Friday Morning Videos: 1983 Tom Peterson Appliance Ad

Here is a video that should bring a touch of nostalgia to long time Portlanders. For everyone else, it offers a nice look at appliances being sold in 1983.

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Laundry and Truancy: More In Common Than You Might Think

Whirlpool announced a new ad campaign this week that features images of families doing small caring acts for each other, usually involving appliances. The message that they are trying to spread is that the little things we do every day to make a house a home are acts of caring that ultimately lead to making the world a better place.

It's a positive message that we certainly can't dispute here at W.L.May. It is the small acts of caring that we provide to our clients that we hope will lead them to success in business. It is our sincere hope that the caring gets paid forward making our clients customers lives a little better too.

One of the spots in the campaign throws a few statistics at the viewer. One that particularly caught me attention was a claim that "Not having clean clothes is a leading cause of truancy rates." When I see a claim like that in an ad, even if it comes from trusted source, I like to investigate further.

Whirlpool pointed out an issue that educators have been aware of for a while. It turns out that one of the number one listed causes of truancy is indeed a lack of clean clothes. Kids would rather skip school than be embarrassed by showing up to class in dirty dungarees.

In Los Angeles, school children at the 75th Street Elementary School have some relief. a few years ago, the school's principal organized community members and collected donations to purchase a washer and dryer to be used on campus to help with student laundry needs.

It is a step. Issues such as truancy, especially in low income neighborhoods such as the 75th Street Elementary School's, are a big challenge and a lot comes into play. Still, wearing clean clothes can only help to increase the kids self esteem and confidence which should lead to less truancy and more learning. That's just good for the community.

Here is the ad from Whirlpool that mentioned the statistic that inspired this post.



Is laundry equipment a good investment for a school? Is Whirlpool on the right track with these ads? We'd love to know your opinion, let us know what you think in the comments section of this blog.

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Botto Bisto and Yelp

(Flickr User Jason K/CC)

What do you think about Yelp? You know Yelp, right? That is that website on the Internet that offers reviews of businesses. Yelp also sells advertising to businesses. Many business owners consider that to be a conflict of interest.

Allegations have been made that purchasing advertising on the site can cause higher ranked reviews to be shown more prominently, while less well ranked reviews will show up poorly. Yelp denies that suggestion and claims that placement of reviews on their site is determined by an algorithm that takes into account an number of features. Any bias implied by the purchase of advertising, Yelp contends, is strictly coincidental.

Some business owners have tried to address this perceived bias in court. Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court dismissed two cases against the web site alleging such behavior saying that manipulation of reviews is within Yelp's rights. Other companies have asked Yelp to not list their businesses on the site. Yelp rarely complies with this request as they argue that their service is not directly threatening to business and it is their policy not to remove reviews.

One tactic that many businesses use is to encourage, or even "bribe" customers to leave good reviews on Yelp. Yelp does not approve of this practice, saying that it violates their Terms Of Service. They have even been known to sue businesses who pay customers to post positive reviews.

What is a business owner to do? You can provide the best service in the world, but your reputation could be tarnished by an algorithm, or worse, by strong armed sales tactics (at least that is what is alleged).

A restaurant in Richmond, California has decided to use some reverse psychology on Yelp and it's system of reviews. Botto Bistro intentionally placed their business in a low rent neighborhood because they believe their food is so good it can overcome it's environment. They did not really want Yelp to come along and scare off potential customers from even giving their food a chance. To try to prevent Yelp from placing poor reviews more prominently than good ones, the restaurant tried to play the game. They bought advertising on Yelp but were not happy with the results. That's when the reverse psychology came into play. 

Botto Bistro feels their web site's FAQ informed their customers about their restaurant better than Yelp. They began to actively encourage their customers to leave Yelp reviews. They are even gave a 25% discount to reviewers, as well as entering them into a drawing for a free cooking class. The catch? The "bribe" was only for one-star reviews on Yelp. As you can imagine, the maneuver has gotten a fair amount amount of press. They have gotten a lot of bad reviews and have made it their goal to be the worst rated restaurant in the Bay Area. According to their web site, they have achieved their goal. As a result they are no longer offering the  discount-sorry!

The owners of Botto Bistro provide an example of a small business thinking outside the box and grappling with the challenges tech has brought to business advertising. Does their plan seem like a good idea to you? Or does it come across as more of a temper tantrum by the owners? Let us know how you feel about their idea in the comments section for this post.

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Friday Morning Video's: 1930 GE Dishwasher Ad

A rare GE Dishwasher ad from 1930  featuring Bette Davis.



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Friday Morning Videos 1972 Whirlpool Washer Ad

This 1972 commercial from Whirlpool makes a persuasive argument for getting away from casters on a washing machine to a more built in model.



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Kelly's Korner - Are you a Fred Flintstone or George Jetson?

Hey, All,

So you've got a smart phone to stay in touch with your friends and family and a new tablet that you can stay in touch with the world - but what about your business? How do you keep track of your inventory, customers or paperwork?  How do your customers find you?

The Fred Flintstone businesses still rely on the Yellow Pages, have no computer to help with inventory, billing, ordering and research and barely have a fax machine and do everything by hand.


Creative Commons license on image.

The George Jetson businesses have websites that their customers can use to find out information on the company and schedule appointments.  All their accounting information is on the computer and easily accessible and ready for tax time; their parts people/technicians can look up their own parts and don't have to wait for research.  Their customer base is on there also, and easy to bring up when Mrs Jones calls about her washer - all the info you need is there, all you need to do is set up an appointment time.

Research shows that over 80% of people today look for products and services on the internet.  Websites are relatively easy to set up and change as needed - like offering specials, company news, pictures, information, etc.  With a Yellow Page ad you are stuck with the same ad for a year and it costs a bunch of bucks.

Now this is not to say that we here at W L May won't be here for you - we have been for the last 90 years and will be here for the next 90.  But we are wanting our customers to increase their business and we have lots of ways for you to do this.  Talk to your account manager and we can give you infomation on who best to go to to set up a website, organizations to join, and other ways to increase your bottom line.

Give us a call and move out of the Stone Age and into the 21st century!

Have a great week!

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Friday Fun: Maytag History and The Maytag Man

As parts suppliers we have always had a special fondness for Maytag Men. The Maytag Man is probably the most well known association many people have with the appliance service industry. There are a lot of fond memories service techs have shared with us of working with Maytag before the company was acquired by Whirlpool. For those of you with Maytag nostalgia or a fondness for the Maytag Man, we hope you enjoy this video as much as we did. It is a little long, so give yourself 15 minutes to watch it. It has some great old pictures, clips from commercials and interviews with folks in the Maytag advertising department discussing the history of this iconic advertising character. Enjoy!



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