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30 Years of KidStuff PR KidStuff Founder Lisa Orman discusses 30 years of business in the industry, and how it’s anything but child’s play!
Of the most industrious and professional PR firms in the Toy sphere today, you would be hard-pressed to find one with as much heart as KidStuff PR. With colorfully crafted copy, timely press releases, and a uniquely keen ear for consumer feedback, if you’re represented by KidStuff, you know you’re in the best hands. Likewise, it’s a pleasure to work with them as a media collaborator, we should know! KidStuff always makes sure we have the latest and greatest info from their clients to share with our readers. To mark the 30th anniversary of KidStuff PR, we sat down with its founder, Lisa Orman, to discuss the company’s history, ambitions, milestones, and more! KidStuff PR was founded in 1994. Would you tell us a history of yourself and company? The agency started in Wisconsin, where I needed a team to service my huge new client, retailer Zany Brainy, as it opened new stores westward from its east coast established locations. I had a new baby daughter and my son, born in 1997. I had a journalism degree and years of experience working at newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Crain’s Chicago Business, plus time working as a retail management consultant. Like all new parents, I felt overwhelmed by all the choices that needed to be made in raising my kids. My career and motherhood are what won me the Zany Brainy account, so I set out to hire other mom publicists from around the country as contractors, wherever the retailer was opening stores.
Instead of US mail and faxing, the agency uses (expensive) state-of-the-art online media databases, distribution, monitoring and reporting tools. Ecommerce and business websites weren’t a thing, but now, look at our heavy reliance on both! Thanks to the pandemic, Zoom video calls are here to stay. Business certainly has transformed dramatically over time! What are some noteworthy milestones over your 30-year history? - Having Elmo from Sesame Street wear our client Aeromax’s child-size astronaut suit on TV and a press junket when he visited NASA and saw the final space shuttle launch.
It worked! In 1994 KidStuff PR was officially founded, the name was trademarked, and the group of moms offered their kids as play testers and attendees at grand openings and daily store events. To show how much the PR business has changed from then to now, the agency had a $5,000 per month secretarial service bill to sort 65 versions of press releases (based on store locations) into envelopes addressed to local media in 65 different metro areas. The printing bill and postage was $12,000 a month. The fax bill was $3,000 because back then, TV stations would only accept story pitches and press releases by fax. Now, all of that is gone. Email is not only an acceptable method of communication with media, but the preferred one. 20 tfe February 2024
Elmo sports an Aeromax kid sized (or puppet sized) astronaut suit on his trip to NASA, coordinated by KidStuff