, horns and speaker system.
The goal was to make it recognizable and coherent with the existing version of Truman.
Based on my design, the telephone was then developed by a collaborator who was responsible for bringing it into production. He adapted the proposal to real technical requirements, structural solutions and installation needs, while respecting the original concept, proportions and visual identity.
The final piece was manufactured following this process, transforming the 3D design into a real object ready to be installed in stores.
In addition, we used our brand channels to promote the telephone and encourage interaction with Truman. The video script focused on inviting people to speak with Truman, the expert bookseller. The telephone appeared as a key visual element in the spot, reinforcing the in-store experience, while the call to action also directed users to the WhatsApp channel, where they could chat with Truman and receive book recommendations in a direct and accessible way.
The campaign strengthened Truman as a long-term brand asset and clearly positioned him as Casa del Libro’s literary expert. In 2024, the character was introduced through an emotional story. In 2025, his role expanded into a more practical and service-oriented function.
Truman evolved into an active service within the brand experience.
Through consistent art direction and worldbuilding, Truman was present across film, in-store installations, digital platforms and media placements, maintaining coherence in every format.
He continues to be the same small dragon connected to books, now clearly positioned as the expert who helps others discover their next read.
