Killer Innovations: reblog

Sarah Ellison of the Wall Street Journal recently profiled the changes afoot at the R&D unit of Good Housekeeping magazine:

"The research arm of Good Housekeeping magazine has been testing products for more than a century and granting advertisers who pass muster its famous seal of approval for almost as long. In its early days, the magazine's "experiment station" was designed to help new brides become better housekeepers.

The Hearst Corp. magazine has evolved since then, but it is its testing lab -- now called the Good Houskeeping Research Institute -- that has undergone the biggest facelift of late as the magazine pushes to maintain its position among traditional women's titles while fending off arriviste like Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple and O, the Oprah Magazine."

Anyway, the Good Housekeeping Research Institute has a new 20,000-square foot facility in midtown Manhattan, equipped with soundproof rooms, a climatology chamber, and multiple test kitchens and labs. The institute also has the full backing of Rosemary Ellis, the magazine's new editor-in-chief. Already, there are plans to make the institute's R&D services more prominent, such as by using product testing from the institute as the backdrop for regular segments on "Good Morning America" and "Today." The magazine is also giving the testing lab a broader mandate to do original research and to "sniff out" faulty products and potential consumer frauds.

[image: Researchers at Good Housekeeping]