Background
Founded in 1911, Whirlpool has been a strong brand for over 100 years. They produce and sell kitchen and laundry appliances. Their target audience is young families, however, there was no connection between the company and its customers, unless something was wrong with their product. The industry appeared stuck in a state where innovation seemed impossible. So, Whirlpool decided it was time to change how people viewed doing everyday household chores. This is when the campaign was born.
The Project
The challenge of this campaign was to get people to connect with Whirlpool. Research showed that people do not like household chores because they often seem insignificant and time-consuming. As a result, no one cared enough about the appliances they use to do those chores, to create loyalty to one brand. This is when Whirlpool created their Every Day, Care (#Everydaycare) campaign, changing the way people looked at doing household chores in the kitchen or laundry room. It presented real-life emotional scenes, such as a mother carrying her child in the pouring rain from the car to the house and a teenager throwing a pair of jeans down the stairs for his mom to put in the laundry. To inspire, drive and curate conversations and content across social media, the brand built a community of 17 thousand passionate advocates, thanks to Crowdtap, who got the conversation going by sharing their stories of “Every day, care” with text, images and videos. More than 44 thousand pieces of authentic user content were collected, and the best content was cross-promoted across paid, earned and owned channels.
Whirlpool used the authenticity of everyday chores to show how much value these tedious tasks hold. It reminded consumers that they do these things to help shape the people they love. As a result, showing these relatable narratives caused people to make a more emotional connection with Whirlpool.
Results
In qualitative terms, the campaign achieved making a more personal connection with its consumers. It successfully met the needs and wants of the consumer by using its website to allow people to upload and share their videos and projects, creating a deeper connection with consumers. Consumer sentiment shifted with sales lifts, rising from -0.3 to +4.6 on a five-point scale. It also won the Best Social Media Tool award during the 8th Annual Shorty Awards.
In quantitative terms, the campaign achieved an increase in sales by 6.6% and an increase in purchase intent scores by 10%. Whirlpool also saw 12% year-over-year unit growth.
Conclusion
The only thing that I believe they can work on is the fan base that follows them on social media. On Facebook, they have 1.2 million followers and on Instagram, only about 21 thousand followers. On Facebook, it seems as though the brand has put the least amount of effort into design or strategy. They post blog articles related to cleaning and taking care of your home. Most of the engagements with their following are still dealing with problems with their products, rather than a deeper, personal connection.
Reference:
#EveryDayCare – whirlpool, DigitasLBi and Crowdtap. The Shorty Awards. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2022, from https://shortyawards.com/8th/everydaycare-whirlpool-digitaslbi-and-crowdtap-2
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