Usually, when we talk about marketing familiar products, we might be referring to things that have been around for a while and have changed little, like soap or Corn Flakes. But what happens when the product being marketed is truly, legitimately ancient? Homer’s famous verse narrative of how Odysseus made his way home from the Trojan War likely was composed in the 7th century BCE, according to scholars, meaning that it’s been around for nearly 3000 years, during which time it has been read by millions of students, scholars, and poetry lovers. How can a marketer create excitement about a product that old and familiar?
Fortunately for publishers that maintain book versions of the epic poem, innovation arises even for ancient texts. Multiple translators have undertaken their own attempts to bring the ancient Greek text into modern languages, to make it accessible to today’s audiences. Because translation is inherently subjective, the different translations provide somewhat different approaches and versions of the text. For example,
In the 17th century, George Chapman crafted a deeply poetic, rhyming version that featured iambic pentameter.
Robert Fitzgerald published a version in 1961 that is widely familiar to students who have been assigned to read The Odyssey in their high school classes over the past half-century or so.
Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation has been described as “provocatively blunt” and modern in its approach. It also features iambic pentameter, and it gives far more voice to the female characters than previous translations have done.
When Daniel Mendelsohn released his translation in 2025, he “deliberately replicated Homer’s long lines and attended carefully to the poem’s metaphors, tone, level of diction and word choice,” seemingly in an attempt to make the experience of reading the text similar to what audiences in ancient Greece would have experienced.
All of these editions and releases prompted some attention and discussion, especially among scholars and lovers of Homeric poetry. But that was nothing compared with the hype surrounding the 2026 release of a film version of The Odyssey.
Directed by a well-reputed and well-known director (Christopher Nolan), starring some of the biggest names in film (e.g., Matt Damon, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway), and produced in a novel way (i.e., the first feature filmed with an IMAX 70 mm camera), the movie seemed destined to be a blockbuster. Recognizing this potential, the distribution company, Universal Pictures, began hyping and marketing the film more than a year before its actual release in theaters.
As anticipation among audiences grew, many of them realized that their familiarity with the famous story was weak or nonexistent. To prepare to watch, enjoy, critique, and discuss the film—all of which tend to be key to experiencing a cultural blockbuster—many consumers sought out book versions.
To cater to their needs, different book publishers have actively pushed and promoted their editions, using distinctive and creative tactics. For example, Picador delayed the release of an updated edition (which it previously had planned for 2025), featuring a new cover, forward, and afterward, waiting until just before the movie opened in theaters to install it on shelves. Penguin also reissued its version with a brightly colored new cover, depicting several of the monsters and characters made famous in the poem.
Beyond the packaging, publishers have purposefully highlighted and reinforced the distinctiveness of the different translations. W.W. Norton, which owns the rights to Wilson’s translation, noted the controversies surrounding her approach and encouraged buyers to host read-alongs and book clubs to not just read this version but also discuss why it might spark wider debate. Mendelsohn has been visible in the popular press, writing articles about the poem and the movie, which implicitly directs readers to buy his version, published by the University of Chicago.
Homer’s epic creates excitement on its own, which is part of why it persists as a classic story, told over millennia. But to convince consumers that a specific version of the poem is the best choice to purchase, marketers have to develop their own, specific type of excitement.
Discussion Questions
- List the marketing strategies adopted by the different publishers of various editions of The Odyssey to get readers to purchase their version, rather than competing versions. Which seems most effective to you?
- How have marketers seeking to sell different products (e.g., toy manufacturers, video game publishers) leveraged the popularity of other blockbuster films to garner excitement about their related offerings?
- What kind of innovation are new translations of an ancient poem: radical, incremental, or something else?
Sources: MJ Franklin, “To Sell Homer’s ‘Odyssey,’ Publishers, Like Its Hero, Get Crafty,” The New York Times, July 20, 2026; A.O. Scott, “Which Version of the ‘Odyssey’ Is Right for You?” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/video/books/100000010971102/which-version-of-the-odyssey-should-you-read.html?smid=url-share; Daniel Mendelsohn, “The Immortal Appeal of ‘The Odyssey’,” The Free Press, July 10, 2026.