The challenge to find the most popular toys for this holiday season started on a steamy July morning at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute in Hearst’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. Dozens of children gathered in testing rooms usually reserved for reviewing washing machines and vacuum cleaners. In a surprisingly quiet space, except for the buzz of toy planes and the occasional chirps of children’s voices, the testers bent over tea sets and sprawled out on their bellies to play with cars as Good Housekeeping employees in white lab coats scribbled notes on manila folders.
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“The question is not ‘Will a toy break?’ ” said Rachel Rothman, technical manager and engineering director for the Good Housekeeping institute, as she studied the children around her. “It’s how it will break.”
For 113 years, Good Housekeeping has been testing and awarding its seal of approval to all kinds of consumer products, from skin creams to dishwashers. For the last six years, that testing has expanded to include toys. The magazine spends all year finding and reviewing toys for children. Then in the December issue, it bestows awards on about two dozen toys and board games that shoppers can buy just in time for the holidays.
The process is integral to Good Housekeeping’s overall business strategy. Like most magazines, Good Housekeeping, part of Hearst Magazines, has been under more pressure than ever to find new sources of revenue. According to data tracked by the magazine analyst John Harrington, Good Housekeeping’s combined revenue from magazine sales and advertising was $531 million in 2012, compared with $573 million in 2011 and $607 million in 2008. Over the last year, the magazine has undergone a redesign and recently replaced its editor in chief.
Now it is returning to its core testing business and focusing heavily on toys to help attract readers and drive revenue.
Simply put, toys equal traffic — on the web. Mimi Crume Sterling, a spokeswoman for Good Housekeeping, said that last November and December, after the awards were featured on NBC’s “Today” show, on Yahoo’s shopping section and across social media, the toy section received the most visits to the website, surpassing categories like household items and cookware.
David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, said the digital desirability of toy reviews far outweighed the costs of conducting the tests.
“It was among the most consumed in terms of page views when it ran last year,” he said. “These things lead very long lives in our digital product.”
(Roughly half the testers are children of people affiliated with Hearst, proving that in the magazine business, even if you are a preschooler, it helps to know someone).
Good Housekeeping is also trying to derive more revenue from toy testing by licensing its brand to manufacturers. Starting with this year’s awards, companies can pay a one-year licensing fee of $2,500 to $17,500 to feature the magazine’s emblem on their products. Ms. Sterling said that one company signed up for the license the day a segment about its toy aired on the “Today” show. Lisa Guili, general manager of Educational Insights, a toy company based in Los Angeles, said it might place the emblem on the game Shelby’s Snack Shack, which made this year’s list.
“Some seals don’t add value,” Ms. Guili said. “But their seal definitely adds value.”
Toy manufacturers, especially smaller brands with limited advertising budgets, also say the reviews help make sales. Andrea Barthello, co-founder of ThinkFun, a small toy company, said that when its Yackety Smack toy appeared on the list in 2012, sales doubled. After the company learned it had made the list again this year, for its Laser Maze toy, it arranged to have more items in stock because of what Ms. Barthello called the magazine’s “halo effect.”
Related
“The question is not ‘Will a toy break?’ ” said Rachel Rothman, technical manager and engineering director for the Good Housekeeping institute, as she studied the children around her. “It’s how it will break.”
For 113 years, Good Housekeeping has been testing and awarding its seal of approval to all kinds of consumer products, from skin creams to dishwashers. For the last six years, that testing has expanded to include toys. The magazine spends all year finding and reviewing toys for children. Then in the December issue, it bestows awards on about two dozen toys and board games that shoppers can buy just in time for the holidays.
The process is integral to Good Housekeeping’s overall business strategy. Like most magazines, Good Housekeeping, part of Hearst Magazines, has been under more pressure than ever to find new sources of revenue. According to data tracked by the magazine analyst John Harrington, Good Housekeeping’s combined revenue from magazine sales and advertising was $531 million in 2012, compared with $573 million in 2011 and $607 million in 2008. Over the last year, the magazine has undergone a redesign and recently replaced its editor in chief.
Now it is returning to its core testing business and focusing heavily on toys to help attract readers and drive revenue.
Simply put, toys equal traffic — on the web. Mimi Crume Sterling, a spokeswoman for Good Housekeeping, said that last November and December, after the awards were featured on NBC’s “Today” show, on Yahoo’s shopping section and across social media, the toy section received the most visits to the website, surpassing categories like household items and cookware.
David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, said the digital desirability of toy reviews far outweighed the costs of conducting the tests.
“It was among the most consumed in terms of page views when it ran last year,” he said. “These things lead very long lives in our digital product.”
(Roughly half the testers are children of people affiliated with Hearst, proving that in the magazine business, even if you are a preschooler, it helps to know someone).
Good Housekeeping is also trying to derive more revenue from toy testing by licensing its brand to manufacturers. Starting with this year’s awards, companies can pay a one-year licensing fee of $2,500 to $17,500 to feature the magazine’s emblem on their products. Ms. Sterling said that one company signed up for the license the day a segment about its toy aired on the “Today” show. Lisa Guili, general manager of Educational Insights, a toy company based in Los Angeles, said it might place the emblem on the game Shelby’s Snack Shack, which made this year’s list.
“Some seals don’t add value,” Ms. Guili said. “But their seal definitely adds value.”
Toy manufacturers, especially smaller brands with limited advertising budgets, also say the reviews help make sales. Andrea Barthello, co-founder of ThinkFun, a small toy company, said that when its Yackety Smack toy appeared on the list in 2012, sales doubled. After the company learned it had made the list again this year, for its Laser Maze toy, it arranged to have more items in stock because of what Ms. Barthello called the magazine’s “halo effect.”
