Zlatan Ibrahimović Autobiography Makes a Splash

Since the Nov. 9 release by Albert Bonniers Förlag of Jag är Zlatan Ibrahimović, the autobiography of the renowned soccer player, the book has gotten an unprecedented amount of attention, not least in the media. The story of Zlatan’s childhood in the Rosengård area of Malmö, the skandals and the club changes, the book has become a must-have in houses throughout Sweden. During the first week of the release, media analyst firm Mediapilot calculates the PR buzz has been worth SEK 22.5 million in marketing.

“What happened the last week was historic in a number of ways,” says Anna-Karin Korpi-Öhlund, information and PR manager at Bonnierförlagen, the publishing house of which Albert Bonniers Förlag is a part.

The publisher had expected the book to generate a lot of attention, but no one expected quite the avalanche that ensued. So those working with the marketing of the release had to be especially flexible in order to meet the demands from Swedish and non-Swedish media alike.

“We had of course a very detailed marketing and PR plan, but we had to give up on that pretty quickly,” says Korpi-Öhlund. “The last weeks we’ve had for the most part a new plan every hour! Since the demand was so huge, it’s required a lot of flexibility and creative thinking. Everything came to a head. But the book has gotten fantastic reviews.”

In marketing Jag är Zlatan Ibrahimović, Albert Bonniers Förlag worked with a broad mix of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, from within and outside Bonnier.