With that decision, he created a toy for kids of all ages, the Hess Toy Truck, that has become a hallmark of the holiday season. In 1964, just four years after opening the first Hess branded gas station Leon Hess decided to offer families a fun, high quality and affordable toy for the holidays as a goodwill gesture to customers. Army experience during World War II as a petroleum supply officer, and his knowledge of the industry. By the mid-1940s, Leon Hess expanded the company greatly, applying lessons he learned during his U.S. Just a year later purchasing facilities to unload barges and tankers. The Hess Toy Truck marketing efforts continue to evolve and keep pace with the changing media landscape, including Facebook and Instagram pages plus an email newsletter that you can sign up in the footer of this page and an SMS alert you can subscribe to by texting “ HESS” to 437788.īy 1937, recognizing that large power companies were switching from coal to oil, Leon Hess purchased five additional trucks and expanded his business to include post-refinery residual fuel oil.

And for many actors, the Hess Toy Truck commercial has been a boost to their resumes with well-known actors such as John Goodman and Hayden Panettiere appearing in the commercials early in their careers. In use for over the past 30 years, the Hess Truck’s Back jingle has become one of the longest running in TV advertising history! For many fans, the first airing of the TV commercial each year has become synonymous with the start of the Holiday season. Every year since, the jingle has been rearranged for the newest toy and commercial release. Marketing jingle history was changed forever in 1988 when Hess adapted a song by the ’60s group The Angels, “My Boyfriend’s Back.” The Hess jingle was: “The Hess Truck’s back and it’s better than ever!” That line got to the heart of the matter, the excitement around the arrival of a new great toy. Their variety and ingenuity made every spot a surprise. Starting in 1980, Hess began releasing new TV commercials every year. Until 1980 there were no TV ads, radio spots, or billboards for the Hess Toy Trucks-just newspaper ads and signs at the Hess gas stations for a well-made toy, battery included, sold for a great value. Then, as anyone who has unpacked a Hess Toy Truck knows, the final toy is placed - very carefully - in its box. The toys undergo rigorous quality testing to make sure they are up to the highest standards. Once all the toolings are made and tested, the pieces are produced and meticulously assembled.

A tooling, or mold, for each individual piece must be cut to precise measurements. More recent toys normally have between 200-300 parts. Eventually, one new holiday Hess Toy Truck is chosen.Įarly models of the Hess Toy Truck were comprised of roughly 75 small hard-plastic pieces. The next step is the handcrafting of models that are used for final design and decoration decisions. Many truck ideas are developed but ultimately the top two or three designs go to the next round, where they are transformed from drawings to 3D rotating images that can be evaluated for functionality and playability. This is the point in the process where the toys really begin to evolve. Then sketch drawings and feature concepts are reviewed. Inspiration images are initially reviewed to hone in on the broad themes that might be considered. And for some of the more complicated toys, it's been as long as six years from concept to market. The highly secretive process of developing the annual toy generally starts between two and three years before it actually goes on sale. It takes a very long time to become a Hess Toy Truck.

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