Laundry is a chore that most people despise – one that often ranks just slightly lower than cleaning toilets and doing the dishes in numerous surveys from the likes of Good Housekeeping and Better Homes & Gardens magazines, The Clorox Co., and Yelp Inc. The never-ending drudge of sorting, pretreating, washing, drying, folding, and ironing makes many wary of even stepping foot into their laundry rooms and causes them to view their washing machines and clothes dryers as necessities to be tolerated rather than treasured.

Thus, marketers at GE Appliances (GEA), a Haier company, knew they had their work cut out for them when it came time to launch a new line of GE-brand front-load clothes washers at the 2020 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). Despite the fact these appliances boast a proprietary UltraFresh Vent System with OdorBlock technology – a feature that eliminates the off-putting aroma that often emanates from the damp bowels of front-load washers – at the end of the day, they were still the tools of one of consumers' least-favorite trades. "Laundry products are not typically viewed as glamorous," says Matt Jones, brand experience and design senior manager at GEA. "Even though we had a category-disrupting washer on our hands, we knew creating buzz around what many attendees would consider a utilitarian appliance was going to be a challenge."

But finding an attention-grabbing way to debut GEA's new front-load washers wasn't the only item on Jones' list of chores. GEA would have a 20,300-square-foot exhibit at KBIS featuring the company's stable of brands, i.e., Café, GE, Monogram, Profile, and Haier, housed in distinct areas. A launch event in the GE section of the booth might draw an isolated crowd, but there'd be no guarantee that those attendees would then pass through the rest of the exhibit. So Jones and his team also had to ensure that none of GEA's brands got lost at the bottom of the clothes hamper.

Fresh Ideas
In the months leading up to KBIS, GEA marketers sat down with reps from their longtime exhibit house, Deckel & Moneypenny Inc., to home in on a strategy. Since GEA's booth would be a piece of lint in the 623,056-square-foot Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the team decided to hold an event on the first day of KBIS to immediately generate marketing momentum. And seeing as how several GEA brands would be featuring well-known chefs presenting live cooking demonstrations throughout the show, the marketers felt it would make sense to capitalize on those existing relationships right from the get-go by hosting a welcome breakfast for a select group of design influencers, media reps, and appliance specifiers, i.e., designers, architects, and salespeople with a deep knowledge of the installation, use, and maintenance of home appliances. "There are no 'celebrity launderers' like there are for kitchen design and cooking appliances," says Steve Deckel, principal at Deckel & Moneypenny. "So we thought why not make the attendees feel like the celebrities and give them a VIP experience consisting of a gourmet meal." Further discussions led to a "progressive breakfast" concept that would offer VIPs healthy servings of early morning fuel and GEA's product messaging – and give each GEA brand its moment in the spotlight. Attendees would visit each exhibit area, where they would enjoy a satisfying breakfast bite referencing that brand's unique attributes along with a presentation given by a GEA rep and a popular design influencer (picked with help from White Good, KBIS's marketing-communications agency). "The further we got into planning, the more we realized how this progressive breakfast would allow each of our distinct brands to come to life and showcase our expertise, technology, and industry leadership," Jones says.

Now that GEA had a plan for luring KBIS movers and shakers to its exhibit, it was time to focus on guaranteeing that the UltraFresh washer made a sizable splash. But how do you make a boxy appliance – no matter how impressive its features – a head-turning attraction? In this case, inspiration literally came out of the blue. "The UltraFresh Vent System is denoted by a signature blue ring at the front of the washer drum, which helps consumers easily identify it on the sales floor," says Kaitlin Murray, GEA brand experience marketing associate. "If this was a game of word association, you'd be left with 'blue' and 'drums.' It didn't take long for us to land on the perfect way to create excitement and draw attention to the product launch: invite Blue Man Group to perform in the exhibit."

Asking the blue-skinned, bald-headed performance troupe famed for its high-energy drumming and quirky antics to make the short trek from its home stage at the Luxor Hotel and Casino to the LVCC was a true stroke of genius and marketing synergy at its finest. Not only would the performers, by their very appearance, drive home the washer's primary differentiator, but also their percussive set would reverberate throughout the exhibit hall and draw traffic to GEA's booth. Following a meeting with the troupe's producers in which they pounded out the details, GEA decided that Blue Man Group's performance would cap off the VIP breakfast and serve as the traffic builder for the UltraFresh front-load washer launch.

After 250 emailed invitations went out to targeted VIPs, the GEA and Deckel & Moneypenny teams finalized the details of their gustatory game plan, addressed hiccups (e.g., the hopeful aim of getting VIPs early access to the show floor was scrapped), and set some ambitious goals. Marketers hoped that no fewer than 150 KBIS bigwigs would RSVP in the affirmative, that VIPs would linger in the booth for at least 50 minutes, and that the Blue Man Group performance would drum up enough traffic to capture at least 2,000 leads on the first day of the show.

Breakfast of Champions
At 9 a.m. on the opening day of KBIS, GEA brand ambassadors stationed near the exhibit-hall entrance greeted VIPs and directed them toward the exhibit. After checking in, each guest received a wristband marked with one of GEA's five brand logos. The bands effectively divided attendees into five smaller groups that then separately headed to the brand area indicated on their accessories, e.g., attendees with Haier wristbands started breakfast in that portion of the exhibit, etc. Each stop on the breakfast tour offered a delectable morsel or quaff that had some tie-in to the particular GEA brand, as well as a presentation from a brand rep and a design influencer. For example, in the area for the highly customizable Café brand, attendees could build their own mimosas using either grapefruit or orange juice and enjoy trendy acai bowls served in glass dishes – a nod to Café's Modern Glass collection. As they enjoyed their refreshments, guests listened to Café senior brand director Wayne Davis and interior design expert Elle Millard discuss the latest trends in appliance hardware.
Meanwhile, in the GE Profile area, celebrity chef Brian Duffy of Food Network fame served up chicken and waffles prepared with the line's new air-fry technology while Shawn Stover, GEA's executive director of smart-home solutions, and Veronika Miller, founder and CEO of Modenus Design, expounded on connected appliances. Other sections of the booth offered additional bites and industry insights, and groups of attendees, led by brand ambassadors, made the rounds to all five, filling up on fare and food for thought along the way. Officially, the sumptuous spreads were reserved for those with VIP wristbands. However, since the exhibit was open to all during show hours, booth staffers did their best to ensure everyone felt welcome.

The progressive breakfast wrapped up in just under an hour, at which point the groups of VIPs reconvened in the GE brand space for a front-row view of a performance from what was billed in the invitation as "a surprise guest." Following a brief teaser announcement about a new product, three members of Blue Man Group rounded the corner and launched into a palpitating performance on the troupe's signature "drumbone," a curvaceous assemblage of white pipes that expands and contracts to produce a range of sounds when banged with drumsticks.

It didn't take long for the cacophony to command the attention of every KBIS attendee within a 500-foot radius, and the front of the exhibit was soon surrounded by a throng of onlookers eagerly snapping pics and capturing videos with their smartphones.

After the performance, GEA commercial director David Wilson addressed the crowd and elaborated on the features and benefits of the new front-load washer – and explained the connection between the appliance and the preceding production. VIPs and general attendees alike were then free to get hands on with GEA's latest offering, learn how its technology passes the proverbial smell test, and explore the rest of the exhibit. "This was a very thought-out experience, from the types of food offered to the performance of Blue Man Group," said one Sizzle Awards judge. "This is how every VIP should be treated – wined, dined, and entertained!"

Clean Sweep
Laundry day can make many people blue, but GEA's VIP breakfast and debut of the UltraFresh washer left marketers feeling anything but. Thanks to the promise of a sumptuous breakfast, 187 of the 250 invited VIPs visited the booth, 37 more than GEA's goal. And those special guests lingered for an average of 75 minutes, or 50 percent longer than marketers aimed for. Finally, GEA bested its first-day lead goals by 22 percent, capturing 2,443 badge scans in eight hours. What's more, the opening-day kickoff did indeed give GEA the momentum it sought, as by the end of the show it had exceeded its overall lead goal by 27 percent.

In addition to yet another Sizzle Award to add to its mantle, GEA was also named Best of Show at KBIS for the second year in a row. And if there were a blue ribbon for original thinking, it could be argued that GEA and Deckel & Moneypenny would deserve that as well for promoting a washing machine with such shrewdness and ingenuity. So while the UltraFresh front-load washer may eliminate unpleasant odors, we've no doubt GEA is basking in the sweet smell of marketing success. E