HarperCollins Publishers and popular online tween hangout Woozworld have teamed up to launch a 90-day online pilot program in an effort to get tweens and teens interested in books and reading.
For the first time, virtual books are now available in Woozworld, which gets more than 10 million monthly visitors.
HarperCollins Children’s Books vice-president of integrated marketing Diane Naughton said in a release that the tween demographic is a key area of growth for the book publishing company.
Through the pilot program, launched yesterday, users are able to read and interact with a selection of more than 60 books in a lounge called “Books & Games by HarperCollins” within the Woozworld virtual world. These books include popular series such as Warriors, Septimus Heap and Big Nate.
The lounge allows users’ avatars (called “Woozens”) to explore book excerpts (dubbed “Bookz”). Users can also get further information on the books via links to HarperCollins websites and a “Browse Inside” element.
The lounge also features activities, games and branded items connected to the Bookz. Delving deeper into the Woozworld experience, users can then use their avatars to take their Bookz over to their virtual Bookcases.
Woozworld’s own brand activation platform was used to create and deploy the program. Woozworld CEO Eric Brassard said the program aligns with his company’s strategy to offer meaningful content to the site’s community, and is the type of campaign the company plans to do more of soon.
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers.
