by Stephen Lawrence*
It’s become a PR tradition to release lists of the season’s hot toys around the holidays. Top ten lists of the best, the safest, and the most popular items for all ages are now as eagerly anticipated as the next shipment of Zhu Zhu pets. For smaller manufacturers this brings invaluable product recognition, especially for those products that can seemingly catch fire overnight.
And toy retailers are actively integrating the toys, found on the more popular lists, into their seasonal in-store marketing campaigns. In a recent interview for Playthings.com, Nancy Stanek, the owner of Illinois-based Toys Etcetera, observed:
Draw attention to the “best toys” by creating a special display that shoppers can identify quickly. If shoppers have heard about the list through your advertising, on your website, in newspaper articles, or through Mommy blogs, make it easy and obvious for them to find what they came for.
For the general public, those aunts and uncles, who are looking for the perfect gift for little Poindexter, but just aren’t privy to 
his ever-changing wish list – these placements are a great starting point. And what could be a better place to start that quest than in the pages of their local newspaper?
As we have observed in previous postings, pictures are invaluable to driving product recognition especially when the shelves are crowded with so many toys competing for the buyer’s attention. (Remember the thrill of Christmas catalogs in those days long ago?)
So, in terms of graphics, how do toy list articles fare in the jump from print to web? (I must note, that while we are supplying the URLs to the online articles, we are unable to reproduce the original printed pages for comparison and posting to Fresh Ideas due to copyright restrictions. For a more in-depth discussion on copyright, check out this BurrellesLuce white paper.)
Here are just a few instances where the web doesn’t reflect the original print.
- FamilyFun magazine recently announced its 18th annual T.O.Y. (toy of the year) Award winners. While a number of newspapers picked up the release, publishing a nice array of the accompanying photos alongside, only the Online Athens (Athens Banner-Herald) fully transitioned the article to its website.
- Another example is from the Chicago Tribune whose Internet version of the article, “Not the Zhu Zhu Pets: 5 more hot toys this holiday season” has none of “the five hot toy” photos that that readers received in the print edition.
- Even original material can see a loss of content. A full-page article about teaching toys, from the print edition of the Detroit Free Press lost over half of its graphics on the journey to the web. And the Internet version of this article, appearing on ArizonaCenteral.com, listing “The Best in Tech Toys” gets no pictures whatsoever.
As I’ve stated in prior posts, if you’re not seeing both your print and online coverage than you’re not seeing the full picture – quite literally. For those in the retail industry or in public relations who are trying to reach clients and perspective consumers, the effects of missing graphics could be detrimental.
*Bio: A native of Mesa, Arizona, I graduated from the University of Arizona with a major in Near Eastern Studies. I began my career with BurrellesLuce in 1997 as a reader. As with most readers, I developed a special relationship with my assigned papers – those small town dailies and weeklies of the same flavor that my family had been employed in for two generations. Currently, I hold the position of quality assurance specialist, troubleshooting daily production issues. Outside interests include woodworking, and keeping my wife and dog happy. Twitter: BurrellesLuce; Facebook: BurrellesLuce
