BENTON HARBOR, MICH. – Whirlpool has launched a multimillion-dollar brand campaign that champions caregivers for their contributions to their families.
The effort, the largest for the Whirlpool brand to date, utilizes national TV spots, print ads and digital marketing to convey the notion that there’s dignity and value in daily household chores.
The world’s largest majap maker said it decided to dispense with the “one-upmanship” of traditional product- based advertising after tapping into “consumer and cultural insights” that revealed a deeper meaning to the role appliances play in family care.
The company cited studies showing that chores are a catalyst for academic achievement, decreased truancy rates and stronger family bonds, and that “behind every chore is an act of love.”
The campaign, dubbed “Every day, care,” is about “people, real modern families, and the impact of the care they give and receive every day,” explained William Beck, the manufacturer’s senior director of mass brands and channel marketing. “It’s about proving how often thankless tasks are so important – they are part of the emotional glue holding families together.”
He added: “It’s a higher purpose that’s driving our brand and a natural space for Whirlpool, because we’ve been a part of these daily moments of care that have taken place in American homes for over 100 years.”
Whirlpool said it hopes to fuel public discourse around the topic of how seemingly insignificant acts can affect real change. Talking points include a national survey, academic white-paper findings and multimedia content across all digital platforms, including a microsite at Whirlpool.com/everyday.
In other Whirlpool news, the company reconfirmed its commitment to its U.S. operations, noting that it is on track to surpass its promised fouryear, $1 billion investment in domestic facilities through 2014. This includes upgrades to its factories in Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and a new office complex at corporate headquarters here.
Additional expenditures include a $200 million investment in a 1 millionsquare- foot premium cooking plant and 400,000-square-foot distribution center in Cleveland, Tenn.; a $40 million investment to nearly double the size of its Greenville, Ohio, small appliance manufacturing operations; and $20 million in productivity and efficiency improvements at its Amana, Iowa refrigeration plant.
Elsewhere, the manufacturer helped homebuilder KB Home craft a net-zero energy-usage house by providing its ultra-efficient KitchenAid Architect Series II dishwasher, which uses 33 percent less water. The new networkconnected Double ZeroHouse 3.0 model, located at the Fiora at Blackstone community in El Dorado Hills, Calif., also features a Whirlpool “Works with Nest” laundry pair that integrates with the Nest Learning Thermostat.
