With an eye toward the trend of moving laundry appliances into higher-traffic areas of the home, Frigidaire is now delivering a new Gallery Collection washer.
Model FWS745GC has a 22-pound Loadsaver super capacity and a 3/4-horsepower motor. It features a Tri-action agitation system offering four combinations of washing action, an in-post fabric softener dispenser, a polypropylene washtub, and a Sure-Spin agitation system designed to ensure that unbalanced loads are handled properly.
The washer, available in white or almond, has the family look of Frigidaire’s Gallery Series of kitchen appliances. Greg Bagwell, merchandising manager, notes that “many of today’s laundry rooms have moved from the basement to the main floor of the home, so consumers are seeking more coordinated kitchen and laundry appliances.”
Frigidaire’s Galley Series currently includes another washer, a dryer, and a laundry center. To help call attention to the Diet Cook feature on its microwave ovens, Samsung Electronics America is tying in with Weight Watchers International for a consumer promotion that got underway last month.
Samsung has also launched a six-city shopping mall tour, using its ovens to demonstrate healthy cooking to mall shoppers.
The Weight Watcher promotion marks the first time the weight-loss organization has held a joint promotion in its private meeting centers.
Through November, Samsung Designer Series II microwave ovens will be displayed in 237 Weight Watchers centers nationwide.
In addition, one oven will be given away at each location via a sweepstakes, and Samsung rebate coupons are going to Weight Watchers members with purchases of the organization’s line of Personal Cuisine frozen food.
Matt Mustachio, Samsung’s national marketing manager, home appliances, calls the Weight Watchers tie-in “a natural” because of the Diet Cook feature on Samsung’s microwave ovens.
Low-calorie, healthy foods are also a central theme of Samsung’s mall tour, which kicked off in Miami, Fla. on September 22. The company is setting up a “Simply Healthy” booth in the malls, where a Samsung representative demonstrates healthy microwave cooking and offers samples and a brochure with recipes to consumers in the mall.
Shoppers also have a chance to win a Samsung microwave oven in a sweepstakes in each city, with one winner selected each day of the tour.
So far the tour has been in Detroit, Boston and Washington, D.C. The next stops are Chicago, October 20-22, and Minneapolis, October 27-29.
The Simply Healthy theme ties in with Samsung’s fourth-quarter consumer advertising campaign, which stresses healthy food preparation in its microwave ovens.
Through November, Samsung Designer Series II microwave ovens will be displayed in 237 Weight Watcher centers.
