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Maytag’s century-old brand owes much of its equity to Ol’ Lonely, a lethargic Mayberry gent in a blue jumpsuit and replica 40s policeman's cap. Created by Leo Burnett in the late 60s, the ad campaign’s clever premise - expert repair services you’ll never need – emphasizes the brand’s dependability promise.
Recognizing, perhaps, that his work ethic needed an overhaul, Maytag launched a new series of television ads featuring a younger repair man with attention deficit, servicing office copiers and rewiring home entertainment systems in his downtime.
This campaign was in mind when I purchased a gas range from Maytag two years ago, and again, recently, when I called the Maytag “Customer Experience Center” to schedule minor repairs for a damaged oven door pull. My experience: an aggravating, 34-minute dictation of phone, street and model numbers to a clumsy voice recognition system, a confirmation that my refrigerator would be repaired during a 10-hour window, and an independent local contractor named Leon who gave me a parts-and-labor estimate more than 30% of the appliance’s total retail price.
The “dependability people” could be in trouble.
Maytag ads tell an enduring story, but a tug-of-war between promise and profit has the brand off-balance. In fairness, the service website (which I discovered when writing this post) eliminates many of the voice system challenges I experienced. But the company’s real missed opportunity is its failure to share its compelling story when customers most want to experience it.
Where Maytag fails, Best Buy’s Geek Squad excels. As with high-dollar appliances, customers are frustrated and inconvenienced when expensive electronics stop working. Best Buy saw this reality not only as an additional revenue stream, but as an opportunity to highlight its expertise by creating a broader story about its tech-savvy employees.
Bolstered by custom Volkswagens, brown jumpsuits, and a tongue-in-cheek “the geek shall inherit the earth” motto, the Geek Squad integrated Best Buy’s piecemeal repair and installation services, protected the company’s vulnerable “low price” position, and established a nerdy-chic brand personality perfectly tailored for creating interesting promotional opportunities (e.g., Geek Squad locations throughout the U.S. recently held a moment of silence to recognize the death of Science Fiction icon Arthur C. Clarke).
Learn from the Geek Squad, Maytag. Weave together your story and operations. Let your dependability promise inform your product. Simplify your designs so that minor repairs do not require the complete disassembly and reassembly of your appliances, making service cost-prohibitive. Dependability and durability go hand in hand. And when one aspect of your brand promise breaks, make good on another. Replace your automated system with real people. Send Leon a magnetic Maytag van decal, a blue jacket, and a hat, and insist he wear them when servicing your appliances.
The Maytag brand can be recalibrated, but Ol’ Lonely needs to stop tinkering with other brands, and get back to repairing his own.
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