We’ve had our fair share of supermarket collectables….Little Shop, Lion King, Ooshies, Discovery Garden….but now Coles has announced the launch of their new collectables campaign and we are giving it a big thumbs up.

I think many parents are a bit over the whole collectables thing. My kids still do use their Little Shop minis for imaginative play but the ooshies are collecting dust somewhere in the corner of our toy cupboard and our Discovery Garden has withered and sadly gone onto better pastures.

But I did feel just a small sparkle of excitement when I heard that Coles had partnered up with the fabulous best-selling author Andy Griffiths and illustrator Terry Denton. As part of the supermarket’s latest collectables promo, they will be giving away pocket-sized books inspired by the quirky Treehouse book series.

Mini Treehouse Books

In this genius collab, Griffiths and Denton have been bought on board to create 24 Coles Little Treehouse™ books to collect, based on the much-loved characters from the most successful Australian kids’ book series of the past decade.

From Wednesday 29 July, customers will be offered a free Coles Little Treehouse™ book with every $30 spent in one transaction at Coles supermarkets, Coles Express and Coles Online.

The series is aimed at encouraging a lifelong love of books, taking little readers on a journey to explore an ever-expanding treehouse with new and exciting titles like Jill’s Little Big Book of Animals, Madam Know-it-all’s Believe-it-or-not Book, Vegetable Patty and Elephant on a Bicycle.

Collect All 24!

Coles Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Ronson said Coles is thrilled to partner with Australia’s most loved and talented author and illustrator duo to create a world-first collectables campaign that will bring the magic of books into millions of Australian homes.

“We wanted to find an engaging and sustainable way to bring joy and hours of entertainment to Aussie households. Our research found that while 83% of Australian households frequently encourage children to read, only 22% frequently purchased books for kids to read. As a supermarket we know we can reach millions of our customers every week with these fantastic little books to read and enjoy with their kids,” Lisa said.

“We all remember the excitement that Little Shop created for customers of all ages and we really wanted to create that same level of excitement for reading – because we know that enjoying books on a regular basis leads to improved literacy skills, better educational outcomes and happier children.”

Maccas Have Done It!

McDonalds has also shown a commitment to encourage reading and made an effort in the past to ditch the plastic Happy Meal toys with the introduction of the Happy Meal Book Intiative. The fast food chain have often given out free mini books as part of the kids’ Happy Meal pack.

Create Your Own Book Competition

Coles will also be launching its first-ever picture storybook competition encouraging Aussie kids to get creative and develop their own fictional book.

Collector’s Cases will be available for avid readers wanting to complete their full book series for $5 each as well as copies of the original Treehouse Series from $4 to $8 each at all Coles supermarkets.

$30 spend excludes the purchase of Coles Insurance products, eBay, iTunes cards, gift cards, mobile phones and plans, recharge, Opal top up, calling cards, liquor, tobacco and tobacco related product purchases, AdBlue, Trailer Hire and Lottery cards.

Are you going to be collecting these new Treehouse mini-book collectables? Tell us in the comments below.