<p>Waterstone&#39;s and W H Smith fired the starting gun for Christmas this week with new televised advertising campaigns highlighting their festive offers.</p><p>Waterstone&#39;s Christmas television push kicked off on 17th October with a half-price children&#39;s books offer tying in to half-term. Waterstone&#39;s TV programme this Christmas will consist of five ad campaigns, each focusing on a different theme with the strapline &quot;Give some inspiration&quot;. A spokesperson said: &quot;Each ad shows a different world that opens up within the pages of a book, before going on to feature a selection of related lead titles.&quot;</p><p>WHS launched an aggressive half- price offer on top 20 hardbacks and top 20 children&#39;s books on 17th October, advertising across press and TV. The offer runs until Sunday and will be followed by subsequent weekly deals in the run-up to Christmas. WHS&#39; Christmas catalogue will be sent to customers next week with Christmas displays to follow shortly after. Business unit director of books&nbsp; Rachel Russell said this year&#39;s marketing will add to WHS&#39; existing &quot;Think W H Smith&quot; campaign. &quot;We&#39;ve had a good start already with Jamie and Nigella,&quot; she said. &quot;October is key for book launches and activity will really escalate from then.&quot;</p><p>Waterstone&#39;s main Christmas window display and point-of-sale material, featuring the &quot;bold, rich&quot; Christmas colours of red, gold, green and purple, will be launched on 1st November. The chain is expected to offer two half-price books every two weeks on a theme such as cookery or sport.</p><p>&quot;We&#39;ve planned a phased approach which better reflects how our customers shop at this time of year,&quot; said the spokesperson. &quot;Our stores will . . . move into the full Christmas look and feel from 1st November when we will start to feature more overtly gift books as people start to think seriously about Christmas shopping.&quot; Waterstone&#39;s new Christmas catalogue will also be launched on 1st November, with specially tailored regional versions.</p><p>Borders will introduce Christmas-themed point-of-sale material&mdash;straplined &quot;Find Something Different This Christmas&quot;&mdash;from the start of November. Commercial director David Cohn said that along with offering the guaranteed Christmas bestsellers, the chain wants to sell &quot;alternatives to the Christmas hits&quot;. These will include special editions of various titles, including Philip Pullman&#39;s Golden Compass box set as well added value extras on gift books.</p>