GE Consumer Products Peppercom Presents National Men Do Laundry Month

GE revolutionized laundry with its innovative washer and dryer, the GE Profile Harmony Clothes Care System. However, the company needed a strategy that would go beyond simple product publicity.

Peppercom's idea was to create a light-hearted campaign pitting women against men over the issue of why men hate doing laundry. By positioning GE Consumer Products as experts on the Great Laundry Divide, we could generate and sustain significant media coverage leveraging National Men Do Laundry Month.

Peppercom launched the campaign by commissioning the Laundry I.Q. survey that showed that 89% of women are responsible for 100% of household laundry. Next, we recruited Keith Luscher, a relationship expert and author of Real Foreplay, a book that emphasizes the importance of chore equity, to speak to the media on GE's behalf. Peppercom then drafted the Great Laundry Divide manifesto to incite women to "throw down their laundry" and positioned GE's Profile Harmony as the solution to their laundry woes. We also launched a national competition to discover the Most Ludicrous Laundry Story and sponsored a men's lounge at the 14th Annual National Women's Expo in Dallas, a key sales market. Each of these program elements was supported by an aggressive PR campaign, including a satellite media tour, press release and media outreach, including a staged protest outside of the Today show. During the protest, female models incited the wives of Matt Lauer and Al Roker to force their men to do laundry.

Media coverage was outstanding and included coverage of the protest on Today, featuring Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and Willard Scott. Stories appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, CNN/Money, CBS Marketwatch and on the AOL landing page. The men's lounge at the Dallas Women's Expo premiered with a live 10-minute spot on Good Morning Texas.

Overall media impressions exceeded 700,000,000, including 22 SMT interviews during the first week. Peppercom obtained mayoral proclamations in cities including Dallas, Louisville, Cincinnati and Miami. Sales executives in key markets reported a marked increase in inquires and sales of the GE Harmony. Significantly, GE Chief Marketing Officer and Corporate Vice President of Marketing Beth Comstock declared the National Men Do Laundry Month campaign a GE Best Practice.