World of Whirlpool, the place where innovation meets design
Imagine. It’s the near future. You’re in a sleek, stylish room that’s bathed in daylight, sat at a large table — set up for a family meal — that fills the center of the room. On the table a tablet computer lights up with a notification. The oven is preheated and the laundry has finished washing. The washing machine mentions that if you’re not ready to empty the machine, it can keep the clothes fresh for you until it’s convenient.
It feels like the home of the future but it’s actually an experience from the present day which we brought to life in the World of Whirlpool. An exciting new concept to showcase leading edge design and technology in the home, World of Whirlpool is our new flagship showroom in Milan that is pioneering a bold new approach that immerses consumers into the exciting possibilities of today’s household appliances. This flagship facility is 100% oriented around the consumer. Although more than 150 products from KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Hotpoint and Indesit are on show, these are presented as part of vignettes — narrative zones that use interactivity and edutainment to describe lifestyles or new technology concepts. We believe that such experiences are now vital to truly tell our story.
To understand why storytelling and experiences matter so much, it’s important to think about what makes a product great. We all own a few products that we just love. Maybe it’s a set of shoes that feel like a part of your feet when you put them on. Or a car that rewards you with an exhilarating surge of power that’s ready whenever you are. For some, it might well be the smartphone that you’re using to read this article. These products we love seem ‘just right’. They seamlessly answer our unspoken needs, and flatter our sense of self. They make us feel better. They make life better.
Rare as it is, this indefinable quality is rarely an accident. More often, it represents the triumph of a process of Design Thinking — the application of creative and technical thinking to meet the needs of the user or consumer. Rather than creating a product around technical possibilities, Design Thinking, starts with the unmet need or even the emotional state of the consumer and seeks out any creative and technical solutions that fulfill them. In business, Design Thinking applies this open-minded sensibility to every aspect of the business in order to address the needs of consumers. At Whirlpool, we’re on an exciting journey to embrace this ethos even further. As a leading manufacturer of household appliances, it may seem clear-cut what we do. But appliances like electric ovens and washing machines have powerful effects. History has seen the automation of housework spark social and consumer revolutions — helping to power gender equality and creating new opportunities for leisure. So the need a company like Whirlpool meets is really about the consumers’ ability to choose how to enjoy their lives.
In practice, this insight is transformational. As a global organization with brands that include KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Hotpoint, and Indesit, we are orienting everything we do around what we understand about the life and challenges of the consumers of each brand. We are working to build products that are built around the lives people lead — and the lives they want to live. It is this philosophy that has driven the creation of the World of Whirlpool. When products are born from the consumers’ lived experience, the best way to communicate their value is increasingly to show the product in a lifestyle context. This means marketing has to involve a greater level of immersion and storytelling.
Let’s look at how this consumer-oriented/design thinking has already changed the products on show at World of Whirlpool. A brilliant example is Whirlpool’s new premium range, the W Collection. This has been inspired by the experience of living in a fast-paced and connected world, where the home is evolving into a multifunctional space for living, working and socializing. Consumers in the social media age are embracing technology but also seeking to reduce the noise this brings. They want their homes to reflect their personal style, reflecting their individuality but also ready to share with the world. When creating a range of appliances around this insight — we sought to create a definitive interpretation of modern living through products that combine technological innovation with effortless user experience and eye catching contemporary looks. As with the story of the app connected washing machine and oven I presented at the start of this article, W Collection appliances offer Internet connectivity to deliver a simpler more flexible user experience — realizing a vision of modernity that never overwhelms, but liberates.
Great design doesn’t have to be a luxury: We are seeking to take this same focus on the consumer story to every segment of the market. Alongside Whirlpool, which offers a premium product range, popular mainstream brands such as Hotpoint are creating innovative appliances that make it easier for users to take a more caring approach to daily life. Hotpoint is also collaborating with leading chefs such as Jamie Oliver, to bring expert knowledge to the kitchens of families in the real world.
We are also radically changing how we create our value-driven products: Consumer research revealed that most busy families wash laundry on programs that last less than one hour. As a result, our new family-focused Indesit range of washing machines has a Turn&Wash setting to wash mixed fabrics in only 45 minutes. This means that Dad can get back to getting the kids ready for school. And increasingly it will be Dad: Customer insight has revealed that making appliances easier to use without prior experience gets more family members involved in doing that chore. At the same time, Indesit’s present marketing campaign for 2017 — #DoItTogether — focuses on promoting gender equality through better sharing of housework. From research, to product design to lifestyle-driven marketing — Indesit is today showing an end-to-end approach that starts and ends with the consumer. That’s why it all fits — and feels ‘just right’.
Our journey deeper into Design Thinking is also changing how we talk about, show and sell our products. When Design Thinking becomes part of your DNA, everything starts to take on a sense of circularity. You start with the consumer story and their needs. You think creatively to innovate solutions and advanced technologies that fit these desires and needs. And then you come back to the story — inspiring the consumer to share a vision of their own life made better. That’s why a great experience in store and in the home matters. And that’s why people love the products.
Norbert Schmidt, Vice President Products & Brands Whirlpool EMEA
