ASTRA Innovation Council News

Roger Bildsten, Hip Hooray LLC

GETTING READY FOR 2021!

The ASTRA Toolkit™ Grows

In July the ASTRA Innovation Council began posting Toolkit ideas to encourage members as they prepare for the important fourth quarter. By now you will have seen several posts on ASTRA Connect and will recognize the Toolkit brand:

ASTRA Toolkit™

These posts have generated productive member dialog and we’ve received solid feedback from you. Keep watching ‘ASTRA Connect All Members’ for more Toolkit ideas. The Innovation Council is still adding to the Toolkit library as we begin to look toward 2021 in these unprecedented times!

Still Focused on the BIG PICTURE

Let’s take a break from the word “unprecedented”. How about something simpler? How about “new”? We are living in new times, and we need to be ready for whatever becomes the next “new normal” or the new “next normal”! But even with all of this “new” some fundamentals remain important. Early in 2020 — before covid-19 entered our consciousness — the Innovation Council identified two priorities to start the year. We are circling back to those priorities because they are still very real — even in these new times. One of the priorities is MARKET focused and the other priority is ASSOCIATION focused.

MARKET FOCUS - Identify strategies for improving consumer awareness of the experience, community, and identity advantages provided by independent toy retail members of the ASTRA ecosystem, and recommend tactics to drive consumers to those retailers. ASSOCIATION FOCUS - Identify strategies to foster improved collaboration between retailers, reps, and manufacturers in order to enhance performance of the entire ASTRA ecosystem.

These top line priorities are as important as ever. We can apply our months of experience with lockdowns, closures, distancing, and so many other challenges

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