• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 27, 2015

Both Toys R Us and Kohl’s are lifting the curtain on their holiday marketing, and hoping a little more digital derring-do will win people over in the months ahead.

In a first, Toys R Us is taking its annual holiday catalog high tech, with an augmented reality component. As always, the Great Big Toys R Us Book of Awesome catalog contains dozens of pages of hot toys. But this year, it’s compatible with an AR app called The Geoffrey Shuffle, which lets kids to bring toys to life. (A shorter catalog is available on the company’s Web site.) It lets users pinch-to-zoom on toy details, and also offers a “find Geoffrey” game component; kids can also play it in virtual reality mode.

A campaign to support the catalog is also scheduled to run on social-media channels, which includes “reviews” from kids who love the catalog, the app and of course, the toys. And for parents, the Wayne, N.J.-based retailer is hyping its price-match guarantee, free store pickup and free shipping deals.

Its big advertising push, though, comes from its “Awwwesome” campaign, which includes 30- and 60-second spots from BBDO that feature what happens when the store closes. (Spoiler alert: Ken has a terrible sense of direction.) Other ads focus on the emotional power of giving.

Separately, while a Kohl’s spokesperson says the department store isn’t quite ready to show off its holiday efforts, the new holiday marketing campaign is called All Together Now, and will include a push to expand its omnichannel offerings.

The campaign is meant to help families “spend more time with the people who matter most through a series of broadcast spots and a social campaign that engages directly with customers, bringing families together in unexpected ways,” the Menomonee Falls, Wisc.-based retailer says. The chain is the exclusive retail partner for “The Voice,” as well as  the “American Music Awards,” and is partnering again with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”