Whirlpool’s Mission: Keeping Kids In School, One Wash At A Time
One of the top reasons for truancy in America? Lack of clean clothes. With that discovery, Bill Beck, VP of brand marketing, found a new purpose for the 116-year-old company.
As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, I spoke with Bill Beck, vice president of brand marketing at Whirlpool. Beck touched on the factors that combined to create Whirlpool’s successful “Care Counts” campaign, but he also talked about the thrill of working on the well-known brands of the Whirlpool family.
Beck also analyzed what he views as one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for marketers today: big data.
“Big data is one of the coolest and scariest things out there,” he said. “As our world becomes more connected, there’s just a ton of data out there. And we as marketers really have a responsibility to understand how we use that in a way that doesn’t turn off the consumer but also helps us become effective and, at the same time, build brands.”
Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:
- The genesis of Whirlpool’s “Care Counts” campaign. (0:53)
- How Whirlpool’s campaign partners made the idea even bigger. (5:27)
- Why “You gotta feel it in your gut.” (7:10)
- How great mentors have defined Beck’s career. (9:25)
- Beck’s eye on Disney: “They’ve evolved while staying true to who they are.” (11:30)
- Beck’s take on big data. (12:52)