| Priscilla Ramirez 
Who would have thought that having fun could be so important? Plenty of research and studies now show that a child's playtime is crucial to their development. Although playtime seems like a simple concept, it often doesn’t make it onto the priority list in this era of hustle and bustle. A busy schedule is not the only impediment, though. Limited resources for families facing poverty lead to less playtime for children, as does minimal knowledge of its importance. Toys"R"Us, together with Save the Children, aimed to tackle this issue with their fundraising and awareness campaign Play With Purpose. "To know that millions of children living in poverty do not have access to play – whether due to limited family resources or knowledge about the importance of play – is heartbreaking,” said Dave Brandon, Chairman and CEO, Toys"R"Us, Inc. “Together with Save the Children, and with the support of our team members and customers nationwide, we will strive to ensure all kids are provided opportunities to play with purpose." Play With Purpose launched on Feb. 17 and runs through April 17. To kick off the two-month campaign, Toys"R"Us distributed a multimedia news release that also serves as a central hub for their multi-channel communications — housing their live Twitter feed, multiple call-to-action items, and a variety of shareable visual assets. 
When packaged together, all of their release’s assets shine a bright light on the mission of raising funds for Save the Children's early childhood development programs in some of America's most underprivileged areas. By raising awareness and providing compelling information, Play With Purpose calls on readers to engage with the cause and donate. Toys"R"Us leveraged four key strategies to maximize their campaign's discoverability and drive interaction. Consider playing with these fundamentals the next time you need to promote your brand’s story. 1. Create appealing content. Delivering useful content that people will want to share is the most assured way to improve SEO and generate more media exposure and pick-up. This, of course, begins with a good understanding of your target audiences and the issues they care about. Toys"R"Us draws in the attention of parents, teachers and media by providing information that’s important to them, such as easily digestible statistics about playtime’s impact on development growth. 2. Maximize 'shareability'. In addition to being useful, PR content should be easily shareable for maximum exposure. Social sharing of both your text and multimedia assets is vital. When deciding on what sort of visual assets to include, keep in mind what tends to be shared on social and other channels. Toys"R"Us made it easier for their audience to spread the word by cleverly dividing their infographics into smaller, more shareable segments and including a video. 
3. Launch a long-term campaign. Projects like #PlayWithPurpose that have so many moving parts are a golden opportunity for discoverability and brand recognition. By running the fundraising campaign over two months, Toys “R” Us built an ongoing conversation around the importance of play. The multimedia-rich release was the perfect way to launch this because it not only packed a huge initial punch, but also included video and graphics that could be re-circulated over the entire course of the campaign. 4. Inspire action. One of the most powerful ROIs for marketing content is generating interaction. Serious engagement requires serious calls to action. Throughout their release, Toys”R”Us weaves multiple CTAs throughout their release with a “Make a Donation” button placed prominently at the top, an embedded click-to-tweet, and rich media that can be viewed, downloaded and shared. All of these components in the multimedia news release reinforce the campaign’s larger message of #PlayWithPurpose, which itself is a call to action. Consistently implementing these fundamentals in your organization's content marketing strategy can help spur more attention for your brand. Download PR & SEO: Still Driving Discovery to get more tips that will help you develop and distribute content with purpose. Author Priscilla Ramirez is a customer success representative for channel and advocacy marketing at PR Newswire. | 
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