How We Secured 150+ Press Placements for Yoto Player in 2025 — and Doubled Their Holiday Coverage Year-Over-Year
A look inside Godfrey Social PR's holiday gift guide strategy, and what made Yoto Player one of the most-covered kids' brands of the season.
The Brand
Yoto Player is the screen-free audio platform redefining how kids listen, learn, and play. With a thoughtfully designed product line, a deep card library, and a passionate parent following, Yoto was perfectly positioned for editorial coverage — but in a category as competitive as kids' tech and toys, being a great product is just the starting point.
To break through during holiday season — when every brand is fighting for the same gift-guide real estate — Yoto needed a strategic, relationship-driven PR partner who knew exactly when to pitch, who to pitch, and how to package each product moment for maximum editorial impact.
That's where Godfrey Social PR came in.
The Goal
Going into the 2025 holiday season, our objective with Yoto was clear:
Land placements in the gift guides that drive buying decisions — from top-tier consumer outlets to category-specific parenting and shopping platforms
Tell the right product story at the right moment — leveraging seasonal launches (K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wicked, Black Friday, last-minute gifts) to fuel sustained coverage
Build a press portfolio Yoto could leverage long after the season ended — across their website, marketing, and brand storytelling
We didn't want to just land a holiday hit. We wanted to build a season-long press story that compounded.
The Strategy
The brands that win at holiday don't start pitching in November. They start pitching in July. Here's how our team approached the Yoto campaign:
Pitching began in July — months before holiday guides hit publication. By summer, we were already in inboxes with sample offers, story angles, and category positioning to give editors plenty of time to test, fall in love, and slot Yoto into upcoming roundups.
Every launch became a pitch moment. From the K-Pop Demon Hunters card to the Wicked: Part 1 and Part 2 soundtracks, from Halloween cards to back-to-school mindfulness titles, we identified every product drop and culturally relevant moment as a fresh editorial hook — keeping Yoto top of mind across multiple verticals.
We pitched across categories, not just parenting. While baby and kids editors are core to Yoto's audience, we expanded coverage into tech, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, and shopping verticals — opening doors at outlets like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Forbes, and Wired.
Sample seeding was strategic, not scattershot. Editors received product paired with the specific angle we wanted them to consider — a tailored pitch every time. We sent 100+ press samples through the season, prioritizing the editors most likely to convert into meaningful coverage.
We pitched with relationships, not just press releases. With 30 years of relationships at outlets like People, USA Today, TODAY, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, and The New York Times Wirecutter, our pitches landed in the inboxes of editors who already trusted our team — which is the difference between a "thanks for sharing" reply and a confirmed sample request.
The Results
The headline numbers:
150+ press placements secured across 2025 — more than double Yoto's 2024 coverage
12.6 billion total monthly unique visitors across all coverage (UMV)
62 unique outlets featured Yoto product
126 holiday-window placements between October and December alone
78 placements in tier-1 consumer outlets — Forbes, People, USA Today, TODAY, NY Times Wirecutter, NY Magazine - The Strategist, HuffPost, Yahoo, BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, Good Morning America, Variety, AOL, Parade, and more
64 gift guide and holiday-themed features — the placements that drive purchase consideration during peak season
Standout coverage included:
NY Times Wirecutter — multiple features including "The 59 Best Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Kids", "Finish Your Holiday Shopping Early With These 50 Standout Gifts on Sale for Cyber Monday", and Black Friday roundups
People — "The Coolest Finds for Back to School Gear and Beyond"
AOL & Parade — repeated features including "The Yoto Mini Player is the toy I'm recommending to everyone who asks this year: Here's why"
NY Magazine – The Strategist — eleven separate placements including "The Best Gifts for KPop Demon Hunters Fans" and "The Best Kids' Stuff We Bought in 2025"
Billboard — "Kids Can Blast 'Golden' All on Their Own With This 'KPop Demon Hunters' Screen-Free Audio Device"
USA Today, TODAY, BuzzFeed, HuffPost — sustained coverage from summer through year-end
Forbes — multiple features across Forbes Vetted and the main site
Good Housekeeping, Good Morning America, Country Living — gift guide inclusion across the most-trusted lifestyle brands in America
The Ripple Effect
Press isn't just a one-time win. It's a marketing asset that compounds.
Yoto used their 2025 press coverage to:
Add a robust "as seen in" logo strip to their website, signaling credibility to every visitor
Power social, newsletter, and DTC marketing with editorial endorsement
Build search authority — every placement in a top outlet contributes to brand visibility in Google and AI search results
Continue earning coverage well past the holiday window — the press story keeps building
This is what we mean when we say press is a long game. The 150+ placements we landed in 2025 aren't just a great holiday recap. They're a credibility foundation Yoto will leverage for years to come.
What This Means for Your Brand
The brands that win at holiday gift guide coverage aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who start early, pitch strategically, and partner with a team that already has the editor relationships.
If you're a baby, kids, or consumer brand thinking about your 2026 holiday season, now is the time to start. Editor relationships take time. Pitch development takes time. Sample logistics take time. The brands locking in their Q4 coverage are already in summer-pitching mode.
Our Holiday Gift Guide PR Program is built for exactly this — a focused, six-month push designed to put your product in the gift guides, shopping roundups, and editorial coverage that shape holiday buying decisions.
Get in touch: info@godfreysocialpr.com
Godfrey Social PR is a boutique consumer PR agency specializing in baby + kids, beauty + wellness, and lifestyle brands. Since 1997, we've been helping consumer brands earn the press coverage that drives credibility, awareness, and brand growth. Learn more at godfreysocialpr.com.