What's in a brand?

[tseg]

I work in marketing for a consumer goods company far removed from vacuums. A pretty well understood concept of all top brands and higher cost luxury good producers is not "how does it do the job?", rather "how does it make you feel?". Resonating with a consumer's emotions creates significantly more loyalty and "value" than getting the job done. It is why many aspirational brands highlight unique milestones linked to their brand (journey's to the moon), use of celebrities using the product or something as simple as portraying someone dancing while using the item. What are the best brands at marketing vacuums at an emotional level and how do they do/show it?

I think of many watch makers that imply use of their watch can allow you to aspire to greater things. I think of some smart phone makers that imply use of their phones unlocks more fun in social settings. What vacuum brands convey something more emotional than the implication one's floor will get clean using their vacuum and how?

 

[real1shep]

Not.....

necessarily a fair question on this diverse site. Some here are JUST into restoring older vacs. Some restore older vacs AND splurge on newer units such as Aerus,  Miele, Kirby, Rainbow et al. Some here ONLY splurge on the best (read most expensive) units available.


 


Seems like the 'target' group you are alluding to are the folks with disposable income and not a clue how vacuums actually clean and stack up against each other. They're often a high-end unit target group and the promos for them are showing the inside of million dollar homes/penthouses that look like they've never seen dirt. It's easier for us to discern features, figure out CFM & water lift in comparing one unit to another. So in answer to your last question, most of us here don't fall for fluff and promotional lit that makes us "feel good" about a vac purchase.


 


Your question can be easily answered by reading & watching the promos of the above top brands that I mentioned or letting a salesman come to your house and dazzle you. Most of us here are kinda nuts & bolts guys/gals that know what makes vacs work well in the real world.


 


Kevin

 

[sptyks]

 


Well put Kevin!


 


 

 

[eurekaprince]

You know, with the unique citizens of Vacuumland, there is a lot of "feeling" and "emotion" connected to a certain brand of vacuum cleaner. But most of the time these feelings of affection and loyalty are strongly connected to the brand of vacuum cleaner with which the "cleanerphile" grew up. In my case, I grew up with a blue Eureka Williams upright vacuum cleaner which set in motion my lifelong fascination with that particular brand. For others it's Hoover or Electrolux or Kirby. And the phenomenon is even evident with the new generation of vacuum enthusiasts - they may be hooked on newer brands like Dyson or even Dirt Devil - probably again the result of encountering one of these vacuums as a young toddler.

Unfortunately, for many of us the brandname we got hooked on no longer is connected to the company or quality product we came to know at the start of our fascination. Like so many others, the brandname Eureka has been sold and resold to so many different owners that a current vac branded with the name bears very little resemblance to the quality of the vacs coming off the original production line way back in the 1960's or 1970's. The familiar Hoover logo and the Sunbeam logo also appear on vacuums that don't reflect the product their loyal fans became attached to decades ago.

In my case, I personally feel that if Eureka Williams had never been sold, its products today might closely resemble the quiet elegance of Miele's vacuums - solid, dependable, cleaners that get the job done with ease. When I see the Miele brandname, I get a similar "good feeling" of admiration and dependability as I used to have with Eureka.

 

[tseg]

eurekaprince, nice commentary. I grew up with Hoover in my house of 5 children and they seemed indestructible. When I graduated from college I actually sat through a 1 day Rainbow Vacuum recruitment session, but did not return. I have to admit I was fascinated by the vacuum capability, but not what appeared to be a lot of effort to sell them for a living. When I bought my first Dyson about 8 years ago I thought I hit the big time. Most recently I have fallen for the promise of "German precision", getting the Miele. I was amazed at how many Miele user reviews claimed it was fun to vacuum with and were proud to leave it around the house for visitors to see and not hidden in a closet.

As I read many posts on this site it seems many would have the same personality to collect 1960's muscle cars... infatuated with the pure power and sinewy styling of the golden age of vacuums. Now it seems many buyers of new high-end vacuums want a vacuum that can do it all, beyond just carpet cleaning, they want colorful vacuums or vacuums with faces on them to make them happy. With that said, I look at some of the vintage artwork on this site and I guess some things never change.

 

[eurekaprince]

I think one must also take into consideration the location of manufacture of a certain vacuum. Decades ago, Americans could take pride in buying a Hoover made in North Canton, Ohio and Canadians could take pride in buying a unique Canadian Electrolux canister vac made in my home town of Montreal. Even British vac buyers could take pride in buying a Hoover made in the UK.

But with our current state of over-globalization, the local factories have been closed putting many fellow citizens out of work and leaving us all feeling abandoned by the corporations that used to employ thousands. So many of us have lost that national pride we used to feel when buying a product made in our countries. As a side note, when I worked in Japan many years ago, I learned how national pride went into the creation of Japanese consumer goods. The Japanese devotion to creating an excellent car or tv or vacuum cleaner had much to do with the feeling of being part of a proud nation. Which is why Toyota and Panasonic ended up taking American inventions and making them even better.

Strange story related to this: Before the free trade agreement was signed between Canada and the USA, most US companies were forced to set up a Canadian factory to create similar products for the Canadian market. Eureka had a Canadian plant in Kitchener, Ontario (Onward Manufacturing) which was only a day's truck drive from head office in Bloomington, Illinois. When I first moved out of my parent's home in the early 1980's, they bought me a budget American-made Eureka upright while wintering (with thousands of other Canadians) in South Florida. But I wanted to add a bare floor brush to the tool set that came with the vac, and searched for one on a subsequent trip to the USA. Imagine my surprise when I saw "Made in Canada" embossed on the inside roof of the brush! Eureka must have decided to use their plant in Ontario to supply all the tools for their vacs! So whenever I found myself cleaning bare floors with my beloved Eureka, I had an extra feeling of pride knowing the brush was made in Canada !!!