Old passions spawn new strategies: how Charles Miller strengthened Whirlpool's market niche - marketing vice president's use of expertise to unify strategies to sell various brands of refrigerators and dishwashers

Black Enterprise, June, 1994 by Dawn M. Baskerville

Brand loyalty has always mattered to Charles D. Miller. Even as a kid, he saved up his lunch money so he could sport Converse sneakers rather than the less costly (and decidedly less cool) "reject" brands.

"I was willing to pay more for those sneakers not because they were of superior quality, but because their name recognition convinced me they were better, Miller says.

Those early lessons made a lasting impact, as evidenced by Miller's career choice--marketing--and what he's accomplished as a vice president at Whirlpool Corp., the $7.3 billion appliances manufacturer in Benton Harbor, Mich. In fact, Miller has made it something of a mission to have Whirlpool customers feel the same passion about their dishwashers and refrigerators that he felt about his first pair of Converse sneakers.

His mission began in 1991 when, as vice president of marketing for the KitchenAid line, he was surprised to find his brand in direct competition with Whirlpool and Kenmore, the company's other business units. With no marketing strategy linking the brands, they essentially operated as separate entities, regularly tripping over each other in the marketplace.

"The VPs of the other divisions and I spent an inordinate amount of time debating what each unit was doing to the others in the industry, rather than what we should be doing together to strengthen our combined niche in the market, recalls Miller.

Also troublesome was market research revealing that only 40% of the company's consumers were repeat customers. Thus, despite significant product design innovations and technological advancements, all of the brands seemed to be suffering, with earnings matching--but never surpassing--the industry average. Miller set out to change that.

As a member of the company's Brand Management Council, he helped determine that their first step should be to study the needs and buying habits of Whirlpool customers by surveying four million of them. What they found, says the 41-year-old University of Illinois MBA, was that convenience was the dominant factor behind appliance purchases, not durability as they had believed. So, Whirlpool implemented time management features into its products to make them more efficient.

Another realization: The company needed a more cohesive marketing strategy for all of its brands. After yet another study in which Miller played a central role, the Dominant Consumer Franchise (DCF) strategy was introduced, caring for Whirlpool to unify its sales force, empowering them to sell all the brands.

The company was already relatively successful at managing its brands, so Miller admits he found it tough to convince the powers-that-be that such a strategic change was necessary. "We had to show that the existing strategy was. competitive only in the sense that it kept us in the game," he says. "It took a long time and lots of supporting research to get total buy-in for the new strategy, which we contended would help us win the game."

As marketing vice president of the North American Appliance Group, Miller was put in charge of executing the majority of the DCF strategy in January 1993.

So far, so good. Whirlpool has experienced an 18% jump in net earnings per share since DCF's initial implementation in 1992. In addition to improved sales, Miller notes a discernible increase in brand loyalty, with more consumers requesting Whirlpool products and returning for repeat business.

One can only bet such progress swells Miller with pride--right down to the soles of his Converse shoes.