Resurrecting an Icon
After Whirlpool Corporation bought their long-time rival, we were awarded their entire portfolio of brands including Maytag, the crown jewel. But the Maytag Repairman had been gone from its advertising for several years as he was seen as outdated and irrelevant. To get the brand back into the cultural zeitgeist, we wanted to revive the character through a series of non-traditional initiatives. The first thing was to find a new Repairman. We held a multi-city open casting call and invited the public and media. It was a smashing success and resulted in relaunching the brand before the first spot ever aired. Never did I think it'd be possible to win awards just for the casting process but we did. And in the end, a humble realtor from Virginia was chosen to wear the iconic blue uniform.
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Creative Director / Strategist
Finding New Purpose
The Maytag Repairman is one of the longest-running, live-action icons in advertising history. People remember Jesse White or Gordon Jump in the role when he was seen as bored and lonely. Our revival of the character would pivot on a different world outlook. No longer a dour, old pessimist, our Repairman would be upbeat and proactive. If he couldn't repair Maytags, then he'd find other ways to fill his time.
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Creative Director / Strategist
Putting the Quality Back Into Reliability
Much like cars, the appliance category is heavily driven by retail partnerships. To reinforce Maytag's superior quality message, we developed a product-driven campaign that ran alongside the Repairman's adventures. In a series of hyperbolic and surprising vignettes, various aspects of the products were highlighted and pushed to their extremes. This also gave the retailers an opportunity to add their own promotional and seasonal tags.
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Creative Director / Strategist
Getting Real with the Repairman
The final facet of the new Repairman character was to get him out into the real world creating viral moments and PR opportunities. With nothing to do, social media would be the perfect way for him to interact with the public. People would be able to invite him to various events and venues to help him be more productive with his time.
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Creative Director / Strategist