ASTRA's Neighborhood Toy Store Day generates robust consumer media coverage

Kids Today Staff -- Kids Today, 11/20/2012 11:10:21 AM

The American Specialty Toy Retailing Assn. says that media coverage about the advantages of specialty toys reached a reading audience of more than 90 million consumers in the ramp-up to this year's Neighborhood Toy Store Day.

ASTRA said that its outreach to national media outlets, coupled with efforts member retailers made in their local markets using press release templates and other resources provided by ASTRA, highlighted the importance of supporting locally owned toy stores. Those efforts lead to mentions in several hundred media outlets around the country and across multiple platforms, including print, radio, broadcast, Facebook, Twitter and blogs, ASTRA said.

Among the placements were mentions in Examiner.com, SheKnows.com, CoolMomPicks.com and The ShoppingMama.com.

"We know that moms, who are the biggest toy buyers, get so much of their information from blogs and social media," said Kathleen McHugh, president of ASTRA. "So this year we put a big focus on those channels. This is an effort to raise awareness of the specialty toy advantage and the importance of shopping local - especially in the markets where our members are located - and we are delighted with the results."

Neighborhood Toy Store Day, held on the second Saturday of November, was created by ASTRA to position its retailers for a strong holiday season. ASTRA supports participation of its retailer members by offering free planning guides, templates for media outreach, Best Toys for Kids award program flyers and more.