As a recent first time home buyer, I had the oh-so-exciting (not) experience of shopping for appliances several months ago. Store after store filled with row after row of stainless steel extra cooling super durable whatchamacallits. Even the word appliance has a negative connotation. The branding is equally lackluster: you could swap the logo on any 2 machines and they would have the exact same customer ratings. Some good, some bad.
The advertising for these items is as boring as the product themselves, often touting how reliable they are (they aren’t). However, Maytag recently came out with a new series of “Maytag Manthem” ads, aimed at humanizing these appliances and showing off how much abuse they can take. Here’s one of the spots:
Gone is the old Maytag Man, who had been around for 2 decades, and here now is a younger face with a hint of dry humor and wit. He takes the place of your household appliances, and speaks to you while performing the machines duties. Knowing that no one gets excited over a dishwasher, the product is only shown for a second at the end, then is gone. I was introduced to the campaign on TV, but it’s 360 degrees; online, social media, and in-store branding are included.
Had this campaign come out a few months earlier, I definitely would have had something to remember at the point of sale, instead of looking at rows of soulless machines.
~ Mike D’Ambrosio, Interactive Art Director, The S3 Agency
