Appliance manufacturer Maytag’s new integrated marketing campaign introduces a fresh face for the brand, the Maytag Man. According to a company release, the Maytag Man now has a brand new role as the machine. He will greet consumers as a Maytag appliance, the human embodiment of the brand's core values of reliability, durability and power. "No longer is our brand character sitting idle, lamenting his boredom due to Maytag brand's legendary inability to breakdown," said James Oh, vice president of marketing at Whirlpool Canada. "The Maytag Man is now the actual machine, symbolizing the reliability, durability and power that Maytag® appliances are known for."
The campaign is set to launch in Canada on January 23rd. It’s not clear from the company release or the various media reports generated from the launch hype if the North-America-wide campaign will be adapted for the French Québec market. A peek at the video on the Globe and Mail’s site shows the “newer model”, a “younger, slimmer, maybe even sexier” Maytag man talking to camera. Our female staff is hoping for a Québec version.
While it’s not clear if or how the campaign will be adapted into French, one thing is clear: the Maytag was born in the streets of Montréal.
In the late ‘60s, the distributor of Maytag appliances in Québec advertised on radio using a repairman who had nothing else to do but to drive around the streets of Montréal looking for work. That campaign inspired the now famous North American campaign Ol’ Lonely.
This little known fact was revealed in 2007 in a release about Maytag and Luc Pilon, the actor selected back then to play the Maytag Repairman in Québec. He was following Serge Christianssens (1992-1998), Paul Berval (1989-1992) and Rolland Bédard (1970-1989) who was the first to get the role.
Let's hope the slimmer, younger Maytag Man returns to his roots in Québec.
Comments