Identity : Storytelling : Exhibit Design : Interactive : PR : Web : Sponsor Integration

Good Housekeeping Research Institute on Tour

Background

The Good Housekeeping Research Institute, the product-evaluation laboratory of Good Housekeeping, was founded in 1900 to improve the lives of consumers and their families through education and product evaluation. The institute, located at the historic Hearst Tower in Manhattan, is equipped with state of the art technology, used for rigorous testing and evaluation of consumer products and product claims every day.

The institute first began testing kitchen appliances and products in the 1900s, a time when companies could more or less claim anything they wanted about a product’s performance. The Good Housekeeping Seal became the first and most recognized emblem of consumer advocacy and continues to this day: from uncovering dangerous food products and ensuring child safety, to discerning genuine green products from those with a “green sheen.”

The core service that the institute provides to consumers is the Good Housekeeping Seal, which provides an additional 2-year limited warranty to every product it covers. The value of the Good Housekeeping Seal requires broad awareness of the seal and widespread understanding of the value it imparts.

In celebrating the centennial of the Good Housekeeping Seal, GHRI needed to refresh consumers’ awareness of the enormous value that the seal brings to peoples’ everyday lives, to bring to life the rich history of the brand and the science behind the seal, and to launch the exciting next step in helping consumers with the Green Good Housekeeping Seal.

Objective

• Celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Good Housekeeping Seal with a ground-breaking program to reinvigorate the brand
• Engage audiences in new first-hand experiences of the product evaluation laboratory, the scientists and the home product professionals that represent the ‘Science Behind the Seal’
• Mobilize seal-holding investors: Alli, Bissell, Clorox, Culligan, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, IKEA, Lubriderm, Nintendo, Olympic Paint and Protect-a-Bed by promoting products within these experiences, while adhering to the values of the Good Housekeeping brand
• Leverage the momentum created by these initiatives to launch the new Green Good Housekeeping Seal
• Develop 1 million impressions (currently the program has developed over 117 million)

Solution

The Good Housekeeping Research Institute on Tour brings the science behind the seal to life in a traveling exhibit—a multi-sensory replication of the institute and its seven labs, interactive engagements, and state of the art multimedia programs.

The inflatable ovoid shell of the exhibit, provides an elegant and surprising introduction to the richly layered content within. The smooth surface provided a perfect branding opportunity to say to attendees, ‘You are about to experience a side of Good Housekeeping you have never seen before: The Science Behind the Seal.’

Once inside, visitors interact with the 7 labs through a series of modules that demonstrate a variety of testing methodologies. Modules include short films that feature scientists and technicians from the different labs. Attendees interact with touch screens to explore specific tests and evaluations first hand. Sponsor products are featured and integrated throughout the videos and interactives, and audiences are provided opportunities to use their own mobile phones in a special text-to-sample program. Other features include an interactive timeline, a full-size Ikea kitchen facility, and a kid’s lab with day care personnel.

The entire program, including branding, exhibit design, venue negations, and fabrication, website development, and content creation as well as all logistics, scheduling, employment and venue management was conceived, created and executed by the Human Condition team.