Aquarium Tests E-Book to Woo Visitors

The illustrated e-book includes footage of real animals. The illustrated e-book includes footage of real animals.

September 16, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute

The Seattle Aquarium is taking a novel approach to attract more families with young children: an illustrated e-book.

Edwin, the Super Duper Otter follows the adventures of a precocious Alaskan sea otter as he visits an octopus, puffins, and other aquarium residents. The picture book incorporates video footage and photographs of animals from the aquarium.

The e-book is an important part of the aquarium’s current advertising campaign. Billboards and bus-shelter ads feature illustrated animals alongside photographs of their real-life counterparts, with slogans like “Where adorable comes to life”—and a reference to the free e-book. Since the campaign started in June, the e-book has been downloaded more than 40,000 times.

To read the e-book: Go to seattleaquarium.org/Edwin.

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.