Shooting Stars: 12 Brands to Watch in 2014
Brand: Toys “R” Us
Idea to Steal: To reach mom and dad, get the kids on your side.
Whenever it arrives, the Toys “R” Us holiday catalog always generates a frenzy in households with children. Kids immediately want to tear through it to figure out what they want to request from the big man in red. But the company smartly figured out a way to increase families’ engagement with this year’s Great Big Toys “R” Us Wish Finder beyond sourcing out a list for Santa.
The catalog, mailed the week before Halloween and inserted in newspapers the first weekend of November, arrived in homes encased in a mailing enveloped styled like a present waiting to be unwrapped. When kids opened it, they found a checklist poster for Skylanders Swap Force, which kids could easily trim along the dotted lines and put on their walls. The checklist featured the entire line of collectible figures that can be played in the video game, including four TRU exclusive characters.
To drive traffic to the book and then in store, the 80-page catalog was supported with a 30-second national television spot, as well as radio advertising. Households that got the catalog by mail found a coupon for $10 off $100 or more on the cover, valid up to Nov. 23, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
To increase engagement once families get into stores, TRU released the “Wish List Wizard” app, which turns kids’ parents’ smartphones into scanners they can use to add their must-have items into a digital wish lists that parents can share with family and friends. To give parents an incentive to hand the phones over to the kids, those who create a list between Nov. 1 and 27 and then buy $100 worth of toys from the list receive a $10 e-gift card. In-store events throughout November tied in with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, and carried the at-retail engagement over to social, encouraging kids to share toy suggestions on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.—BNV
