• by Aaron Baar , August 3, 2012

The average consumer, if they’re lucky, only shops for a specific appliance once or twice a decade. It’s important, however, for the makers of those machines to find ways to stay top of consumers’ minds constantly to ensure they will be in the consideration set when purchase time comes. 

Along those lines, LG Electronics is launching a social media campaign for its washers and dryers that it hopes consumers will see, share and remember when they’re shopping for their own appliances. 

“We wanted to make sure we continued to engage with consumers from a brand perspective,” David VanderWaal, director of brand marketing for home appliances at LG Electronics USA, tells Marketing Daily. “The objective is to create a conversation with consumers by being relevant and authentic and genuine, and not trying to sell anything. We’re trying hard to create a relationship that the consumer will not only enjoy, but they will pass it on.”

The Facebook-based campaign consists of videos depicting a woman, Sharon, whose life has been taken over by laundry. “It’s hard to say when this all started. Two months? Five years?” says the woman, who is basically a pile of laundry with a head and limbs. “It seems like I spend every waking moment doing laundry.” The videos go on to depict the daily struggles of her life, such as not being recognized by friends for lunch dates, trying to get into the front seat of her car, and unsuccessfully having an intimate moment with her husband. The campaign employs the tagline “Less Mess. More Life.”

In addition to the videos, the company is also conducting a sweepstakes, through which consumers vote on the messiest household pictures for a chance to win prize such as gift cards and a grand prize of a TurboWash washer and dryer set. The sweepstakes, which runs this month, also features a “time-saving laundry calculator” that illustrates how saving 20 minutes per load can add up to 2.5 hours a week in time savings. 

“The sweepstakes is, as much as anything, [a reason] to keep people interested in coming back,” VanderWaal says. “Once we’ve engaged them with what we think is some interesting and funny video content, we want them coming back.”