Whirlpool Canada
Sama's Lunchbox

The Challenge

Whirlpool washing machines, dryers, refrigerators and stoves are found in households across the country. The brand is Canada’s market leader in large appliances, and is primarily known for being reliable, accessible and familiar. These are great characteristics, but they’re essentially table stakes. With the brand over-indexing on rational attributes, the agency’s task was to inject emotion into consumers’ overly functional understanding of Whirlpool and drive an increase in engagement and positive sentiment on Whirlpool Canada’s social platforms. Whirlpool is a mid-market brand targeted to parents of young families, with a bullseye of mothers in their early 40s. They expect performance when it comes to household appliances, but also know there’s more to running a household than just the practicalities. Especially for young children, the comfort and care of clean clothes and warm food are all part of a life lived with a sense of security.

The Insight

Whirlpool’s understanding of the importance of caring in our lives is at the root of a corporate program called Everyday Care, an initiative with the mission of helping families thrive. It’s based on the belief that when simple acts of care happen every day, the world can change.

To identify potential ways to bring this to life, the agency commissioned research to study the way caring results from living in close communities. The study found despite understanding the value of a closely connected community, many people felt their own neighbourhoods were fracturing. Four in ten said they “hardly know their neighbours”. Interestingly, the study was done at a time when many Canadian communities were committing extraordinary acts of care by welcoming Syrian refugees fleeing conflict into their new Canadian homes. The refugees’ very real needs created an opportunity to demonstrate Whirlpool’s commitment to caring for all Canadians, whether they’ve been here forever or have just arrived. The insight led to reveal that sometimes an outsider is the one who shows us what community and caring are all about.

The Plan

The first component of the plan was focused on an everyday food task that can have a surprising impact. The team partnered with cookbook author/blogger Emma Waverman to highlight how schoolroom lunches can be a surprisingly stressful situation for newcomers to Canada. That was executed as a Facebook Live event, and was featured by media outlets across the country
In mid-September, a short documentary called Sama's Lunchbox was unveiled – An Everyday Care Story. It launched on YouTube and was supported by :30 cutdowns on Facebook and YouTube with a link to the longer video. The story began with Sama and her mother in their new home proudly cook a traditional Syrian lunch for Sama’s school. The time they spend together preparing food strengthens the bond between them. Sama shares the food that is her connection to her previous home with her Canadian classmates for the very first time. While she had already been accepted by her new community, the act of sharing a piece of her culture connects her with her classmates in a new way. It shows how powerful food and meal preparation can be in bringing communities and families closer. The short documentary, as well as the :30 cutdowns, were supported by social posts that ran throughout September.

The Results

Sama’s Lunchbox leveraged the emotive power of the digital world to create warmth and positive sentiment, and sparked substantial shifts for Whirlpool Canada after just three weeks of being in market. Brand tracking demonstrated a significant lift in a key attribute: people who saw the video were 12% more likely to perceive Whirlpool as providing the best care. The video has over 2.7 million views, with a remarkable completion rate of over 81%. The campaign sparked over 150,000 social media engagements, earned media of 3,205,594 impressions including a full-page article in The Globe and Mail, and saw a 400% increase in positive sentiment on Facebook.