Whirlpool is an appliance brand that has spent the last 110 years helping families thrive. But recently, competitors have been edging them out of the market with infinite budgets and pointless technology. Relevance with younger consumers, millennial and gen z, was cratering. They didn’t like doing chores and were starting families at lower rates than ever before.

But as future customers, Whirlpool needed to find new ways to connect with them and prove what the brand believes: that the daily acts of cooking, cleaning and washing have a quantifiable impact on our lives.

Whirlpool conducted a survey of 1,000 singles and 91% of respondents cited the ability to do household chores as being a major factor when selecting a potential partner.

Armed with this stat, Whirlpool carried out an experiment to prove that chores are sexy. And they did by infiltrating the cutthroat world of online dating apps.

They assembled a group of real, available bachelors to re-do their dating app profiles to show themselves doing chores, then tracked how much better they did.

Data was collected through the experiment over a 3-week period of time leading up to Valentine’s Day. Whirlpool monitored their dating app usage over this time, tracking total connections made, messages sent and received, and connections that were perceived as having serious potential.

The before and after data were then compared and overall improvements were calculated both individually and for the entire group of men.

The activation targets younger people looking to start a family, the ideal appliance consumers. Single men are targeted with a call-to-action to use Whirlpool appliances as a means of improving their dating lives. And single women are targeted as the primary audience for these dating profiles.

Whirlpool launched a dating experiment to prove that chores are attractive. All participants were single, looking for love, and used the same dating app for the same amount of time. They were given new profile pics featuring them using Whirlpool appliances, and their profiles were re-written to focus on chores.

For the next 3+ weeks, the bachelors used the apps organically, making connections and sliding into DMs.

The bachelors were then brought back, and their app data pre and post experiment was compared. Every single one of the participants saw massive growth. The bachelors received 79% more direct messages. Had 46% more matches. Made 100% more connections with potential. Nearly 60% of participants are now in long-term relationships.

The experiment itself was massively successful. The bachelors:

- Received 79% more direct messages.

- Had 46% more matches.

- Made 100% more connections with potential.

- Nearly 60% of participants are now in long-term relationships.

The story itself also struck a nerve with Whirlpool consumers, garnering 596.6 million impressions and a 426% increase in engagement on Whirlpool's social channels.

This activation generated the highest social engagement for the brand of all time.