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Reading Rationales

MVBGermany

The problem

Trade classification describes subject. It says nothing about the motive that actually drives the purchase, so a title is routinely marketed against the wrong need – by MVB's own estimate, roughly one book in two.

The solution

Developed with Gruppe Nymphenburg out of neuromarketing research, Reading Rationales adds a layer of three generic and ten specific reader motives, assigned automatically by AI over existing metadata. Publishers can position titles against it; booksellers can build motive-based tables and online gift finders.

What is distinctive

It extends the industry's existing metadata pipes instead of asking anyone to adopt a new system – the reason it can reach an entire national market at once.

Evidence

  • Run by MVB, the technology and information arm of the Börsenverein group.
  • Assignment runs against the 2.5 million titles in the German books-in-print database (VLB).
  • Shortlisted for the IPA Innovation in Publishing Award 2024; deployed by the Reuffel bookshop chain for a Christmas gift finder. Adoption figures are not published.

Compiled from public sources, August 2026. Not yet reviewed by the organisation.