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Whirlpool has successfully connected with its customers rationally and emotionally to meet their wants and needs. The Whirlpool’s ‘Every day, care’ campaign shows that the company is worried about its consumers. The company does not just sell products. It also wants to know what interests them, what they like, what difficulties they have and how to improve the consumers’ day to day life. Also, in the past, people used to communicate with Whirlpool just for complaints, but the company wanted to change this and got it through its ‘Every day, care’ campaign.
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The social and consumer experience is addressed with respect, attention and care about stories of people’s daily life. They are real stories about kids in the school, people who suffered a flood, moms, families, and recently graduated students. Whirlpool wants customers to feel closer to its brand and I think they did this successfully. The campaign is a library of real stories from real people (“#EveryDayCare,” 2017, p.1). Whirlpool leveraged a comprehensive paid, earned and owned media strategy that canvassed new broadcast media, digital media and social promotion (“#EveryDayCare,” 2017, p.1). Among all its social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube), Whirlpool’s Facebook has the largest number of followers in its community. There the interaction is constant between the followers and the people who manage the social media.
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I believe the digital media followers were handled with a lot of care regarding what they tweet, share or post, and vice versa. The digital media is full of real stories. Whirlpool promoted social posts on Facebook and Twitter, television spots, and everything in between. They inspired a broader wave of consumers to get in on the conversation (“#EveryDaCcare,” 2017, p.1). Numbers don’t lie and the proof is that following the campaign, Whirlpool saw 12% year-over-year unit growth and a 6.6% lift in sales. For context, the brand outperformed its category in both unit growth (+6%) and sales growth (+4.9%), respectively. Consumer sentiment shifted with sales lifts, rising from -0.3 to +4.6 on a five-point scale. Brand health metrics also saw significant gains in preference and purchase intent scores rose 10% from pre-campaign levels. Whirlpool had not seen movement in these metrics in years, proving that the new approach resonated with consumers on an emotional level (“#EveryDayCare,” 2017, p.1). Looking at its Facebook social media, it surprises me that the community manager really responds to everyone, including those who complain and even people who posted in Spanish. In that case, the response is also in Spanish. Whirlpool is literally making the effort to listen to its customers. Then when you visit the mobile version, it is also easy to navigate. Information is well provided and people can reach the community manager of the social media by sending a message or clicking the “contact us” button.
What could be done differently is focusing on a wider range of people. I mean that most of the real stories shown in Whirlpool social media is about moms and children. I wonder what about taking care of the low-income community? I travel many places, and noticed that in many downtowns, there are a lot homeless living on the streets. Probably, Whirlpool could promote a way to help them. Not, just giving clean clothes, but also food because without food people can’t live. Maybe, if people buy soap for the laundry machines or any product of Whirlpool, a percentage could go to help this unfortunate group of people. Also, what about the planet? Are all their products eco-friendly? On their website, the company claims that their products reduce energy, but in their social media they don’t talk much about it. They could say which products. And, what about the animals and the ecosystem. What happen when machines from Whirlpool don’t work anymore? Do they recycle the parts? What do they do to avoid contaminating the environment? I believe informing the public about those things will enhance the relationship with the customers and the company. I believe they are doing well in making the effort to be closer to people, but I believe it is possible to continue working more on this aspect.
References
#EveryDayCare – Whirlpool, DigitasLBi and Crowdtap (2018). Whirlpool. Retrieved from:
http://shortyawards.com/8th/everydaycare-whirlpool-digitaslbi-and-crowdtap-2
Whirlpool (2018). Retrieved from:
Whirlpool’s Facebook (2018). Retrieved from:
https://www.facebook.com/whirlpoolusa
Whirlpool’s Pinterest (2018). Retrieved from:
‘https://www.pinterest.com/whirlpoolusa/
Whirlpool’s Twitter (2018). Retrieved from:
https://twitter.com/whirlpoolusa
Whirlpool’s YouTube (2018). Retrieved from
EK Marketing Blog by Ericka Koehler 